Two rising US stars made their European marks this week, as both OL Lyonnes midfielder Lily Yohannes and Chelsea FC forward Alyssa Thompson registered their first-ever UWCL goals in the second week of 2025/26 Champions League play on Wednesday — mere hours after earning call-ups to October's USWNT roster.
First, Yohannes launched a 57-yard screamer in the 51st minute of the French club's 3-0 win over Austrian side St. Pölten, with the 18-year-old helping lift Lyonnes over the competition after spotting the keeper out of her goal.
Later on Wednesday afternoon, recent WSL addition Thompson piled onto the Blues' eventual 4-0 thrashing of Paris FC, firing in her debut Champions League goal off a low cross from England mainstay Kiera Walsh.
"She brings a lot of speed up front," Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said of Thompson. "She also is a player who is really comfortable on the ball."
How to watch 2025/26 Champions League action on Thursday
The second matchday of the 2025/26 UWCL league phase continues on Thursday, as WSL side Manchester United — anchored by USWNT goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce — faces Spanish club Atlético Madrid at 12:45 PM ET before reigning champion Arsenal looks to bounce back from their Champions League opening loss by defeating Portugal's Benfica at 3 PM ET.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will air live on Paramount+.
The 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League action returns on Wednesday, kicking off another week of league-phase play as WSL titans Chelsea search for their first UWCL win of the season.
The Blues settled for a disappointing 1-1 draw with FC Twente last week, despite outshooting the Dutch club 20-9 while holding 65% of possession.
"When I analyze the games, I think we are creating a lot, which is the most important thing," said Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor. "But the most difficult thing in football is to score goals. We need to stay confident and keep trying."
"Sometimes, when you're able to be clinical, you kill the opposition’s hope a bit sooner," Bompastor continued, hoping to supercharge the Blues' offense ahead of their Wednesday afternoon clash with French side Paris FC.
Other UWCL heavy hitters will also feature on Wednesday's pitch, as Barcelona, Wolfsburg and OL Lyonnes all look to continue their winning ways after major victories in last week's opening slate.
The rest of the 18-club league phase will conclude the second matchday on Thursday, when fellow WSL powerhouses Manchester United and defending Champions League winners Arsenal return to the UWCL pitch.
How to watch Chelsea vs. Paris FC in Champions League play
Chelsea will host Paris FC in London for their second league phase match at 3 PM ET on Wednesday.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will air live on Paramount+.
OL Lyonnes scored some UEFA Champions League revenge on Tuesday, upending reigning UWCL champs Arsenal 2-1 in the powerhouse pair's 2025/26 league phase opener in London.
In a rematch of last season's Champions League semifinal, Haiti international Melchie Dumornay sealed the OL Lyonnes result with a first-half brace for the French titans, quickly countering Arsenal forward Alessia Russo's seventh-minute strike.
"Errors happen from time to time, but if they happen too often, of course, there's something there," noted Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers, referencing the defensive mistakes that led to both OL Lyonnes goals. "Sometimes it's intangible or hard to put your finger on because it's a mixture of things."
"We won't get too high [or] too low in this situation," the Gunners manager continued, adding "the team went through hard times last year as well, and then we ended the season on a high with an amazing achievement in the Champions League."
OL Lyonnes weren't the only opening-day league phase victors, as Juventus took down Benfica 2-1 while 2024/25 runners-up Barcelona demolished Bundesliga side Bayern Munich 7-1 behind a pair of braces from attackers Ewa Pajor and Clàudia Pina.
Unlike previous iterations, the 2025/26 Champions League format does not include first-round rematches, with each team facing six different opponents before advancing to the knockouts.
How to watch 2025/26 Champions League games
UWCL league phase opening matches conclude with five games on Wednesday, with WSL winners Chelsea FC kicking off the action against Dutch side FC Twente at 12:45 PM ET.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will air live on Paramount+.
The 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League begins anew this week, as the European club competition kicks off its first-ever league phase with a blockbuster lineup.
Italian powerhouse Juventus sets the stage against Portugal's Benfica early Tuesday afternoon, before reigning champs Arsenal start their title defense against eight-time winners OL Lyonnes while 2023/24 champs Barcelona face Bundesliga standout Bayern Munich.
"Winning last year hasn't changed that mindset one bit," Arsenal and USWNT defender Emily Fox said this week. "We know that any team on their day is dangerous and, especially with the new format this season, it's not going to be easy."
