2025 in review: Welcoming new champions, participants and formats
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
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A record-breaking UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 and a thrilling first season of the new-look men’s club competitions were the crowning features of a historically significant year for the game.
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How many UEFA competition winners can you remember from 2025? We crowned no fewer than 18 champions over the past 12 months, which provided countless unforgettable moments and set new records both on and off the pitch.
Re-live the highlights as we celebrate a year to savour for European football.
Records tumble at Women’s EURO as England enjoy golden year
UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 set a new standard for the women’s game as fans attended in record numbers throughout July’s festival of football in Switzerland.
Supporters smashed the previous record with 657,291 fans attending matches – 29 of the 31 games were sold out – and 35% of tickets being sold to international fans. A mammoth 1.2 million people attended the fan zones in the eight host cities, with 95,000 supporters joining pre-match fan walks, including 20,000 in Bern ahead of the hosts’ quarter-final against Spain.
Broadcast viewing records also tumbled, with 412 million worldwide watching live TV coverage, contributing to a cumulative audience of more than 500 million across all programming.
On the pitch, the game’s elite players served up a spectacle, with more goals scored than at any previous Women’s EURO, and a remarkable five of the seven knockout matches required extra-time to separate the two teams, showcasing the competitive balance.
The dramatic encounter between England and Spain in Basel was a fitting finale, with the Lionesses coming from behind to win on penalties and retain their title as Sarina Wiegman became the first coach to win three consecutive Women’s EUROs. Spain’s beaten finalists gained some consolation when they retained the Women’s Nations League with victory over Germany in early December.
Meanwhile, Germany will look to build on 2025’s blueprint for a successful Women’s EURO after being named as the hosts of the next edition in 2029.
Debutants and first-time champions in men’s club competitions
The second season of the league phase format in UEFA’s men’s club competitions has seen an array of first-timers embark on European campaigns. Across the three competitions, 12 clubs stepped into uncharted territory, having never previously qualified for the league phase or group stage of a UEFA competition.
Before the 2025/26 season, no Maltese club in history had progressed through qualifying in European club football, but Hamrun Spartans changed all that as they reached the UEFA Conference League with a 3-2 aggregate win over RFS of Latvia in the play-off round. Hamrun’s qualification means that Malta became the 52nd of our 55 national associations to have been represented in the group stage or league phase of a senior men's European club competition.
The UEFA Champions League continues to go from strength-to-strength, and the first-ever league phase finale was a thrilling success in January 2025, as all matches involving the 36 teams kicked off simultaneously on an evening of unprecedented action. With so much on the line, 64 goals flew in on Matchday 8 at an average of 3.55 goals per game.
Paris Saint-Germain’s stunning 5-0 victory over Inter secured the club’s long-awaited first UEFA Champions League title, and the French champions followed it up with more silverware as they won the UEFA Super Cup on penalties in Udine in August. Star forward Ousmane Dembélé's performances contributed towards him winning the Men’s Ballon d’Or for the first time in 2025, with head coach Luis Enrique also recognised at the September ceremony.
Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final in May ended their own 41-year wait for European silverware, while Chelsea cemented their place in the record books in 2025, becoming the first club to win the full set of UEFA men's club competitions, adding the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League title to previous wins in the Champions League, Europa League, Cup Winners’ Cup and Super Cup.
The future looks bright across Europe too. While Barcelona claimed a record third UEFA Youth League title, the competition continued to bear testament to the Europe-wide quality of clubs’ youth academies. Trabzonspor eliminated Juventus, Inter and former winners Salzburg to become the first Turkish side to reach the final, continuing a recent trend of surprise packages reaching the final four in Nyon.
2025 in review
Arsenal triumph as more clubs experience European competition
In the UEFA Women's Champions League, Arsenal upset Barcelona in the final in Lisbon. It was the second time in the Gunners' history that they were crowned European champions, and ended Barcelona’s hopes of a three-peat after they had triumphed in 2023 and 2024.
The competition has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and the format changes for the 2025/26 season are already delivering on their aims of increased competitiveness and excitement. After four matchdays in the new league phase, no team had a perfect record, illustrating the depth in quality across the competition.
We also introduced a brand-new club competition for the 2025/26 season, the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup, which is giving more clubs the opportunity to test themselves and compete for a continental trophy.
Honours board: Who won what in 2025?
April
UEFA Youth League – Barcelona
May
UEFA Futsal Champions League – Palma
UEFA Women's Under-17 EURO – Netherlands
UEFA Europa League – Tottenham Hotspur
UEFA Women's Champions League – Arsenal
UEFA Conference League – Chelsea
UEFA Champions League – Paris Saint-Germain
June
UEFA Under-17 EURO – Portugal
UEFA Nations League – Portugal
UEFA Under-21 EURO – England
UEFA Women's Under-19 EURO – Spain
UEFA Under-19 EURO – Netherlands
July
UEFA Regions' Cup – Aragõn
UEFA Women's EURO 2025 – England
August
UEFA Super Cup – Paris Saint-Germain
Under-20 Intercontinental Cup – Flamengo
October
UEFA Under-19 Futsal EURO – Portugal
December
UEFA Women's Nations League – Spain
More international success for Portugal
It was Portugal’s year once again in men's international football, as they beat Spain to win their second UEFA Nations League title, with captain Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in the final before lifting the trophy at the Munich Football Arena.
That was far from Portugal’s only success in 2025, with the country’s young players winning both the UEFA Under-17 EURO in June and the UEFA Under-19 Futsal EURO in October.
Norway and England finished the final rounds of European Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup as the stand-out teams, both winning all eight of their qualifying matches.
Erling Haaland finished as the top scorer in qualifying with 16 goals – double the number managed by any other player – while Thomas Tuchel’s England put together a formidable defensive run, not conceding a single goal in their eight-match Group K campaign. The Three Lions' next generation looks strong too, with England defending their UEFA European Under-21 Championship crown in the summer.
England can look forward to co-hosting the next EURO in 2028 with the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the tournament brand was launched in November along with the match schedule, with 51 fixtures set to be played in nine venues across eight host cities. Approximately three million tickets will go on sale after the tournament draw in December 2027, and we have committed to a clear and consistent pricing structure from start to finish, with no dynamic pricing – reinforcing the fan-first approach successfully implemented at EURO 2024.
Exciting times for futsal
It was Palma’s season in the UEFA Futsal Champions League, with the Spanish side becoming the first club to win three titles in a row after a 9-4 win over Kairat Almaty in the final in May.
A new format was introduced for the 2025/26 season, including a first-ever round of 16, before all eyes turn to the UEFA Futsal EURO which will be hosted by Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia in January and February.
The draw for the tournament took place in Kaunas in October and was made by Portuguese futsal legend Ricardinho, with his country aiming for a third consecutive title and placed in a group with two-time champions Italy. The winners of the tournament will be the first UEFA champions crowned in 2026, as we look forward to another action-packed year for European football.