Manchester United Women will face Atletico Madrid in the play-off round of the 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League, following Thursday's knockout draw in Nyon. The two-legged tie features an away leg in Madrid on February 12 and a home return on February 19 at Unity Stadium in Leigh, with the winners advancing to face Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.
United secured their play-off spot by finishing sixth in the league phase, capped by a 1-0 win over Juventus in Turin on Wednesday. This pairs them with Atletico Madrid, whom they already beat 1-0 earlier in the group stage during an away trip to Spain.
As a seeded team, United will host the second leg, leveraging home advantage at the 12,000-capacity Unity Stadium. Their relatively light schedule this season—without the men's team in European competition—has kept the squad largely injury-free, despite recent dips in Women's Super League form.
Advancing would see them take on Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals (March 24/25 and April 1/2), one of the top four teams that bypassed the play-offs. This sets up an intriguing path through the knockout bracket toward the final in Oslo on May 23, 2026.