UEFA Women's Champions League


The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup, is an international women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
The competition was first played in 2001–02 under the name UEFA Women's Cup, and renamed the Champions League for the 2009–10 edition. The most significant changes in 2009 were the inclusion of runners-up from the top eight ranked nations, a one-off final as opposed to the two-legged finals in previous years, and – until 2018 – playing the final in the same city as the men's UEFA Champions League final. From the 2021–22 season, the competition proper will include a group stage for the first time in the Women's Champions League era.
Lyon is the most successful club in the competition's history, winning the title six times.

Format

UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009)

A preliminary round was played to reduce teams to 32, in the first season only two teams played a two-legged match, the following seasons were played as four team mini-tournaments which had the winner advance to the group stage. Teams were then divided into eight groups of four. The groups were played again as mini-tournaments at a single location over the course of five days. The group winners then advanced to the quarter-finals. The knock-out rounds were played as two-legged. That included the final which was only played as a single leg in 2002.
For the 2004–05 season the group stage was played in four groups with the top two teams advancing to the quarter-finals. That resulted in more qualifying groups.

Champions League (2009–2021)

On 11 December 2008, UEFA announced that the competition would be reformatted and renamed to the UEFA Women's Champions League. As in the men's game, the new tournament aims to include runners-up of the top women's football leagues in Europe, and the title holder has the right to enter if they do not qualify through their domestic competition. Also similar to the men, the final is to be played in a single match.
The competition is open to the champions of all 55 UEFA associations. However, not all associations have or had a qualifying women's league, and not all nations opt to participate each year. Due to the varying participation, the number of teams playing the qualifying round and teams entering in the round of 32 change from year to year. The principles are inferred from the access list: Numbers are based on three principles:
For example, in a 53-team tournament, 25 teams directly enter the R32, with seven qualifying groups providing seven group winners and no runners-up; if the tournament were 60 teams instead, 20 teams would directly enter the R32, with ten qualifying groups providing ten group winners and two runners-up.

Minor adjustments

When the new format was initially announced, the eight top countries according to the UEFA league coefficient between 2003 and 2004 and 2007–08 would be awarded two places in the new Women's Champions League. The runners-up from each country participated in the qualifying rounds for the first two years under the Champions League format.
For the 2011–12 tournament, the runners-up from the top eight nations instead qualified directly to the R32. For the five years under this format, seven nations remained in the top eight: Germany, Sweden, England, France, Denmark, Russia, and Italy. A different nation provided the eighth runner-up in each of the five years: Iceland, Norway, Austria, Czech Republic, and Spain in that order.
The tournament was expanded again for the 2016–17 season, with the runners-up from nations 9-12 in the UEFA league coefficient also qualifying. Whether they begin participation in the qualifying round or the R32 depends on how many total teams participate in the tournament. For the first three years under this format, the four nations in these slots were Czech Republic, Austria, Scotland, and Norway, though Czech Republic rose into the top 8 at the expense of Russia; for the 2019–20 season, Switzerland replaced Norway, and for the final season under this format, Norway, Kazakhstan, and The Netherlands replaced Russia, Scotland, and Austria in the top 12.

Champions League (2021–)

On 4 December 2019, the UEFA Executive Committee approved a new format for the 2021–22 season. The top six associations will enter three teams, the associations ranked 7–16 will enter two, and the remaining associations will enter one. The competition is restructured to appear much more similar to the men's CL format than before, with a double-round-robin group stage in the competition proper, the first time in the Women's Champions League era, and two paths for all teams that do not automatically qualify for the group stage. UEFA will also centralise the media rights from the group stage onward, having previously only done so for the final.
Under this new format, the group stage - four groups of four - qualifies eight teams to the home-and-away quarterfinals, at which point the competition remains the same as before. Four teams qualify directly to the group stage: the defending UWCL champions and the league champions from the nations ranked 1–3 by UEFA coefficient. Seven teams qualify from the champions path - guaranteeing that at least ten nations will be represented in the group stage - and five from the league path. Qualification along both paths takes place in two rounds: a first round consisting of four-team, predetermined-venue miniature tournaments and a second round of paired home-and-away ties. In this format, the first round is similar to the previous qualifying round except that teams play a two-game knockout tournament instead of a three-game round-robin, and the second round is similar to the previous round of 32 except that the range of possible opponents is more stratified.

