Barcelona and Real Madrid’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinal will be one for the history books, with the two clubs set to face off in front of a record crowd at Camp Nou on Wednesday.

The second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal is the third El Clásico women’s rivalry game in the last month, with Barcelona holding a 2-0 record over Real Madrid and a 3-1 aggregate lead in the Champions League battle.

Tickets for Wednesday’s marquee match sold out two months ahead of time. Barcelona’s women’s team has played at the historic Camp Nou stadium just once before. That 50th-anniversary game between Barcelona and Espanyol, honoring the first women’s game ever played at the venue, was held behind closed doors without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This time, over 80,000 spectators will be in attendance. If that number holds, the match will break the record for the largest attendance at a women’s domestic club game. Barcelona currently holds the domestic club record, with 60,739 showing up to the team’s 2019 game against Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas visited Camp Nou often as a child, but she never imagined herself playing in the stadium. The 28-year-old star is trying her best to keep a level head amid the excitement of the moment.

“I have been in Camp Nou so many times all my life. Tomorrow is me playing, but at the end of the day, it’s the same as Johan Cruyff field,” Putellas told reporters on Tuesday, referring to their usual home stadium that seats 6,000 spectators. “I think the time has come … we, the players, feel now empowered and ready to play in front of so many people, such a large audience.”

The game will also serve as a celebration of the growth of women’s soccer and a push for equity. The words “More than Empowerment” will appear on the Lateral terrace as a reminder of its significance.

“I believe that tomorrow can be the start of a new era, because at the end of the day, tomorrow’s match is going to be inspiring for so many girls, I am guessing, that will be coming tomorrow to Camp Nou or who will be seeing us from TV,” Putellas said. “They will be seeing women playing in Camp Nou, and I am sure in the future, in the mid or long run, we will be collecting the fruits of tomorrow’s match.”

Volem veure així el Camp Nou! 💙❤️#MoreThanEmpowerment pic.twitter.com/cnmxZ2V664

— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) March 29, 2022

The bubbling enthusiasm off the pitch will almost certainly be matched by the intensity on the pitch, with both sides eager to meet the moment.

“Of course, we are aware of the fact that players have a special feeling regarding tomorrow’s match, but when it comes to preparation and training, nothing has changed,” said Barcelona coach Jonatan Giráldez.

Barcelona, the reigning UEFA Champions League winners, are considered by many to be the most dominant club in women’s soccer. The team enters Wednesday’s second leg on a staggering 35-game win streak across all competitions. Barcelona clinched the league title for the third straight season with a 5-0 rout of Real Madrid on March 13, adding to their 25-0 Primera División record.

Putellas, the 2021 Ballon d’Or winner, leads Barcelona’s Champions League campaign with seven goals and two assists. Midfielder Jennifer Hermoso is next with four goals in five matches. Deploying a possession-minded playing style, Barcelona is one of the hardest clubs for opponents to break down.

That’s just what Real Madrid will try to do, however, in their Champions League duel. The feat, while a tall order, isn’t impossible. Real Madrid stunned Barcelona in the first leg of the quarterfinal last week when Olga Carmona put her side up 1-0 in the eighth minute, forcing the visitors to mount a second-half comeback behind a brace from Putellas.

“Of course, it’s very useful to start losing a match. We don’t like it, but it’s useful,” Giráldez siad of Barcelona’s come-from-behind win. “Mentally, we need to be ready to pull ourselves together, do things better, catch up.”

Expecting Madrid to come out pressing and attacking, Barcelona will look to maintain possession and dictate the game’s tempo from the opening whistle.

“We want more every time,” Barcelona midfielder Ingrid Syrstad Engen said. “In Barcelona, it’s not enough to win, it’s about how you play, and I think that’s in the roots of this team,”

Barcelona will advance to the Champions League semifinals if they can maintain or improve upon their 3-1 aggregate lead.

The historic game kicks off Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET, streaming for free in the United States on DAZN’s UEFA Women’s Champions League YouTube channel.

Clare Brennan is an associate editor at Just Women’s Sports.

Former Chicago Sky guard Allie Quigley made her retirement official on Tuesday, announcing her exit from professional basketball in a piece for The Players Tribune, nearly three years after her final WNBA game in September 2022.

The 14-year league veteran spent the last decade of her career playing for her hometown team, helping lead the Sky to a WNBA championship in 2021 while also picking up three All-Star nods and two WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year awards.

