The growth of women’s football over the past decade has been clear to see across the global game. Much of that progress has been most visible at international level, where major national team tournaments have continued to attract growing audiences and commercial interest.
At club level, there have also been significant efforts across many markets to professionalise and strengthen the domestic game. Investment, infrastructure, and competitive standards have all continued to develop across women’s football in different parts of the world.
Alongside those changes, the international club competition landscape has also begun to take shape. Over recent seasons, governing bodies across multiple confederations have expanded existing competitions, introduced new continental tournaments, and FIFA has also increased its role within the women’s club game.
These developments mirror broader trends already seen in men’s football, where international club competitions have become increasingly important from sporting, commercial, and strategic perspectives. Within women’s football, however, the implications are particularly important for the game’s current development.
While elite competitions can help raise standards, visibility, and commercial value at the top end of the game, they also play an important structural role within an ecosystem that still faces uneven competitive environments and relatively limited access to high-level international competition across many markets.
At a pivotal point of the women’s club season, between the final of the newly introduced UEFA Women’s Europa Cup and the final of the revamped UEFA Women’s Champions League, this article explores the evolving women’s international club competition landscape, the impact of UEFA’s recent reforms, and how growing international calendars are beginning to reshape competitive exposure and match load distribution across the women’s game.
Many women’s international club competitions have only recently been introduced or restructured
Beyond Europe and South America, much of the current women’s international club competition structure has emerged only in recent years. UEFA originally launched the UEFA Women’s Cup in 2001 and the most recent revamp of the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) came this season, while CONMEBOL introduced the Copa Libertadores Femenina in 2009. Elsewhere, Concacaf launched the W Champions Cup in 2024, while the AFC Women’s Champions League was repackaged in 2024/25 following a recent pilot competition. Finally, CAF and OFC introduced their first ever women’s continental club competitions in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Most competitions currently feature between six and 18 teams in the competition, with group or league phases now becoming the dominant structure across confederations. The UWCL is the largest competition, with 18 clubs participating in the league phase from this season. It also features by far the highest average number of matches per team, at 8.3, compared to fewer than five across all other competitions.
UEFA’s reforms have been the most significant recent developments within the women’s international club landscape. The UWCL moved from a 16-team group-stage format to a single 18-team league phase, increasing both participation and the variety of elite-level fixtures across the competition.
Early indicators suggest several of UEFA’s objectives were largely achieved in the first campaign. According to UEFA and European Football Clubs (EFC) data, the new league phase delivered 181 goals across 54 matches at an average of 3.35 per game, while competitive balance also improved significantly. More than half of the matches (54%) were draws or decided by a single goal, compared with 27% under the previous format. At the same time, clubs from the lowest seeding pot averaged 1.1 points per game, up from 0.6 previously, suggesting the new structure might be able to broaden elite-level competitiveness beyond the traditional leading clubs. The final of the revamped competition will take place on 23 May in Oslo, where FC Barcelona Femení will face OL Lyonnes. The Spanish side finished as runners-up last year, while their French opponents hold the record for the most titles in the competition’s history.
Alongside the UWCL reforms, UEFA also introduced the Women’s Europa Cup in 2025/26 as the first second-tier women’s club competition in Europe. The competition creates a new international pathway for more clubs, including those that are eliminated in the UWCL qualifiers, significantly broadening access to continental football across the ecosystem. However, with total prize money distribution for the competition at €5.6m across all participating clubs and semi-finalists receiving €75,000 each, there are questions around the competition’s long-term commercial visibility and financial sustainability, given the travel and operational costs associated with international matches. In addition, unlike the men’s Europa League, winning the competition does not provide direct qualification to the following season’s UWCL league phase, with clubs instead entering a qualification round. Therefore, inaugural champions BK Häcken needed to qualify for the UWCL through their domestic league, which they did by winning the Swedish Damallsvenskan.
At global level, FIFA launched the Women’s Champions Cup in 2026 as an annual intercontinental competition bringing together continental champions from all six confederations. It is the first regular global women’s club competition and the tournament also reflects the increasing commercial importance being placed on the women’s club game internationally, with Arsenal receiving $2.3m in prize money for winning the inaugural edition. Though, the financial opportunities from such a competition could also contribute to widening financial and sporting gaps between the leading clubs and the wider ecosystem over time.
