The Champions League is back, so let's look at some shocking results and big moments since its first year in 2001. The first edition was won by FFC Frankfurt, where thirty-three teams took part. It was rebranded from the UEFA Women’s Cup to the UEFA Women’s Champions League in the 2009-10 season. That season saw the end of the two-legged final instead of a single game; the group stage format was introduced in the 2021-22 season and has remained until this season.
OL Lyonnes is the most successful team, having won the competition eight times. Ada Hegerberg is the all-time goalscorer in the UWCL, with 66 goals. Wendie Renard is the record appearance holder, with 126.
Arsenal is winning it for the second time
Arsenal beat Barcelona last year. Barcelona has won it for the past three years straight. They shocked everyone by returning from a 2-1 defeat at home to Lyon to win away from home in France 4-1 to get into the final. Everyone assumed it would be another Lyon v Barcelona. Arsenal was the underdog in Lisbon against Barca, the team that had won it three years in a row.
It took them 18 years to return to Arsenal to make their return to holding the trophy they won the then UEFA European Cup back in 2007.
They won 1-0 in the final in Lisbon as they scored in the 74th minute through Stina Blackstenius.
Chelsea is making their first final, the first English club in a final in 14 years
Chelsea made the final in 2021 for the first time, and the English side had been in the final since 2007. Emma Hayes got a medal back in 2007 as assistant coach at Vic Akers’s when Arsenal won the Champions League. By advancing to this final, Chelsea became the first club to see its men’s and women’s teams reach the Champions League final in the same season. Like their opposition, they dominated their way to the final 8-0 against Benfica, Atletico Madrid 3-1, Wolfsburg 5-1 and then 5-3 against Bayern Munich. Hayes' Blues had not even qualified for last year's competition. They had previously twice fallen at the semi-final stage, so finishing as runners-up is a big step forward for the club and the ever-growing profile of the WSL.
Barcelona's first Champions League win
Barcelona won 4-0 against Chelsea for their first Champions League title. They became the first club to win men’s and women’s UEFA Champions League titles. It was also the most significant margin of victory in any single-legged UEFA Women’s Champions League final. Barcelona went on to win three in a row. They dominated their journey to the final, 8-2 against PSV, 9-0 against Fortuna Hjorring, 4-2 against Manchester City, and 3-2 against PSG.
They scored four goals in the first 36 minutes. It was Barcelona's second Champions League final, and the lessons learned from their previous experience proved invaluable this time round. Against seven-time winners Lyon in 2019, they found themselves 3-0 down inside 20 minutes before going on to lose 4-1. This ended Lyon’s run of five Champions League titles in a row.
Bristol City academy won against Barca
Bristol won over 2-1 against Barca on aggregate to knock them out of the Champions League in 2014/15 to make it to the quarter-finals. Bristol won the first leg in the Estadi Johan Cruyff stadium through an own goal by Corredera after Natasha Harding’s low cross into her own net. In the first leg, Mariona Caldentey, now known for winning the award recently for Arsenal, lost to Bristol City.
This was not the first team; this was Bristol Academy WFC. In the second leg of the round of 16, Barcelona went ahead in the 40th minute through Vicky Losada to get it level 1-1 on aggregate—this goal was a deflected strike. Natasha Harding was brought down in the area. In the 83rd minute, Nikki Watts did the impossible, scoring a penalty, ending the game 2-1 to the English side. Bristol had one of the smallest budgets in the league. For Bristol, they had Mary Earps in goal, and Barca had Alexia Putellas and Jenni Hermoso in the starting XI.
Bristol's goalscorer said then: “It's nights like this that you play the game and it's great for women's football.”
Lyon’s dominance
Lyon set the expectations and standards. They have won this title eight times. They won 3-1 against Barcelona. They came in as the underdogs in the fixture, as Barca had only lost once that season and had a flawless La Liga-winning campaign. Sonia Bompastor was the manager then and became the first woman to win the Champions League as a player and manager, as she won it with Lyon as a player in 2011 and 2012.
They won it five times between 2016 and 2020, matching Real Madrid’s men’s record from the first years of the European Cup. Their journey started in August 2007 in front of around 100 people in a qualifying round match in North Macedonia. In October 2019, they became the first to play 100 matches in the UEFA Women’s Club Competition.
From their opener in the then UEFA Women’s Cup, including a 12-0 win over Slovakia's Slovan Duslo Šala in Strumica. On Matchday 4 of the 2022/23 competition, OL added another record, the 4-0 home defeat of Zürich, making them the first club to win 100 UEFA Women's Champions League games. They have now won 120 games, played 153 games, and scored 518 goals, and they hold those records. They have the most titles, consecutive titles and most final appearances of 11 and semi-final appearances of 14.
They won it in:
- 2011
- 2012
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
- 2022
They were runners-up in:
- 2010
- 2013
- 2024
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