With a career average of 10.9 points per game and 39.4% shooting from beyond the arc, Quigley also claimed four 3-Point Contest victories, winning in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022 to set a record that still stands across the WNBA and NBA.

Chicago's all-time leading scorer for years, Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot — Quigley's wife — usurped her crown just two weeks ago.

"I love knowing that I can look back on my career and say it was really, really good — but it was part of the beginning of something truly great," Quigley wrote.

Explaining that she "never actually meant to do an Irish goodbye," Quigley initially took time off to become a mom, a process that took longer than expected.

Alongside Vandersloot, Quigley welcomed their first child, daughter Jana Christine, on April 8th — an event that spurred her to officially announce her retirement.

"[A]s special as the Sky winning a championship felt, and as proud of a moment as that was, bringing a baby into the world is our accomplishment we're most proud of," said Quigley.

On Tuesday, 2024/25 UEFA Champions League winners Arsenal announced that the Gunners are making the 60,704-capacity Emirates Stadium their permanent home for all WSL matches on the heels of last season's successful nine-game run in the north London venue.

Arsenal dominated the WSL in attendance during their 2024/25 campaign with a total of 415,000 tickets sold, a 20% increase over the Gunners' 2023/24 season.

Even more, the club averaged crowds of over 34,000 fans for the team's nine matches hosted at the men's side's historic Highbury home.

Both Arsenal's and the league's season-high attendance came in February, when 56,784 fans packed Emirates for the Gunners' North London Derby match against Tottenham.

While all of Arsenal's 11 WSL home games will kick off at Emirates, the reigning European champs will open their UWCL defense at the significantly smaller, 4,500-capacity Meadow Park, with future Champions League matches moving to Highbury should the Gunners advance to the tournament's knockout rounds.

"For us, this is just the beginning, and bringing every WSL match to the Emirates is another step for more supporters to be part of this special journey," said Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers in a club statement. "We'll come back next season, with fire in our hearts, more determined, more ambitious, and more together than ever."

Women's teams are big business, with global sports business conference SPOBIS International reporting this week that average WNBA franchise valuations rose to $90 million in 2024, while NWSL clubs weighed in at $104 million — doubling their 2023 mark.

In May, the reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty sold shares at a $450 million valuation, qualifying them as the world's most valuable women's sports team.

SPOBIS's top five includes the WSL's Chelsea FC ($326 million) alongside NWSL side Angel City FC ($250 million), the WNBA's Dallas Wings ($208 million), the Kansas City Current ($182 million), and the Las Vegas Aces ($140 million).

US women's sports teams hold a key advantage in the race to the top of the valuations table, with WNBA and NWSL squads able operate independently from men's systems.

Having separated from their men's side last year, Chelsea FC was the only non-US team to make the list, bolstered by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's $26.6 million purchase of a 10% stake in the 2024/25 WSL champs last month.

Other European teams in line for similar value boosts include OL Lyonnes and the London City Lionesses, both independently owned and operated by Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang.

With many factors contributing to a team's overall value — namely capital, media deals, viewership, ownership structures, and popularity — it's tough to predict the next big thing in women's sports, but these numbers point to a red-hot market across major pro leagues.

US Soccer is heading back to college, announcing Tuesday that the federation is launching a NextGen College Soccer Committee (NCS) to help solidify NCAA soccer's place in the national development system.

The NCS will "aim to integrate the college game more deeply into the broader US Soccer ecosystem, while ensuring it remains a strong, sustainable platform for student-athlete education, player development, and community engagement."

As professional soccer careers become more viable on the women's side, an increasing number of prospects are opting to sign directly with clubs out of high school rather than follow the traditional collegiate track.

Skipping college to go pro is common in other countries, where many clubs run their own academies for promising young players.

To "properly consider the development pathway and progression to college soccer," US Soccer is also working with pre-professional organizations like Elite Clubs National League, Girls Academy, and other US youth leagues.

Members of the NCS include Kansas City Current co-owner Angie Long, NWSL COO Sarah Jones Simmer, and former Duke standout and current MLS executive Ali Curtis.

With Tuesday's announcement, US Soccer appears to be acknowledging the challenges of maintaining NCAA soccer's appeal in the face of increasingly diverse pro opportunities — while also doubling down on the value of the college game.

"College soccer is integral to the fabric and future of our sport in this country," said US Soccer CEO JT Batson. "The individuals joining this group bring unique perspectives and expertise that will help us build a model where college soccer can thrive in a modern, connected system."