The ever-expanding women’s football calendar will culminate in a brand new competition later this week – the FIFA Women’s Champions League.
Approved by the FIFA Council in March 2025, the inaugural Women’s Champions League will feature four matches on January 28 and February 1, with the final winner selected from six football associations around the world.
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The game has partially begun. Two contestants had already fallen before the climax of the competition.
here, Competitor Here’s everything you need to know ahead of this week’s game.
Who is competing? How did they qualify?
In the “final phase”, the Champions League welcomes participants from UEFA, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, as well as Morocco’s ASFAR and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
This means Arsenal, Gotham FC, Corinthians and ASFAR will be competing for the honor of winning the inaugural Champions League.
Last May, Arsenal defeated Barcelona 1-0 in Lisbon and won the Women’s Champions League for the second time in history. Stina Blackstanius’ second-half goal sealed the historic win, which meant head coach Renee Slegers lifted the trophy in her first year in charge of the WSL side after replacing Jonas Advall at the start of the season.
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In the process of advancing to the final, Arsenal achieved two comeback victories in the knockout stages. After falling behind 0-2 in the first leg, they defeated Real Madrid with a total score of 3-2 in the quarter-finals, and then defeated eight-time champion Lyon with a total score of 5-3 in the semi-finals, overturning a 1-2 deficit in the first leg.
Meanwhile, Gotham became champions of the inaugural CONCACAF Women’s Champions League after beating Mexican side Tigres 1-0 in a tense final in May thanks to Esther Gonzalez’s 82nd-minute winner. The NWSL team also qualified for the semifinals of this year’s competition and will face Club America in May.
Brazilian side Corinthians qualified for the Champions League by beating Deportivo Cali 5-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the Copa Libertadores final in October.
What is a tournament? Where is it?
The Women’s Champions League is launched by FIFA in conjunction with the separate Women’s Club World Cup, pitting six continental club champions against each other. Essentially, the winners of each of the top continental competitions organized by their respective governing bodies last season: the UEFA Champions League, CONCACAF Women’s Champions League and the equivalent competition in each continent.
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The Women’s Champions League is divided into three separate stages: the first round, the second round and the “final stage”.
As early as October, the first round of matches ended. Last season’s AFC Champions League champion Wuhan Chegujiang University WFC defeated last season’s AFC Champions League champion Auckland United 1-0 at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium.
In the second round match on December 14, the Moroccan club ASFAR, representing the African Football Confederation, defeated the Wuhan Chegujiang Team 2-1 after falling behind 0-1 and advanced to the final stage, which included two semi-finals, a third-place match and the final.
It was announced in December that Brentford’s 17,250-capacity Gtech Community Stadium would host the two semi-finals on January 28, while Arsenal’s 60,700-capacity Emirates Stadium would be the venue for the third-place match and final on February 1.
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FIFA chief football officer Jill Ellis said at a press conference attended by Competitorticket sales, climate, infrastructure and broadcast coverage were all factors in the decision to stage the inaugural Champions League in London, while Arsenal’s large fan base was also seen as a useful platform to support the competition. There will be a bidding process for future versions.
Champions League schedule
Semi-final 1
Wednesday 28 January: Gotham FC v Corinthians (12.30pm GMT, 7.30am ET) – Gtech Community Stadium
Semi-final 2
Wednesday 28 January: ASFAR v Arsenal (6pm GMT, 1pm ET) – Gtech Community Stadium
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third place competition
Sunday 1 February: Runners-up of Semi-final 1 v Runner-up of Semi-final 2 (2.45pm GMT, 9.45am ET) – Emirates Stadium
final
Sunday 1 February: Winner of Semi-Final 1 v Winner of Semi-final 2 (6pm GMT, 1pm ET) – Emirates Stadium
Who is broadcasting the game?
On January 15, FIFA announced that Sky Sports had obtained the broadcast rights for the semi-finals, third-place matches and finals in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In the United States, DAZN will broadcast the two semifinals free-to-air but not the third-place match and the final, with FIFA saying in a press release that more details on those games would be announced “soon.”
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DAZN will broadcast the four games free-to-air to all semi-finalist teams outside their home markets (England, Brazil, Morocco and the United States).
These broadcast deals only apply to this year’s games.
Sky Sports said its match coverage will be reported by Izzy Christiansen, Caroline Barker, Natalie Gedela, Ellen Ellard and Courtney Sweetman-Kirk.
What does the winner get?
The winner of the inaugural Women’s Champions League will receive $2.3 million (£1.69 million; €1.95 million).
World soccer’s governing body FIFA said that in addition to “the largest single prize ever awarded in women’s football”, the second-place team will receive $1 million, and the third- and fourth-place teams will receive $200,000 as they take part in a total of $6 million in prize money.
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At the same time, Oakland United and Wuhan Chegujiang WFC, which were eliminated in the previous rounds, will each receive US$100,000.
The promised prize money is just $200,000 less than the $2.5 million the winner of the 2025 global sevens tournament, which includes clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City, champions Bayern Munich and the San Diego Surge, will receive. By comparison, last year’s Women’s Champions League winner earned 350,000 euros ($412,417), although prize money was also distributed in the group stages.
Why is the competition taking place now?
Ellis said that the decision to host the Champions League in the January-February window was reached after consultations with FIFPro (the global players union) and the federations on player load, and that the federations agreed that this was the best window to host the competition.
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A study published by FIFPro in December found that women’s football has become an increasingly two-speed industry, which essentially means that top players are at risk of being overloaded with schedules, while on the other hand, players are underloaded due to a lack of competition outside the elite realm.
Ellis recognizes the challenges of adding mid-season games and the concerns that may arise for participating clubs, but says it provides an opportunity to make balanced use of their squads and promote players who may be underloaded.
The short period between FIFA finalizing plans for the Champions League in October and when the competition can be played makes negotiations with potential broadcasters more difficult. However, FIFA’s position is that in order to increase the profile of the Champions League, attracting spectators will be the first priority.
The 2027 and 2029 Champions Leagues will also be held in January, with FIFA reviewing the competition window in 2030. The 2028 Club World Cup will also be held in January.
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How about the Women’s Club World Cup?
The launch of the Women’s Champions League coincides with the approval of the Women’s Club World Cup, which was originally scheduled to be held in 2026 but has been postponed to January 5-30, 2028. The competition will be held every four years.
The Women’s Champions League is held annually, but only in years hosting the Women’s Club World Cup no is happening. So there will be a Champions League in 2026 and again in 2027, but the Women’s Club World Cup will take center stage in 2028 before returning to the Champions League over the next three years. The host cities for the 2027 Champions League and 2028 Club World Cup have yet to be determined.
The Women’s Club World Cup will feature sixteen teams, with participants divided into “direct” and “participating” entries – in contrast, the Champions League will feature just six teams who qualify directly after winning their respective continental competitions.
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UEFA will have five teams participating directly in the Club World Cup, while CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, AFC and CAF will each have two participants. Oceania is the only federation not directly participating. It, like other continents, will receive a qualification to participate.
Champions League winners do not automatically qualify for the Club World Cup.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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