Women’s club competition changes offer referees a bright future
Wednesday, October 1, 2025
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The 2025/26 season welcomes an exciting new era in UEFA’s women’s club competitions – and the revamped structure will also have an important impact on Europe’s female referees.
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The UEFA Women’s Champions League will now feature an 18-team league phase, offering six matches per team against different opponents. Meanwhile, our new competition, the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup, will give expanded access to European competitions for clubs across the continent.
The overhaul means more matches and greater exposure not only for players and clubs, but also for Europe’s current and future generation of top female referees, whose latest UEFA pre-season course in Geneva provided ample proof that the officials are primed for the new challenges lying ahead.
More about the changes to our women's club competitions
Positive reaction
The fresh horizons created for referees has brought encouraging feedback. "It’s a great development in general, it brings more competitive matches, and from the referees’ perspective, of course it generates more opportunities for more officials," says UEFA Referees Committee member Dagmar Damková.
"I’m very happy about the latter aspect," Damková adds. "In the Women’s Champion League’s previous structure, the group-stage format meant that only elite group referees would be assigned to most matches. Now we will be able to appoint more referees coming up behind the elite level."
New experiences
Damková urges the referees to meet the new club competition challenges head-on. "I hope they will seize the chance to prove their worth," she says.
"Some referees will be stepping out of a comfort zone. Refereeing high-level club competition matches is a different experience to refereeing, for instance, youth tournament games.
"In addition, the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup will feature two-legged knock-out ties, so many matches will be crucial – and referees will have to be ready to perform to the best of their ability."
Referee development
The referees are relishing the increased prospects provided by the two women’s club competitions.
"This will be a good opportunity for the younger referees to develop," explains the vastly experienced Croatian referee Ivana Martinčić, who took charge of last season’s Women’s Champions League final. "There will be more matches for referees, and more incentives for them to get to the highest level."
Briefing and learning
UEFA is laying optimum foundations for refereeing success in our forthcoming women’s club competitions, and the Geneva course served to give the match officials a thorough briefing on their duties, including VAR, which will now be adopted from the league phase of the Women's Champions League onwards.
"We need referees to be aligned with new guidelines and changes to the laws that are being enforced by UEFA in its competitions," says Damková. "These include the new 'eight-second rule' for goalkeepers and the referee-captain protocol. Consequently, UEFA and its referees have met to exchange information, ensuring that everyone is on the same page."
Advice from the best
The Geneva gathering was an ideal setting for the up-and-coming referees to gather advice from experienced elite colleagues – a dialogue warmly welcomed by Danish referee Nanna Andersen.
"It's been an amazing opportunity to be here and to learn from the best," Andersen says. "They have all this experience to pass on to the younger referees – and you can’t put a value on this, because they’ve been through it all. They've seen it all."
Damková’s pre-season call to the referees is crystal clear – reach for the heights. "Everything is possible, but it’s in their hands. UEFA is trying to give the referees all we can. They will have to make sacrifices to succeed – but if they go for it and work hard, they will see the benefits!"
Part of the family
France's Victoria Beyer is almost six months pregnant, but this has not stopped her attending the course and keeping up to date with the latest refereeing developments.
While she is unable to be on the pitch, Beyer is performing VAR duties for both UEFA and domestic matches in France as motherhood approaches.
"I feel happy to be here and well supported by UEFA. I'm pregnant but I am not sick or injured, so it's good to stay active and involved in football," she explains. "I can take this opportunity to have some game as a VAR or assistant VAR, and stay involved with my colleagues.
"It's important that UEFA is supporting pregnant women, and the national associations can do the same, adapting training sessions, helping us stay involved, and then post-partum, giving us exercises and sessions to recover physically. It's a much easier decision to begin a family if you know that you have the support."