The Champions League final is fast approaching. Chelsea vs Barcelona: two teams who have yet to win the coveted trophy, and who are each looking to wrap up their wildly successful seasons. 

These are the players who will decide which team walks away with the biggest trophy in Europe.

𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 🤝

⚽️ @ChelseaFCW vs @FCBfemeni
🗓 Sunday 16 May
⏰ 21:00 CET
🏟 Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg

Who’s lifting the #UWCL🏆 in Sweden?

#UWCLfinal

— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) May 5, 2021

Asisat Oshoala, Barcelona 

It became apparent early on in Asisat Oshoala’s career that she was a player to watch. In her teen years, she impressed for F.C. Robbo and River Angels, two clubs in her native country of Nigeria. Her breakout year in 2014 saw her lead Nigeria to the final of the 2014 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Canada. Nigeria ended up losing 1-0 to Germany, but Oshoala was awarded the Golden Ball for being the best player of the tournament and the Golden Shoe for being the tournament’s top scorer. A couple of months later, Nigeria won the 2014 African Women’s Championship, and Oshoala was again awarded the Golden Ball. 

She became the first African player to play in England when she signed for Liverpool in 2015, and a year later, she moved to Arsenal, winning the FA Women’s Cup with the Gunners. After a short stint in China with Dalian W.F.C., where she won two league championships, she was acquired on a loan deal by Barcelona in the middle of the 2018/19 season. 

Oshoala’s performances at Barcelona have cemented her as one of the world’s best. In her first season, she failed to win any hardware with the club, despite having a fantastic individual season, scoring seven goals in her seven league appearances. Barcelona came second in the Primera División, losing the top spot to Atlético Madrid. 

The club had a chance to win their first-ever UEFA Women’s Champions League that season; however, they lost 4-1 to the ever-dominant Olympique Lyonnais. Regardless, Oshoala made history that night, becoming the first Barcelona player and African player to ever score in a Women’s Champions League Final and the first Nigerian to score in any Champions League final, men’s or women’s.

The winner from the 3⃣ talented nominees for African Women's Player of the Year is...

Asisat Oshoala! 🏆#CAFAwards2019 pic.twitter.com/5buHOw3NjV

— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 7, 2020

In her second season, she was an integral part of the club, winning both the Primera División and Copa de la Reina. This season, Barcelona are on track to once again win the league, having won every single league game thus far, putting them at a perfect 75 points, with 127 goals scored in 25 games. Their ticket to the Champions League final came from victories in the quarter-final against Manchester City and the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain.

Oshoala, as a striker, is one of the deadliest poachers in the game. When she’s in the box, she consistently finishes plays by challenging the opposition defenders for the ball and betting on herself in 1vs1 situations against the goalkeeper. 

Every team has struggled to contain her in the Champions League thus far. Chelsea will need to buck the trend if they want to win.

Lieke Martens, Barcelona

Even if Chelsea can successfully isolate Oshoala, they’ll still have to worry about Barcelona’s star midfielder Lieke Martens. 

Martens spent the first eight years of her career playing all around Europe, accumulating different tactics from different coaches that allowed her to become the versatile player she is today. 

The Dutch native began her career in Holland with Heerenveen in 2009 before moving on to VVV-Venlo the following year. She then moved to Belgium to play for Standard Liege, where she won the Super Cup in 2012. 

Martens then went on to play for Duisburg in Germany and for Goteborg and Rosengärd in Sweden, where she won the Cup and Super Cup with the latter in 2016. 

She also made her senior national team debut in 2011 after becoming the top scorer at the U–19 Euros in 2010. With the senior national team, she then scored the Netherlands’ first-ever Women’s World Cup goal in 2015, at the age of 22. 

She became one of Barcelona’s most high-profile signings in 2017 and since then has continued to impress. The same month, she led the Netherlands to their first international trophy after they beat Denmark 4-2 in the final of the 2017 UEFA European Women’s Championship. She was named the tournament’s best player and was awarded not only the Golden Ball but also the Bronze Boot. 

Her contributions to Barcelona, both in Primera División and in the Champions League, have earned her a multitude of individual honours, including the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year Award and The Best FIFA Women’s Player. 

As mentioned prior, Martens is an exceptionally well-rounded player with the versatility to play both on the wing and in midfield. Her unpredictability is a nightmare for opponents, and her ability to read the game allows her to dictate the play and tempo of the match in favour of her side. She is also disciplined enough to put in a shift defensively and make sure that the opponent’s attackers do not have any number advantage.

🎥 Torna a vibrar amb el memorable doblet de @liekemartens1 des d'un altre angle #ForçaBarça #UWCL pic.twitter.com/voIUXyPfVg

— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) May 3, 2021

Her positional awareness, dribbling ability and speed are aspects of her game that can push Barcelona over the line to win their first-ever Champions League trophy. 

Fran Kirby, Chelsea

Barcelona may be stacked, with players like Oshoala, Martens, Alexia Putellas, Vicky Losada, and Jennifer Hermoso. But so is Chelsea. 

Fran Kirby has been one of their most dominant players since she signed for the London club in 2015. 

Kirby has always been a goalscorer. Prior to Chelsea, she played for Reading, her hometown club, and in forty-two appearances, she scored 68 goals, averaging 1.6 goals a game. When she signed for Chelsea, expectations were high. 