Prize money

Prize-money was awarded for a first time in 2010 when both finalists received money. In 2011 the payments were extended to losing semi- and quarter-finalists. The current prize-money structure is
In the Champions League teams also receive 20,000 Euro for playing each round or the qualifying. There have been several complaints about the sum, which doesn't cover costs for some longer trips which include flights.

Sponsorship

Until the 2015–18 cycle, UEFA Women's Champions League used to have the same sponsors as the UEFA Champions League. However, starting from the 2018–21 cycle, women's football competitions – including the Champions League – have their separate sponsors.
Official Sponsors

  • Visa
  • Nike
  • Hublot
  • Esprit

Records and statistics

Winners

ClubWinnersRunners-upYears wonYears runners-up
Lyon622011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 20192010, 2013
Frankfurt422002, 2006, 2008, 20152004, 2012
Umeå232003, 20042002, 2007, 2008
Turbine Potsdam222005, 20102006, 2011
Wolfsburg222013, 20142016, 2018
Arsenal102007
Duisburg102009
Paris Saint-Germain022015, 2017
Fortuna Hjørring012003
Djurgården/Älvsjö012005
Zvezda Perm012009
Tyresö012014
Barcelona012019

By nation

Since the format change in 2009, no team from a nation outside the top two has made the final, save for Tyresö in 2014. Also, no team from a nation outside the top four made the semi-finals until Brøndby in 2015; Barcelona then made the semi-finals in 2017 and the final in 2019.

Top scorers by tournament

The top-scorer award is given to the player who scores the most goals in the entire competition, thus it includes the qualifying rounds. Iceland's Margrét Lára Vidarsdóttir has won the award three times. Ada Hegerberg holds the record for most goals in a season.
SeasonTopscorer Goals
2018–19Pernille Harder 8
2017–18Ada Hegerberg 15
2016–17Zsanett Jakabfi
Vivianne Miedema 		8
2015–16Ada Hegerberg 13
2014–15Célia Šašić 14
2013–14Milena Nikolić 11
2012–13Laura Rus 11
2011–12Camille Abily
Eugénie Le Sommer 		9
2010–11Inka Grings 13
2009–10Vanessa Bürki 11
2008–09Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir 14
2007–08Vira Dyatel
Patrizia Panico
Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir 		9
2006–07Julie Fleeting 9
2005–06Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir 11
2004–05Conny Pohlers 14
2003–04Maria Gstöttner 11
2002–03Hanna Ljungberg 10
2001–02Gabriela Enache 12

All-time top scorers

Bold players still active.
RankTopscorerGoalsClubs
1 Ada Hegerberg53Stabæk, 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, Olympique Lyon
2 Anja Mittag511. FFC Turbine Potsdam, FC Rosengård, Paris Saint-Germain, Wolfsburg, FC Rosengård
3 Conny Pohlers481. FFC Turbine Potsdam, 1. FFC Frankfurt, Wolfsburg
4 Eugénie Le Sommer46Olympique Lyon
4 Marta46Umeå IK, Tyresö FF, FC Rosengård
6 Camille Abily43Montpellier, Olympique Lyon
7 Lotta Schelin42Olympique Lyon, FC Rosengård
8 Nina Burger40SV Neulengbach
9 Hanna Ljungberg39Umeå IK
10 Inka Grings38FCR 2001 Duisburg, FC Zürich Frauen

International broadcasters

This article should not be confused with List of UEFA Champions League broadcasters

2018–2021

Final only. The coverage will be live streamed on UEFA YouTube channel in the unsold markets with highlights available in all territories.

Europe

– FTA coverage only available in Sweden.

Outside Europe

– exclude 2019 Final.

Gallery