Women's Champions League group stage draw: Arsenal face holders Barcelona and Chelsea take on Wolfsburg

Arsenal will face holders Barcelona, while Chelsea will take on two-time winners Wolfsburg and Italian champions Juventus, in the inaugural group stage of the Women's Champions League.

Jonas Eidevall's Arsenal will also face Germany's third-placed side Hoffenheim, as well as Danish outfit HB Koge in Group C.

Swiss champions Servette complete Group A for Emma Hayes' Chelsea, who reached last year's final.

Debutants Real Madrid, who eliminated Manchester City in the second and final round of qualifying last week, will meet last year's semi-finalists and French champions Paris Saint-Germain, while seven-time winners Lyon will face German giants Bayern Munich.

Chelsea, who were in Pot 1 for the draw, may be pleased to have avoided Lyon, but their group still looks arguably the toughest nonetheless, containing three very genuine contenders.

As for Arsenal, who were in Pot 2, their opponents Barcelona are the tournament favourites and their two encounters should make for fascinating viewing.

The new 16-team group-stage will be broadcast live by streaming platform DAZN and on their Youtube channel, after the television rights for the competition were sold centrally across the continent for the first time.

The competition also has more prize money than ever before, with each group-stage side guaranteed to receive at least €400,000 for their participation at this stage.

The group-stage fixtures will begin in October, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the quarter-finals, which begin on March and start the traditional knockout phase.

Arsenal are the only British women's side to have won a European title, when they lifted a quadruple of trophies in 2007.

Barcelona won last year's final with a 4-0 win over Chelsea, becoming Spain's first champions.

Analysis: Arsenal and Chelsea find themselves in the hardest groups

By Tom Garry

The Women's Champions League's format was completely revamped for this season, in a bid to set up more big games between the continent's best teams, and with this draw, the organisers have got their wish.

The meetings between Arsenal and Barcelona promise to be pure box-office, as the continent's finest goalscorer Vivianne Miedema goes up against its finest team from last season, and Britain's most decorated Women's side take on the newest-emerging power in the sport.

And qualifying through the group will not be easy because Hoffenheim are dangerous dark horses and they knocked out Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall's former side, last year's quarter-finalists Rosengard, during qualifying.

As for Chelsea, they face familiar foes in Wolfsburg, whom they have met in four previous campaigns in the competition. Last term, Emma Hayes' side knocked out their German nemesis for the first time, after suffering three aggregate loses in their previous meetings.

Italian side Juventus will also offer a formidable test for the west London club, amid increasing investment in the Women's game across Italy.

From the other groups, PSG, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Lyon, the sport's most dominant side for the past decade, will be the four sides expected to go through. The English clubs would appear to be in the toughest groups, but as Hayes alluded to on Sunday, that's what they want. More games against the top teams. "It's brilliant," she said.