by Malta’s treble champions Birkirkara will be hosting the UEFA Women’s Champions League round 1 tournament in Malta for a successive year, where they will again face Montenegrin champions Breznica on the 4th September. In the other semi-final, Belgian champions RSC Anderlecht will be in Malta meeting Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade. The winners from the two matches will meet in the final on the 7th September, while another match will determine the third-place in the group on the same day.
B’Kara To Host Tournament in Malta
Birkirkara will be hosting the mini-tournament between the 4th and the 7th of September, where they will be welcoming last year’s foes FK Breznica, together with Belgian champions RSC Anderlecht and Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade.
It will be the second year in succession that the Stripes will be bringing the UEFA Women’s Champions League competition to home soil, but this time the team will be led by Vince Galea who took over from Jose’ Borg following the end of the campaign.
However, the fact that there are four teams drawn in the group this year means that a total of four matches will be played instead of just two as was the case last year. The semi-finals will be played on the 4th of September, where Birkirkara will be facing Breznica in a repeat of last year’s matchup, while Anderlecht will be facing Red Star Belgrade.
The two winning teams will meet in the final on the 7th September. The teams defeated in the semi-finals will play a match to determine third-place in the group on the same day.
Details About The Teams
Breznica and Birkirkara will be familiar with each other based on their encounter last year, but as expected the two teams will have undergone some changes over the past year and possibly over the summer, which will add some different elements to the match. Last year’s encounter ended with a dramatic late winner by Uruguayan Edith Garcia Falero to send Birkirkara into the final match, despite being down to ten. The Stripes bowed out against FC Zurich who were the ultimate winners of the final.
At the other end of the bracket, the Belgian champions RSC Anderlecht will be facing Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade. Anderlecht have racked up consecutive titles since 2017/18 season, making them well-versed participants in these rounds, similar to Breznica and Birkirkara. On the other hand, Red Star Belgrade will be new participants having successfully overthrown Spartak Subotica in the Serbian league.
Last year, Anderlecht eliminated the Polish champions Katowice by a confident 5-0 margin to progress to the final of Round 1, where they were eliminated by SK Brann by 3-0. SK Brann went on to be one of the brightest success stories of last year’s competition, making it to the quarter-final stages before bowing out against the eventual champions, Barcelona.
However, a new season brings with it new hopes. The winner of the final in round one will progress into a two-legged tie, which will determine who progresses to the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stages.
Until then, several players will be partaking in the UEFA Women’s European Qualifications matches with their respective countries. Malta will be playing at home against the Northern Ireland on the 12th July (Centenary Stadium, 19:30), with the final match of the group stages to be played on the 16th July, away against Portugal. Following that, players will return to their clubs and teammates to start preparations for the upcoming season, with one eye on the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Lead Image: Lara Schembri
Stay up to date by following The Sporting Fan on social media: Instagram ~ Facebook ~ X
