The UEFA Women's Champions League

The UEFA Women's Champions League brings together the leading clubs from across European women's football. It is contested by teams that qualify through their domestic leagues, with the number of entries and the point at which clubs enter the competition determined by UEFA's coefficient ranking system. Higher-ranked associations receive more places and better entry routes, while lower-ranked associations usually enter through qualifying rounds. The full competition runs from August or September through to the final in May or early June.

The competition was founded in 2001 as the UEFA Women's Cup, with the German club 1. FFC Frankfurt winning the inaugural edition. The competition was renamed the UEFA Women's Champions League for the 2009-10 season, when the format was reformed to include domestic runners-up from the top nations. The competition has continued to grow across the modern era, with a group stage added in 2021-22 and a league phase format adopted from the 2025-26 season. The competition is run by UEFA and the trophy is the UEFA Women's Champions League Trophy.

The 2025-26 season was the first to use the new league phase format. The 18 qualifying clubs are placed in a single table and each plays six matches against different opponents from across the field — three at home and three away. The matches are determined by a seeded draw. The top four clubs from the league phase qualify directly for the quarter-finals. Clubs ranked fifth to twelfth enter a play-off round to determine the remaining quarter-finalists. The bottom six clubs are eliminated.

The new format replaces the previous group-stage system, where 16 clubs were drawn into four groups of four. The league phase change mirrors a similar reform to the men's UEFA Champions League from 2024-25. The format is designed to produce a more competitive set of matches across the early rounds, with each club playing six different opponents rather than three twice. The play-off round provides a route back into the knockout stage for clubs that finish in the middle of the league phase table.

UEFA member nations are ranked by coefficient based on their clubs' performance in European competition. The top-ranked nations receive more qualifying places and stronger entry routes. Some clubs enter directly into the league phase, while others must progress through qualifying rounds. The exact access list varies by association ranking, but the main league phase contains 18 clubs.

The qualifying competition is split into two paths — the Champions Path (mainly for domestic champions from lower-ranked associations) and the League Path (mainly for non-champions from stronger associations). Some clubs eliminated in the Champions League qualifying rounds transfer into the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, UEFA's new second-tier women's club competition introduced from 2025-26. The Europa Cup gives more clubs a chance to play European football across the season.

The UEFA Women's Cup was launched in 2001-02 to bring European women's football clubs into a continental competition. The 2001-02 edition was the first official UEFA competition for women's club teams, although various national federation cups and friendly tournaments had been held in earlier decades. 1. FFC Frankfurt won the inaugural competition, beating Umeå IK 2-0 over a two-legged final. The competition expanded across the 2000s as women's football grew across Europe.

The 2009-10 rebrand to UEFA Women's Champions League brought the competition under the same branding as the men's competition. The format was reformed to include domestic runners-up from the top nations and to use a one-off final rather than the previous two-legged finals. The 2021-22 introduction of a group stage and the 2025-26 introduction of a league phase reflect the wider growth of women's football across Europe. The competition's commercial profile has expanded significantly, with bigger broadcast coverage, dedicated group and league phases, and major finals staged at larger venues.