Women's Champions League: Round of 32 draw puts Frankfurt in Belgium for start of title defence

Reigning champions FFC Frankfurt begin their title defence with a trip to Belgium in October, with today's Women's Champions League draw pitting them against Standard Liège in a fairly straight forward tie to start their 2015-16 campaign.

However, the pick of the round is certainly an all-British affair between Chelsea and Glasgow City, whilst the new Frauen-Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, face a tough task in a young, promising FC Twente side.

Big guns get routine fixtures

The favourites for the competition will undoubtedly be the three German outfits, Frankfurt, VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern, and the two French teams, Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain, whilst FC Rosengård of Sweden are certainly a good shout for an underdog with their star-studded squad.

Most will be happy with their draws too in the first round - the women's edition of the competition going straight into a knockout round as opposed to group stages as the men's does. Frankfurt, as aforementioned, play Liège, Wolfsburg face Serbia's Spartak Subotica, who topped their qualifying round group, but Bayern may have problems with Twente, who boast a number of Dutch internationals, including the likes of Anouk Dekker, Stefanie van der Gragt and Siri Worm.

As for the French sides, Lyon face Medyk Konin, who could have been a danger but for Ewa Pajor's transfer to Wolfsburg this summer, the Polish side having almost made it to the last 16 last year only for Glasgow to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the second leg, whilst PSG play another qualifier in Romanian side Olimpia Cluj.

Rosengård have another straight-forward match as they play Finland's PK-35 Vantaa, and will be happy with the short journey to face a fellow Scandinavian outfit too, as well as being confident in beating the qualifier whilst they are there.

Tough draw for the qualifiers

For those who came through the qualifying round to reach the knockout stage, the draw has been rather harsh. The chances of having a survivor from that round in the next round look slim, which is a shame after Glasgow represented the qualifiers so marvellously last year, reaching the quarter-finals, only to be defeated by eventual finalists PSG, in a run which meant they earned Scotland a berth in the knockout round automatically for this season.

With Cluj, Twente, Vantaa, Subotica and Konin all having to face one of the favourites for the title, things don't look good, and the remaining three qualifiers didn't get much better fixtures either.

Greek outfit PAOK will face Swedish side KIF Örebro, runners-up in their domestic league, the Damallsvenskan, last season, Icelandic representatives Stjarnan play Russia's Zvezda Perm, a repeat of last year's round of 32 tie that saw the latter win 8-3 over two legs, whilst ZFK Minsk of Belarus play Denmark's Fortuna Hjørring, who were only eliminated in the last 16 in 2014-15 by Rosengård.

Stjarnan perhaps harbour the best chance of progressing, but, especially after last year's result, overcoming Zvezda will be a big ask.

Chances of a Spain v Italy final?

Whilst the men's Champions League final this year was a case of Spain v Italy, in Barcelona v Juventus, the chances of the women's side producing a similar final in 2015-16 are slim, with neither country excelling on the continent in the women's game.

Barcelona's female section, however, will be expected to do well, especially after a disappointing campaign last time out. Bristol Academy, now struggling at the bottom of the FA WSL 1 in England, overcame the Spaniards in the round of 16 last year, beating them 1-0 on the road, ending their 55 game unbeaten run at home in the process, before a 1-1 draw sealed the Vixens place in the last eight.

However, Barca this time face BIIK Kazygurt in a more obscure tie that requires them to make the trip to Kazakhstan. Kazygurt cannot be underestimated either, as they did manage to clinch a 2-2 draw at home to Frankfurt in this round last year. Even though the Germans turned things around in their home leg, this was the only game they lost in the 2014-15 campaign that saw them end as champions.

Spain have two representatives in the competition for the first time this year as well, with Atletico Madrid being the other. The debutants, one of three along with Örebro and Chelsea, face Zorky Krasnogorsk in a tricky first fixture against the 2012-13 champions of Russia.

On the Italian side of things, they too have two clubs in the knockout round - ASD Verona and Brescia, the former seeded and the latter not. Thus, it is Verona with the more favourable draw, facing Austrian side FSK St. Pölten-Spratzern in the first round.

Brescia, on the other hand, will play reigning WSL 1 champions Liverpool. The English side were unable to make it to the round of 16 last year, given a tough draw against Linköping which they narrowly lost, but will be confident of bettering that this season against their Italian opponents.

Scandinavia looking to spring a surprise

With Rosengard, Hjørring and Örebro all having favourable draws, the latter albeit at the expense of Finland's Vantaa, many will back Scandinavia to have a good 2015-16 campaign in the competition too, something which is backed up by Danish side Brøndby's draw against SK Slavia Praha of the Czech Republic.

However, LSK Kvinner FK of Norway do not have the greatest draw, one of just two unseeded sides from the area of Europe. LSK will face FC Zürich of Switzerland in the round of 32, and will find it difficult to overcome an all Swiss squad that boasts the likes of internationals Fabienne Humm and Nicole Remund.

All British affair is the most eye-catching draw

Yet, despite all the intriguing ties above, it is Chelsea's draw against Glasgow that is the most interesting, with the current WSL 1 leads facing the Scottish champions.

Glasgow have dominated women's football in their country over the last few years, and had a tremendous run to the quarter-finals in this competition last year, whereas Chelsea only won their first trophy, the FA Women's Cup, this summer.

Still, with the likes of Ji So-yun and Eniola Aluko in their squad, the Blues will be no pushover and will arguably go into the game as favourites with the competitiveness of England readying them more.

The two did meet earlier this year in a pre-season friendly, with the English outfit winning 2-0 in February, but Glasgow's home crowd played a crucial role in their great Champions League showing last season, inspiring them to overcome two first leg deficits, and so the trip to Scotland will be difficult for Chelsea.