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.
Incoming Matildas boss Joe Montemurro revealed a new setback in the return of Australia captain Sam Kerr from injury on Monday, disclosing that the Chelsea striker has recently undergone an additional surgery unrelated to her January 2024 ACL tear.
"I think there were some complications," Montemurro told Australia's Channel 10 about the 31-year-old attacker's status this week. "There was a subsequent intervention, but I do believe she is now back running."
"It was something completely different [to the ACL injury]. I think the knee is fine," Montemurro continued.
Montemurro, who took the reins of the Matildas this week following a year-long stint leading European club titan OL Lyonnes, did not detail a specific timeline for Kerr's return.
However, the Australia captain is likely to miss the world No. 16 team's upcoming three summer friendlies against No. 38 Slovenia and No. 57 Panama.
That said, though Montemurro has yet to directly connect with Kerr, the Australia boss did state that "there's nothing to worry about, she's on track."
"By all reports, she's focused on getting back and she's focused on being back at her best, knowing that there's an exciting tournament coming up," the new Matildas manager said, referencing the 2026 Asian Cup.
"So with that attitude, I expect to see a fantastic Sam Kerr."
Another Washington Spirit coach is departing DC, with multiple weekend reports linking current manager Jonatan Giráldez to the newly opened head coaching job at French Première Ligue side OL Lyonnes.
According to The Athletic, Giráldez will step away from the Spirit in June, with assistant Adrián González — who led Washington as interim manager prior to Giráldez's mid-2024 arrival — set to take over the NWSL squad on July 18th.
The move follows additional reports that first-year OL Lyonnes boss Joe Montemurro is Australia-bound after agreeing to head up his home country's national team, the Matildas.
Spirit coach swap raises questions for multi-team owner Kang
With Giráldez jumping from one Michele Kang-owned team to another, the former Barcelona manager's European return raises questions about Kang's multi-club ownership model — and concerns about the future of injured Spirit star Trinity Rodman, who recently took leave from the NWSL to seek treatment overseas.
"We are not going to sacrifice one team to make another team successful. Absolutely not," Kang told Forbes in 2024 interview. "Our goal is to make every team the champion in each of their leagues."
In addition to the Spirit and OL Lyonnes, Kang's Kynisca corporation also owns recently promoted WSL side London City Lionesses.
The Spirit has weathered big changes before, but Kang's involvement in this particular personnel swap will face critique should Washington lose pace later this season.
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.
France's Olympique Lyonnais is now OL Lyonnes, with team owner Michele Kang announcing the Lyon rebrand of the world's most successful women's soccer club on Monday.
In an effort to distance themselves further from the men's side while still paying homage to the team's home of Lyon, the now-independent club merged the word "lionne," French for lioness, with the city's name.
Along with the new name, OL Lyonnes has a refreshed crest, departing from the club's traditional lion and instead opting for a gold-crowned, blue- and yellow-maned red lioness posed mid-roar.
"This is not about just a name change and some graphic changes," Kang told reporters on Monday. "This is about giving the most successful women's team in the world its own platform, its own identity."
"We’re not a subset of the men's team. We are a standalone force."
New facilities to fuel continued OL Lyonnes dominance
The team, whose roster includes USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps, has a history of setting the standard for what's possible on the women's pitch.
The eight-time Champions League winners scored their 18th Division 1 Féminine championship in 19 years on Friday, boosting the 21-year-old club's tally to a world record-extending 39 titles.
Kang literally bought in on that success, purchasing the club last August, pulling it under the umbrella of her global multi-team organization Kynisca Sports International alongside the NWSL's Washington Spirit and newly promoted WSL side London City.
The rebrand is just one part of Kang's next steps with OL Lyonnes, with the billionaire investor also committing to financing the renovation of the club's boys' academy training facilities to turn them into a new performance center designed specifically for women's soccer athletes.
While the club is aiming for a July 2026 opening of that training center, OL Lyonnes will have a more immediate upgrade for matchdays, with Kang stating that all future games will take place in the 59,186-seat Groupama Stadium — a venue with nearly 39 times the capacity of the nearby 1,524-seat Stade Gérard Houllier that served as the team's primary home pitch.
"From day one, I was impressed with how the women's team has achieved this kind of success with the amount of resources that was available to them," said Kang during the Monday announcement.
"The best team in the world... playing the majority of games at a training center. It is unfitting," Kang told the Associated Press. "We want our fans to be part of our journey, part of our community and you can't achieve fan engagement by constantly switching back and forth."