Twente’s Plenty

I mentioned this at the time of the Champions League qualification and subsequent draw, but I’ll explain in a bit more detail here because there’s been a bit of confusion around Celtic’s participation in the Women’s Champions League group stages being the first time ever for any Scottish side.

It’s not the first time a Scottish side has played in a group stage. The UEFA Women’s Cup had Ayr United (2001/02), Kilmarnock (2002/03, 2003/04), Hibernian (2004/05, 2006/07, 2007/08) and Glasgow City (2005/06, 2008/09) all playing in qualifying groups. When the Women’s Cup was rebranded to the Champions League for 2009/10, it also featured Glasgow City in qualifying groups from that season all the way up to 2014/15.

In three of those seasons, Glasgow City made it all the way to last sixteen, therefore Celtic aren’t the first Scottish side to make the last sixteen either, and actually in 2014/15 Glasgow City even made it to the last eight. Because of that, Scotland coefficient was high enough that not only did Glasgow City get to skip qualifying in 2015/16 but come 2016/17 so did runners up Hibernian!

2017/18 saw Glasgow City once more skip qualifying but Hibernian took part in it, whilst in 2018/19 we were back down to just Glasgow City in qualifying. City then skipped the qualifiers again in 2019/20 where once more they made the last eight after Hibernian had won through in qualifying but lost in the road of thirty two. For the final season of this format, 2020/21, Glasgow City were our only representative in qualifying 2020/21. After which time the format changed to the one we have today.

And that’s the crucial part. From 2021/22, the group stage of the Champions League has been part of the proper tournament, not just something that only happened in qualifying. That’s what Celtic have achieved for the first time, not just for themselves but for Scotland. Yes, there’s only been four seasons where it’s been possible, but it’s an achievement nonetheless given no Scottish side has managed to get beyond the qualifiers since Glasgow City made the last thirty two in 2020/21. Glasgow City and Rangers both made it through to the second round of qualifying in recent season, but were knocked out at that stage, unlike Celtic who saw off Vorskla Poltava 3-0 over two legs last month. Here’s the crucial second leg.

Which brings us nicely up to present day. Let’s not mince words here, Celtic have a massive challenge ahead of them now having been drawn in a group along with English champions and Champions League semi finalists last season Chelsea, Spanish runners up and Champions League group stage participants last season Real Madrid, and today’s opponents at New Douglas Park, Dutch champions FC Twente. The game kicks off at 8pm, and hopefully someone will broadcast it!

The good news for Celtic is this is easing them in. Whilst Chelsea are hosting Real Madrid in the other match tonight, Celtic get to face an FC Twente who are the pot three team from the draw. It’s also a home game for Celtic, albeit that home is now in Hamilton instead of Airdrie for reasons apparently to do with facilities, so it won’t get any easier than this match.

Not saying it’s easy, just that everything after this is even harder!

FC Twente have also struggled in recent seasons to get through qualifying, losing in the second qualifying round to Benfica in 2021/22, in the final of the first qualifying round again to Benfica in 2022/23, and then to BK Hacken in the second qualifying round in 2023/24. So there’s a reasonable expectation that they’re somewhere close to the quality that Celtic are used to facing with the likes of Glasgow City and Rangers.

Mind you, they did absolutely batter their way through qualifying this season.

They beat Cardiff City 7-0 in the semi final of the first qualifying round…

before beating Valur of Iceland 5-0.

They were then paired with ZNK Osijek of Croatia, whom they beat 4-1 away…

… and then 4-0 at home for an 8-1 aggregate victory.

They’ve also been in the latter stages of this competition before, reaching the last sixteen on three occasions, losing to Barcelona twice (2015/16 and 2016/17) and Wolfsburg once. That Wolfsburg one is interesting because it came in 2019/20 where they lost 7-0 on aggregate to the Germans who them went on to hammer Glasgow City 9-1 on aggregate in the last eight. They eventually lost to Lyon in the final.

They’ve also faced Glasgow City once before, their only previous meeting with a Scottish side. That came in 2013/14 qualifying, where they lost 2-0 to City thanks to goals from Rachel Corsie and Sarah Crilly. Both teams went through, albeit City on top and Twente in second as one of the best two runners up.

The Dutch women’s league only started at the end of September, so two games in Twente won their opening match 3-1 away to Fortuna Sittard…

… before hosting PSV Eindhoven on Saturday in a game that finished goalless.

As a result, they are currently fifth in the Vrouwen Eredivisie, two points behind leaders Utrecht. They’ll host Excelsior next Saturday.

Celtic had the weekend off ahead of this game, but did have to played their catch up match against Rangers on Thursday night. That game finished 2-2 at Broadwood, with Celtic coming from two goals down to get the draw – the first points that leaders Rangers have dropped. The result kept Celtic also unbeaten, but third behind Rangers and Glasgow City.

They’ve since dropped to fourth as Hearts went ahead of them with a win at the weekend. They’re also five points behind Rangers now who also won at the weekend. But they do have a game in hand against Queen’s Park now.

Good luck to Celtic tonight!