Who could Arsenal meet in the Quarter-finals of the 2024/25 UEFA Women’s Champions League?

Arsenal Women’s late 1-0 win against Juventus on November 21 was equal parts dramatic and significant with Lina Hertig’s crucial 89th-minute strike enough to seal The Gunners’ passage to the quarter-finals of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League.

Renee Slegers's side are currently listed as sixth favourites in the outright markets at odds of approximately 8/1 to land the iconic trophy for the first time since 2007 and having already secured qualification from the group stage, Arsenal Women can begin to tentatively plot their route to the competition’s final in Lisbon next May.

While the identity of Arsenal’s opponents in the tournament’s last eight hasn’t been set in stone, soccer betting enthusiasts have already been trying to line up the Londoners’ likeliest quarter-final antagonists based on a process of elimination.

The format and rules of the Champions League quarter-final draw – alongside Arsenal Women’s likely final position in Group C – provide a decent starting point to help identify the Gunners’ probable opponents next March.

In the UCL quarter-finals, the four individual group winners are seeded and drawn against the four group runners-up, though teams that shared a group in the first phase cannot collide again in the first knockout round.

With those rules applied, Arsenal can’t be paired with Group C opponents Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals and with the German giants likely to pip the Gunners to top spot in the section, AFC could enter the competition’s next phase as one of the four unseeded teams.

In that scenario, Arsenal would be on course to face any of the following teams in the Champions League quarter-finals:

Who are Arsenal’s likeliest Champions League quarter-final opponents?

Olympique Lyonnais

French outfit and record eight-time Women’s Champions League winners Olympique Lyonnais were the competition’s beaten finalists last season, though they look well-equipped to launch another concerted bid for continental silverware in 2024/25.

With four wins from four assignments, Lyonnais have a perfect record in Group A so far, scoring 12 times and conceding just once along the way, while four-goal Kadidiatou Diani has shone brightest from an individual perspective.

In seven previous encounters with Olympique Lyonnais since 2007, Arsenal Women have come out on top just once, so avoiding the formidable French side in the quarter-finals would be ideal, if at all possible.

Chelsea

Chelsea have yet to drop a point in this season’s Champions League and are currently sitting pretty at the summit of Group B ahead of Real Madrid. Beaten finalists in 2021, the Blues have yet to taste glory on the continent, however, they have been playing like potential UCL winners in 2024/25.

Arsenal Women have already lost to their London rivals once in the Women’s Super League this term (2-1), though the Gunners did defeat their neighbours in March’s Women’s League Cup Final, proving their mettle when it counted on an occasion of greater significance.

Five players were booked when Chelsea edged out Arsenal in the WSL in October, which suggests any rematch on the European stage would be just as heated.

Draws have also been few and far between in recent encounters between Arsenal and Chelsea Women with the teams sharing the spoils just twice in their last ten skirmishes. As a consequence, the outcome of any Champions League double header between them would be difficult to predict.

Manchester City

2018 semi-finalists Manchester City started their Group Stage campaign with a superb 2-0 win over tournament favourites and current holders Barcelona in October and they have hardly put a foot wrong since, extracting maximum points from successive games against St Polten and Hammarby (twice).

Domestically, City look best-placed to push Chelsea for top spot in the Women’s Super League, though the Mancunians, who are joint-third favourites alongside the Blues to win the UCL, could have enough depth to mount a charge for trophies on multiple fronts.

Arsenal held City to a 2-2 draw in the WSL back in September and the Gunners have had a strong recent record against the Manchester-based outfit in recent campaigns, winning four of the last seven meetings between the clubs in all competitions.

Of the three possible Champions League quarter-final candidates we’ve listed, Man City would represent the most favourable draw and the team Arsenal Women would probably be most confident of beating.