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Ada Hegerberg, DAZN making big moves in UEFA Women’s Champions League

Ada Hegerberg
(Monika Majer/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, DAZN announced that it had acquired the broadcasting rights to the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL). As part of the four-year deal, which starts Tuesday, fans around the world will be able to watch UWCL games live on one centralized channel for the first time.

Now, Ada Hegerberg, UWCL’s all-time leading scorer, has joined forces with DAZN as their first-ever, season-long global women’s football ambassador. Returning to the pitch after a nearly two-year recovery from a torn ACL, Hegerberg will actively represent a landmark investment in the women’s game.

The Olympique Lyonnais forward and inaugural female Ballon d’Or winner, who’s also a campaign ambassador for We All Rise with More Eyes, is passionate about pushing for more women’s sports coverage.

“With success, huge responsibility comes with you,” Hegerberg told Just Women’s Sports. “You want to use that for something good and I think the women’s game needs high profiles to carry the game. And the more of us there are, the more power we have.”

Following a season in which the UWCL final wasn’t “even near to be found” on French television, Hegerberg sees DAZN’s broadcast deal as historic. All 61 UWCL matches this season and next will be available on DAZN and for free through their YouTube channel, starting with the group stage kickoff on Tuesday.

“I feel like we’ve all just been waiting for someone to just jump in there and grab the opportunity and DAZN just came into the game, took control,” said Hegerberg. “We couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t be happier because it’s all about making the sport available for people.

“We’re not talking about forcing the sport on anyone. We’re talking about giving people access to it. Whether it’s one person or one million, it’s all about inspiring people, the next generation, even the parents too.”

Growing up in Norway, Hegerberg played soccer with boys, even cutting her hair to look more like them. In the documentary “My Name is Ada Hegerberg,” Hegerberg’s mother says she didn’t let her hair grow back out until she saw the movie “Bend It Like Beckham” and realized girls could play soccer, too.

Hegerberg famously opted out of playing for the Norwegian national team in 2017, including for the 2019 World Cup, to protest the country’s unequal treatment of its women’s program. She hasn’t played for the team since.

The 26-year-old highlighted how important DAZN’s partnership with UEFA and YouTube is for young girls who need exposure to women in sports.

“I would love when I was younger to have female leader role models to look up to,” she said. “You recognize yourself in them.”

DAZN’s on-air team is the biggest ever to cover women’s soccer for a single broadcaster. The group includes dozens of professional commentators from England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Portugal and Ukraine. Each match will be available in up to three languages: English and the languages of both the home team and away team.

Included in the deal is a new installment of We All Rise with More Eyes, with a six-part series highlighting women’s football across six European countries.

DAZN and The Female Quotient also published a report on Monday, titled “The Coverage Gap,” that underlines their vision and mission with the broadcast deal. The report says that 64 percent of consumers don’t watch women’s sports because they don’t know enough about the athletes and teams and broadcasts aren’t accessible enough. It adds that lack of coverage and inadequate promotion of events create significant barriers to viewership.

The UWCL and DAZN are taking a step to change that cycle this season.

Hegerberg’s Olympique Lyonnais kick off their UWCL season on Tuesday at 12:45 p.m. ET against Häcken. The striker returned to the field in September for the first time since January 2020.

“I’m feeling great physically and mentally,” Hegerberg said. “It’s been a hell of a journey, but I really had time to reflect on myself and football in general, and kind of the whole journey humbled me a lot. It kind of reminds you how important it is to just lean back and enjoy the game because we’re here to enjoy it.”

During her season on the sideline, Lyon’s five-year run of Champions League titles came to an end when they fell in the quarterfinals to Paris Saint-Germain. PSG also interrupted Lyon’s streak of 14 consecutive Division 1 Féminin championships, winning their first in 2020-21.

Since losing to the Portland Thorns of the NWSL in the Women’s International Champions Cup on Aug. 21, Lyon is on a seven-game win streak, boasting a goal differential of plus-24.

The Champions League group stage, which runs until Dec. 16, includes four groups with 16 teams competing. The top two teams coming out of the group stage advance to the quarterfinals on Dec. 20.

Hegerberg notes there is more pressure this season with the increased depth and quality of coverage: She and the other players need to perform if they want people to watch their debut game, and the one after that, and eventually the whole season.

But Hegerberg is up for the challenge.

“Now it’s up to us, the players, the clubs, to perform and entertain so people actually want to watch this for the years to come,” she said.

Marta Weighs 2027 World Cup as Brazil Hunts 2025 Copa América Title

Legendary Brazil captain Marta runs across the pitch during a 2025 match.
Marta unretired to join Brazil at the 2025 Copa América tournament. (Paulo Dias/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Though international retirement did not stick for Brazil legend Marta, with the 39-year-old currently captaining her world No. 4 national team at the 2025 Copa América tournament, her World Cup future remains in question.

Brazil will be hosting the 2027 event — the first ever held in South America — with the record-breaking attacker turning 41 years old a few months before the World Cup's June 24th kickoff.

"I don't know whether I'll still be playing in 2027 or whether I'll be fit," she told Brazilian outlet Globo on Sunday.

"I still have a very strong desire to be a mother. So, I might wake up one day and decide to call my doctor to see if it's still possible. If it is, then bye, I have to go."

Should she decide to compete, Marta will join fellow Brazilian icon Formiga in logging seven total World Cups — the most of any athlete, man or woman, in soccer history.

