City recorded a perfect group stage, winning all six matches against RB Leipzig, Young Boys and Red Star Belgrade.
That ensured an 11th successive appearance in the knockout phase of the competition, which will begin in February.
Pep Guardiola‘s European champions will start by travelling to the Danish capital, before hosting our opponents at the Etihad a few weeks later.
The exact dates of those legs will be confirmed in due course.
In the meantime, let’s find out more about who we will face...
History
FC Copenhagen was established in 1992 following a merger of two sides: Kjøbenhavns Boldklub - KB - (mainland Europe’s oldest football club) founded in 1876 and Boldklubben 1903 founded in 1903.
They have won the Danish Superliga a record 15 times including in each of the last two campaigns.
Route to last 16
FC Copenhagen have reached this stage of the competition after progressing through a tricky group including Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and Manchester United.
Bayern topped it, with Galatasaray in third and Manchester United finishing fourth.
In order to get to the groups, they had to come through qualifying ties with Icelandic club Breidablik, Czech giants Sparta Prague and Polish outfit Rakow Czestochowa.
Recent meetings
We were drawn with FC Copenhagen in last season’s group stage.
We thrashed our counterparts 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium on the third matchday thanks to an Erling Haaland brace, a Riyad Mahrez penalty, Julian Alvarez finish and a Davit Khocholava own goal.
The return fixture was 0-0 as City reached 10 points from our first four games.
Stadium
Parken is the home of Copenhagen and the Danish national team.
It has a capacity of just over 38,000 and hosted four matches during the continent-wide EURO 2020.
It was completed in 1992 and has been home to the club ever since.
Manager
35-year-old Jacob Neestrup was just two weeks into the job for that 5-0 fixture at the Etihad last season but has gone from strength to strength since.
After a short professional career blighted by injuries, Neestrup went into coaching early.
He held youth and assistant positions at Copenhagen either side of spell in charge of Viborg before taking up the top job at the club.
At the time of writing he has won 35 of his 64 games in charge with a goal difference of +51.
Key players
In a squad packed with Scandinavians, Swedish midfielder Viktor Claesson is the captain.
Former Southampton winger Mohamed Elyounoussi is a threat while it’s Portuguese forward Diogo Gonçalves who is tasked with converting the chances.
Midfielder Rasmus Falk caught the eye during the group stage with his composure and range of passing while teenager Roony Bardghji impressed when he came off the bench to score a winner against Manchester United.
Polish goalkeeper Kamil Grabara, who was at Liverpool between 2016 and 2021, is the undisputed No.1.
Form this season
As previously mentioned, this has been an excellent campaign in Europe for a side used to being the underdogs. This is the first time they have reached the knockouts since 2010/11.
They scored eight and conceded eight during the group stage, keeping clean sheets in their last two matches.
They currently sit third in the Danish Superliga with 33 points from 17 games.
They have won 10, drawn three and lost four of those.