And these expectations were met. With the club, Kirby has won six trophies, including four FA Women’s Super League titles, the most of any team. 

With England, Kirby was a standout in the team’s third-place finish in the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada and was an integral part of the Lionesses win in the SheBelieves Cup in 2019. 

Kirby is another one of those extremely versatile players who can play multiple positions. Initially, Kirby was an attacking midfielder, playing in the number 10 role, which occupies the space right behind the forward players. Her job was to make plays and connect the team’s midfield to the forward strikers. However, over the years, she has been deployed as second striker often, playing more in the penalty box and supporting the number nine in scoring goals. 

'And a Champions League final for Chelsea!' 🔥@FranKirby sealing it for the Blues! 😍 pic.twitter.com/oli4kEBqgA

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) May 4, 2021

Kirby has scored 23 goals this season, with six of them being in the Champions League, the most out of any Chelsea player. Barcelona will have to work tirelessly in defence if they don’t want to concede a goal that Kirby is involved in. 

Pernille Harder, Chelsea

It’s hard to talk about Kirby without talking about Harder, who have been partners in crime on the pitch for Chelsea this season. We already know that Sam Kerr will be a difference maker in the Champions League final, but Harder’s play may have a greater impact on Chelsea’s success. 

Harder spent the early days of her career in her home country of Denmark. Playing primarily as a striker at IK Skovbakken, she scored 22 goals in 27 appearances. By 2012, after five years of playing in Denmark, she decided to move to Sweden to play for Linköpings. Her performances in the Damallsvenskan (Swedish League) are what got her international recognition. In two seasons, she won three trophies and won the Damallsvenskan’s Forward of the Year and MVP award twice. 

By 2016, several clubs had shown interest in acquiring Harder, and in January of 2017, she became a VfL Wolfsburg player. Harder was part of a larger project at Wolfsburg, with the club signing several high-profile players in hopes of being a consistent force in German football and in the Champions League. 

Harder’s time at Wolfsburg did lead to domestic domination. The club won both the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal double in the four consecutive seasons that Harder was a part of the team, with Harder winning the league Golden Boot in two of those seasons. However, Wolfsburg were no match for Lyon, and they lost to the French club in two separate Champions League finals. 

Despite coming second in both 2018 and 2020, Harder impressed during all her Champions League campaigns with Wolfsburg, winning two UEFA Women’s Player of the Year Awards and two UEFA Champions League Forward Awards. 

With her performances in Germany, it was no surprise that she became the world’s most expensive women footballer after signing for Chelsea in September of 2020. The world-record fee saw Harder come to London and join a star-studded attack that includes Kirby, Kerr, and Bethany England. 

Champions League final. Here we come!!! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/eaVD7KucUL

— Pernille Harder (@PernilleMHarder) May 4, 2021

Harder has taken Chelsea to the next level; she is a creative and game-intelligent forward who makes her mark through excellent positioning, intricate passing, and on-target shooting. She has the ability to play as a forward, a second striker, or an attacking midfielder.

Chelsea have already won three trophies this season, and both Harder and Kirby have been integral to the team’s success. Barcelona will have to work as a unit to be defensively sound in order to keep the Chelsea offense out.

Tune in: Champions League final is Sunday, May 16th at 3:00pm ET.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 8.7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 19.4 points per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the league's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd. While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.

USWNT regulars Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson furthered their cases for Olympic inclusion with their respective club victories on Saturday and Sunday.

After a roller coaster of a week that saw former Thorns head coach Mike Norris reassigned and a flurry of last-minute roster reshufflings as Friday's trade window closure loomed, the NWSL sprung to life over the weekend with standout performances from ninth-place Portland and third-place Chicago, among others.

After her blocked attempt at goal set up a volleying sixth-minute opener from veteran Christine Sinclair — now the only player in history to record a goal in all 11 NWSL seasons — Smith swiftly netted her own in the 27th minute off a breakaway run that eluded Houston's backline. The goal represented Smith's third of the season as well as her 35th for the Thorns, ultimately leading to the home side's first win of the season in a 4-1 routing of the Dash.

But that wasn't Smith's only stat of the evening. The star forward also lapped former Chicago Red Star Sam Kerr to become the youngest player to reach 50 NWSL goal contributions across all games, chalking up 40 goals and 10 assists at the age of 23 years and 254 days.

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"Obviously it feels good to get a win," said Smith in a post-match press conference. "But this is the standard the Thorns have always had. So a win is great, but a win is the expectation — we're hungrier than ever after the way we started."

170 miles up the road, Lumen Field similarly showcased some promising Olympic prospect footwork on Sunday. In Chicago's 2-1 victory over the lagging 13th-place Seattle Reign, striker Mallory Swanson racked up an impressive counterattack assist on fellow forward Ally Schlegel's fourth-minute goal. Swanson went on to find the back of the net herself before halftime, lacing an explosive ball into the top corner in the 31st minute, her second of the season after returning from a lengthy sidelining injury.

Speaking of injuries, fellow USWNT favorites Alex Morgan and Tierna Davidson were not as fortunate as their national squad teammates this weekend. Each exited their club matches early, Morgan with an ankle knock in San Diego's loss to Orlando and Davidson with an apparent hamstring incident early on in Washington's win over Gotham.