The debut format Fox refers to replaces the previous group-stage setup, with the new league phase seeing all 18 clubs playing six matches each — three at home and three away — against six different opponents.
While the league phase will eliminate the bottom six teams, the top four finishers will automatically qualify for next spring's quarterfinal round.
As for the 5th- through 12th-place clubs, they must battle in a two-legged knockout playoff round next February in order to punch their quarterfinal tickets.
How to watch the 2025/26 Champions League matches
The league phase of the 2025/26 Champions League campaign opens on Tuesday when Juventus takes on Benfica at 12:45 PM ET.
Arsenal vs. OL Lyonnes and Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich will then snag the spotlight at 3 PM ET.
All UWCL matches will air live on Paramount+.
The UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) made the first- and second-round qualifying draws for the competition's 2025/26 season on Tuesday, with clubs across Europe battling for the nine remaining tickets into the continental tournament's new 18-team league phase.
Along with 2024/25 UWCL champions Arsenal, eight other clubs earned automatic byes through to the league phase, including France's OL Lyonnes, WSL winners Chelsea FC, and last season's Champions League runners-up Barcelona.
Four more teams will join the nine automatic qualifiers via the 2025/26 competition's Champions Path, with the final five clubs coming from the League Path.
Under the tournament's new format, 46 winning teams from non-automatically qualified leagues will battle through the Champions Path, with an additional 22 non-league champions hoping to advance via the League Path.
Notable clubs like England's Manchester United, Sweden's Hammarby, and Italy's Roma will enter through the League Path, setting up tense battles as both parity and rising interest spreads through European women's leagues.
Regardless of Path, all first and second qualifying rounds will function as mini-tournaments with single-leg semifinals, a final, and a third-place match, all hosted by one of the participating clubs.
The winners will then advance to a third-and-final qualifying round, with the eventual nine victors guaranteed a spot in the UWCL League Phase while the runners-up head to the brand-new incoming UEFA Europa Cup competition.
The road to the 2025/26 Champions League trophy officially kicks off with first-round qualifying play on July 30th, with the competition's second round mini-tournaments set to begin on August 27th.
CBS is bringing UEFA Champions League (UWCL) action to the US next season, with the network announcing Saturday that it has acquired the European Championship tournament's exclusive broadcast rights through the 2029/30 campaign.
Ending with English side Arsenal lifting their first UWCL trophy in 18 years, last weekend's Champion's League final was the competition's last match in its a four-year international media deal with streamer DAZN.
Starting next season, however, CBS will air all 75 Champions League matches live across Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, and the CBS Sports Golazo Network.
"CBS Sports is proud to be the home of all women's and men's UEFA club competitions through the end of the decade," said CBS Sports' EVP of programming Dan Weinberg.
Further aligning with the men's tournament, the post-qualifiers Champions League competition will grow from 16 to 18 teams in 2025/26, while also transitioning from a group stage play-in to a single-league standings format.
"As the competition embarks on an exciting new era, we look forward to CBS Sports delivering its dynamic and insightful coverage to American audiences, showcasing the highest level of women's club football in its new format over the next five seasons," said Guy-Laurent Epstein, managing director at UC3, the commercial entity uniting UEFA and the European Club Association.
Arsenal are European champions once again, with the Gunners claiming an upset for the ages by silencing back-to-back defending champs Barcelona 1-0 in Saturday's 2024/25 UEFA Champions League final.
Second-half sub Stina Blackstenius notched the match's lone goal in the 74th minute, as Arsenal's stout defense clashed with an uncharacteristically flimsy Barcelona attack to secure the WSL side's first Champions League title in 18 years.
Arsenal remains the only English club to ever hoist the Champions League trophy, with the Gunners joining just Barcelona and the newly rebranded OL Lyonnes as the only teams to win the season-long tournament since 2015.
"My dreams came true," vice captain Leah Williamson — who joined Arsenal at the age of eight — told ESPN during a Monday celebration at the Gunners' Emirates Stadium home.
"I think it sunk in when I turned around and saw on the stadium, the honoring of the previous team that did it [in 2007], and then computing in my head that that's what we did — raising a Champions League trophy on Armoury Square. I'm just so happy."
Barcelona will be back, of course, but a few new faces claiming European football's biggest honor can only strengthen the competition going forward.
