Weakened Barcelona begin defence as wide-open Women's Champions League kicks off
This time, it really is wide open
The league phase of a new Women's Champions League campaign begins on Tuesday with genuine elements of unpredictability, intrigue and a competitive feel after holders Barcelona — winners of four titles in six years — underwent significant changes this summer.
The Spanish champions, who have reached six European finals in a row, have had four players who started the victory in last season's final leave the club. Ona Batlle joined Arsenal, Salma Paralluelo signed for OL Lyonnes — against whom she scored twice in that 4-0 win to clinch the title in May — and Alexia Putellas and Mapi León moved to London City Lionesses. The Spanish giants have a very different look and feel to the formidable aura they demonstrated in Oslo.
They are still the team to beat, though, and retain an excellent squad, including the winner of the last three Ballons d'Or in Aitana Bonmatí — although she is doubtful for their opener against Paris FC on Wednesday with injury — as well as last season's top scorer in the competition, Ewa Pajor, and their captain, the Spain midfielder Patri Guijarro. It will still take a world-class team to topple them, but there is perhaps no longer that same air of invincibility accompanying them this time.
Lyonnes and the English trio sensing their chance
Hoping to capitalise and reclaim a title they have not won since 2022 — a relatively long wait given they are the record eight-time winners — are OL Lyonnes. They had a comparatively good transfer window, adding Paralluelo, who scored her first goal for the club on Friday during an 8-1 demolition of Le Havre, and the Scotland midfielder Caroline Weir, who joined after four years at Real Madrid. Lifting the European Cup would be a defining achievement for their owner, Michele Kang — who also owns Washington Spirit and London City Lionesses — and for their head coach, Jonatan Giráldez, if he could win the competition with a second team after his back-to-back successes with Barcelona in 2023 and 2024.
Bayern Munich should also be in contention, along with a trio of English sides — Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City — all of whom have the squads and resources to mount significant challenges.
Arsenal, winners in 2025 — and 2007, when the competition was known as the Women's Cup — remain the only English club to have won major European silverware, which feels at odds with modern-day big spending in the WSL and the division's frequent jostling with the NWSL for the unofficial title of the "best league in the world". They strengthened the depth in their squad this summer, not least with the arrivals of Georgia Stanway from Bayern and Batlle from Barcelona, and their ability to bring top-level internationals on from the bench in almost every position should make them a real force. They open their campaign at home to Danish side HB Køge on Tuesday night (20:00 BST).
Manchester City, the English domestic champions, reached the quarter-finals in 2025 but missed out last season, and have something of a point to prove and a desire to make up for lost time. They have not reached the semi-finals since 2017-18 — knocked out by Real Madrid in qualifying in 2021-22 and 2022-23, eliminated by Atlético Madrid in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and absent from Europe altogether in 2023-24. They were delighted to retain the services of the WSL's top scorer, Khadija Shaw, and it will be fascinating to watch the Jamaica striker unleashed on Europe's biggest club competition. City's campaign begins with a tricky-looking test away to Bayern.
Chelsea, finalists only once when they were beaten by Barcelona in 2021, would love to return to the top stage again at this season's final, which is being held at Poland's national stadium in Warsaw in May.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, boosted their attacking ranks with the signing of Felicia Schröder, the breakthrough player of last season's inaugural Women's Europa Cup, from the Swedish champions Häcken. They open their campaign at home against Paris Saint-Germain.
Notable absences and a new format
For many, it may feel strange for the competition to begin without Putellas after so many years of the Spain midfielder being one of its biggest names. Similarly, the absence of Wolfsburg is jarring: the two-time champions' run of 14 successive years in the competition — which at one point included 11 quarter-finals in a row — ended in shock fashion when they lost to Inter on penalties in qualifying. Inter are one of three Italian sides in the league phase, the first time so many from Serie A have made it this far, and they are joined by Austria Wien as debutants at this stage.
The 18-team league phase runs until 16 December. The top four progress directly to the quarter-finals in March, while the teams ranked between fifth and 12th will contest a knockout-phase play-off in February.