This point is even more relevant for the planned FIFA Women’s Club World Cup, with the inaugural edition currently scheduled for January 2028. Although tournament details have not yet been announced, the planned format includes 19 clubs: 13 qualifying directly and six competing in a play-in stage.
Beyond providing larger commercial platforms, these competitions also help in building competitive environments and international pathways that the ecosystem has historically lacked.
International competitions and the women’s game’s underload challenge
Discussions around workload in football often focus on players exposed to the highest number of matches. Within women’s football, however, underload remains an equally important structural issue.
The scale of the differences becomes clear when comparing clubs within the same domestic league, where those involved in international competitions can end up playing significantly more matches than teams operating only domestically. By the end of the 2025/26 season, in England, Arsenal will have played 15 more matches than Aston Villa. In Spain, FC Barcelona Femení will reach 48 matches, while RCD Espanyol Femení will have played 32, a difference of 16 matches. Similar gaps also appear across France, Italy, and Germany.
Clubs competing in the UWCL added between eight and 12 additional fixtures through continental competition alone. Domestic cup progression can widen the gap further, with lower-load clubs often exiting knockout competitions earlier. As a result, clubs within the same domestic league can operate in very different competitive environments. While similar dynamics also exist in men’s football, the issue is amplified in the women’s game due to the smaller size of many domestic leagues and calendars. As a result, players at clubs without international football can still face relatively low match volumes across an entire season, making underload an equally important consideration within the wider calendar discussion.
Players at elite clubs benefit from repeated exposure to high-intensity fixtures, tactical variety and international opposition, while players outside those structures may face long periods with fewer meaningful matches and lower overall competitive intensity. Olivia Smith’s move from Liverpool to Arsenal last summer, the first £1m transfer in women’s football, provides a practical illustration of how these dynamics are beginning to reshape player calendars.
At Liverpool, her appearances came entirely in domestic competitions. At Arsenal, her workload has expanded through the addition of non-domestic club matches, through the UWCL and the Champions Cup. The key change is not domestic volume but the added continental layer.
This club-level increase could be amplified further by national team involvement. As a senior Canada international, Smith’s international windows may add another significant block of matches, travel, and recovery demands across the season, pushing her overall load beyond the club calendar alone.
Her case reflects the broader challenge facing stakeholders across the women’s game. International competitions are helping increase elite match exposure and raise competitive standards but they are also concentrating more fixtures and intensity among players at the top end of the pyramid. Managing that balance will become increasingly important as the international calendar continues to evolve.
From competition expansion to ecosystem development
The rapid expansion of women’s international club competitions reflects the growing importance of elite and cross-border match environments within the women’s game. UEFA’s recent reforms, the launch of FIFA’s Women’s Champions Cup, and the planned introduction of the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup in 2028 all demonstrate the increasing focus being placed on international club competitions across the women’s football landscape.
From a sporting perspective, that growth is becoming increasingly important. Much of the women’s football ecosystem still faces relatively limited access to consistent high-level competition. Expanding international structures can therefore play an important role in increasing competitive exposure and helping raise standards across different markets and levels of the pyramid.
However, the continued expansion of the calendar will also require careful balance. As more competitions emerge, stakeholders will increasingly need to manage challenges related to player workload and financial and sporting competitive balance, particularly as elite clubs become exposed to growing commercial and sporting advantages through international participation.
The women’s international club competition ecosystem is still in its early stages. The next phase of its development will depend not only on further expansion but on how effectively these competitions support sustainable long-term growth across the wider global game. This will be particularly important as women’s club competitions increasingly compete for fan attention within a broader football landscape where men’s international club competitions are also continuing to expand rapidly.
Football Benchmark supports stakeholders across women’s and men’s football through a range of advisory and intelligence services, including work related to competition strategy. As international club competitions continue to evolve, understanding how to balance sporting development, financial sustainability, and calendar design will become increasingly important across the global game.