The 2024/25 UEFA Champions League final kicks off on Saturday, as underdogs Arsenal and defending champs Barcelona each chase history in a head-to-head clash at Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Spanish titans aren't just hunting their third European championship in a row — a victory keeps Barcelona's hopes of completing a second straight quadruple alive with their Copa de la Reina finale looming next month.
To do so, however, they'll have to outlast the only English team to ever lift the European trophy, a feat Arsenal accomplished back in 2007.
Making their first Champions League final in 18 years, this season's Gunners are scrappy, boasting an explosive offense that led the league in scoring behind joint-WSL Golden Boot winner Alessia Russo.
The WSL runners-up bounced back from three first-leg deficits against Häcken FC, Real Madrid, and OL Lyonnes en route to the championship match — leading Barcelona star midfielder Aitana Bonmatí to call their appearance "a surprise."
"They absolutely deserve it, because scoring four goals against [eight-time Champions League winners] Lyon in the second leg is not easy at all," the back-to-back Ballon d'Or winner told ESPN. "I congratulate them for that because I think it was a big surprise, but a well-deserved one."
On Saturday, the pair will square off for the first time since 2021, when Barcelona defeated Arsenal twice in Champions League group-stage play.
"It's going to be a tough game — it's a final," said Barcelona defender Caroline Graham Hansen. "You just have to be prepared to leave your heart and soul out there and see who the better team on the day will be."
How to watch the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League final
Arsenal and Barcelona will battle for European glory at 12 PM ET on Saturday, with the Champions League grand finale streaming live on DAZN.
Arsenal advanced to their first UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) final in 18 years on Sunday, defeating eight-time tournament winners Lyon 4-1 to punch their ticket to next month's title matchup against reigning champs FC Barcelona.
The Gunners overcame a 2-1 first-leg deficit to beat Lyon, with the French side suffering their first Champions League semifinal ousting since 2009.
"We are very, very, very proud," said Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers. "I think this was the biggest challenge so far, coming back from a 2-1 loss at the [Arsenal Stadium] against this top team with so much quality, and then coming out here, so calm and composed, with so much belief in what we're doing and courage on the pitch."
Powerhouse Barcelona awaits Arsenal in Champions League final
Overcoming an opening loss has been a theme for Arsenal throughout their 2024/25 Champions League campaign. Other than the tournament's very first qualifying round, the Gunners have dropped the first match of every single round thus far, using high-octane offense to claim the wins needed to keep advancing.
There are no multiple matches in the next round, however, where Arsenal will play underdog to titans Barcelona in the competition's final match.
The decorated Spanish club handed WSL-leaders Chelsea back-to-back 4-1 thrashings to seal their place in the 2024/25 Champions League final, ending the Blues' historic quadruple quest in the process.
Barcelona has now reached five of the last six Champions League title matches, taking home the trophy in 2021, 2023, and 2024.
Arsenal, on the other hand, is the only English team to ever lift the European trophy — a feat the Gunners accomplished back in 2007.
The teams will have a little less than a month to prepare for the tournament's grand finale, as the 2024/25 UWCL championship match will kick off in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 24th.
As the 2024/25 UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) wraps up its two-leg semifinals on Sunday, the English teams still in the running find themselves on the brink of elimination from Europe's most prestigious club competition.
Facing a 4-1 deficit against reigning champs Barcelona, Chelsea will aim to close the gap — and keep their historic quadruple hopes alive — at home this weekend.
Meanwhile, Arsenal will try to overcome a more manageable 2-1 deficit against eight-time Champions League winners Lyon, traveling to France to keep their UWCL campaign alive.
An English side hasn't won the UWCL since 2007, when Arsenal took home the WSL's lone European championship trophy.
"Huge respect for their history and what they have been doing and producing in the Champions League, in Europe," Arsenal manager Renée Slegers said of Lyon. "I think they're still a very strong side."
"Subconsciously, you always have that thing when you fall short, like last year," said Lyon midfielder and USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps, reflecting back on last season’s title loss to Barcelona. "You lose a game, you lose a tournament – the feeling is there until you're back in the the games that can fix that feeling."
How to watch the 2024/25 Champions League semifinals
Sunday's second leg of the 2024/25 Champions League semifinals kicks off with Chelsea vs. Barcelona at 9 AM ET, before Arsenal faces Lyon at 12 PM ET.
Both matches will air live on DAZN.