Back on the continental stage

There is a particular thrill to a European draw when you have been away from it for a while. Manchester City's women are about to experience that again, with the league phase of the Champions League set to be mapped out in Nyon on Friday 4 September.

It has been a decade in the making, in some respects. Andrée Jeglertz guided the Sky Blues to a first Women's Super League title in ten years last season — the second in the club's history — and that silverware has bought them automatic passage into the league phase. No qualifiers, no nerves, no two-year exile. Just a place among Europe's elite once more.

The draw, which gets underway at 11am (BST), will be streamed live on UEFA.com. City supporters might want to clear the diary.

Pot 3 and the perils within

There is a catch, naturally. City find themselves in pot 3, which means the glamour ties are coming thick and fast. They are guaranteed to face two of Barcelona, Lyon, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain — one at home, one away.

For all the history those names carry, there is novelty here too. A meeting with PSG or Bayern would be a first. In fact, whoever City pull from pot 3, they will be facing them for the first time. European football has a way of serving up fresh rivalries, even if some old ones linger.

Real Madrid, for instance, have twice knocked City out in key qualifiers. That particular score is yet to be settled.

The format and the road ahead

City will play six matches in the league phase — three at the Academy Stadium, three away. They will face two teams from each pot, with the usual constraint that clubs from the same association cannot be drawn together. That spares them Arsenal and Chelsea at this stage, at least.

Should they draw Juventus, BK Häcken, Benfica or Roma, it would be a first meeting too. There is a lot of firsts floating around this draw.

After the six games, the top four go straight to the quarter-finals. Clubs finishing fifth to twelfth face a play-off round, while the bottom six are eliminated entirely. No safety net, no second chances.

A homecoming at Joie Stadium

City's European home is Joie Stadium, sitting on the Etihad campus. It holds 7,000, though UEFA fixtures see that reduced to just under 5,000. Should the Sky Blues progress deep into the knockout stages, some matches could move next door to the Etihad itself.

There is something fitting about that. A club returning to Europe's top table after two years away, with a title to defend and a point to prove. The draw on Friday will tell us who stands in their way. It might just be the start of something.