In the meantime, the country's all-time leading goalscorer is currently working to help claim Brazil's ninth overall Copa América trophy.

Though early in the 2025 tournament, the Seleção is already on their way to a fifth straight title, opening their campaign with a 2-0 defeat of No. 48 Venezuela on Sunday.

"Brazil is the favorite, and we know it," said Marta. "We know our responsibility to bring home the title." 

How to watch Marta in the 2025 Copa América tournament

In their second of four group-stage matches, No. 4 Brazil will play No. 105 Bolivia at 5 PM ET on Wednesday.

The match will air live on FS1.

WNBA Expansion Team Portland Reignites Original “Fire” Name

A graphic of the revived Portland Fire team name.
The 2026 WNBA expansion team is leaning into its roots by reviving the original team name, the Portland Fire. (Portland Fire)

Portland's original WNBA team name is back, with the 2026 expansion side announcing the return of the the Portland Fire moniker on Tuesday — the name held by the city's first WNBA squad from 2000 to 2002.

With details including a "Rose on Fire" emblem— a nod to Portland's "Rose City" nickname — the city-specific nods in the new logo seek to capture Portland's identity.

"[It's] an important heritage," team interim president Clare Hamill told The Athletic this week. "The opportunity to bring the Portland Fire back, reborn, was 100 percent — creatively and for the brand and for fans — the way to go."

While the team is still searching for its head coach and general manager, excitement is growing, with fans anteing up to the tune of over 10,000 season-ticket deposits since the WNBA awarded the franchise last fall.

"Portland has long stood at the forefront of women's sports, and with nearly 11,000 season ticket deposits to-date, this community has made it clear they're ready to embrace the return of women's professional basketball," said Lisa Bhathal Merage, a co-founder of RAJ Sports — the ownership group of both the WNBA team and the NWSL's Thorns. "We're proud to reignite the Portland Fire."

In addition to the Portland Fire, the Toronto Tempo will hit WNBA courts next season, with three more expansion teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia set to tip off in 2028, 2029, and 2030, respectively.

2025 Euro Quarterfinals Take the Pitch

Italy's Elisabetta Oliviero celebrates a goal with her teammates during a 2025 Euro match.
The 2025 Euro quarterfinals kick off with Italy facing Norway on Wednesday. (Aitor Alcalde - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

The 2025 Euro quarterfinals kick off on Wednesday, with the eight remaining contenders sitting just three wins away from becoming champions of Europe.

While every win-or-go-home game promises excitement, a few of this week's matchups hold extra intrigue:

  • No. 16 Norway vs. No. 13 Italy, Wednesday at 3 PM ET (FOX): After winning Group A last week, a wobbly yet talented Norway side will kick off the 2025 Euro quarterfinals against second-place Group B team Italy — a squad with a proven ability to hit a counterpunch should they go down early.
  • No. 6 Sweden vs. No. 5 England, Thursday at 3 PM ET (FOX): Sweden looked utterly dominant in their 4-1 dismantling of Germany to win Group C on Saturday, and their reward is a date with the reigning champions, who bounced back from an early loss to France.
  • No. 2 Spain vs. No. 23 Switzerland, Friday at 3 PM ET (FOX): The 2023 World Cup champs have looked like the favorites to win it all by cruising through Group B, while a stoppage-time goal last Thursday sent the tournament hosts to their first-ever Euro quarterfinal.
  • No. 10 France vs. No. 3 Germany, Saturday at 3 PM ET (FOX): France emerged unscathed from the notorious "Group of Death," earning the Group D winners an advantage of momentum over a German side reeling from their 4-1 group-stage loss to Sweden.

Caitlin Clark Injury Clouds 2025 WNBA All-Star 3-Point Contest Announcement

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark reacts to a possible re-injury as she exits a 2025 WNBA game next to teammate Aliyah Boston.
Clark exited Tuesday's game after appearing to re-aggravate a groin injury. (David Butler II/Imagn Images)

The WNBA announced superstar lineups for the 2025 All-Star 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge on Tuesday, though the league will have to hope their best laid plans survive to see the weekend.

Along with the previously self-confirmed Sabrina Ionescu (New York) and Sonia Citron (Washington), Friday's 3-Point Contest roster will include Caitlin Clark (Indiana), Kelsey Plum (LA), and reigning event champion Allisha Gray (Atlanta).

Gray will also be defending her 2024 Skills Challenge title, with Natasha Cloud (New York), Skylar Diggins (Seattle), Erica Wheeler (Seattle), and Courtney Williams (Minnesota) looking to usurp the Dream guard on Friday.

Despite the WNBA's confirmation of Clark's long-awaited 3-Point Contest debut, her availability is now in question after the Fever guard appeared to re-aggravate a lingering groin injury, forcing her early exit from Indiana's 85-77 win over Connecticut on Tuesday night.

Fever head coach Stephanie White said afterwards that Clark "felt a little something in her groin," with further evaluation expected as Indiana travels to face New York on Wednesday.

This year's All-Star contingent already suffered one loss, with Atlanta guard Rhyne Howard sidelined with a left knee injury through the end of the month. In her stead, Minnesota guard Kayla McBride will step in, making her fifth career All-Star appearance.

Set to captain one of this weekend's All-Star squads, the WNBA is hoping that Clark is fully available for what's shaping up to be a huge celebration of basketball in Indianapolis.

How to watch the All-Star 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge

The 2025 WNBA All-Star Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest will take the Indianapolis court at 8 PM ET on Friday, with both competitions airing live on ESPN.

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