Women's Champions League final: Lowdown on Barcelona vs OL Lyonnes
Friday, May 8, 2026
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Details of when, where, how to watch and the key players to look out for as Barcelona face OL Lyonnes in the 2026 UEFA Women's Champions League final.
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Three-time winners Barcelona will take on record eight-time champions OL Lyonnes in the 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League final.
Read our guide to the biggest women's club fixture in the calendar.
Key details
When and where is the Women's Champions League final?
The final will kick off at 18:00 CET on Saturday 23 May at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Norway.
How can I watch the Women's Champions League final?
Details of where to watch upcoming Women's Champions League matches can be found here, where information about the final will appear in due course.
Where can I find ticketing information?
Ticketing information can be found via this link.
Is there VAR in the Women's Champions League final?
There has been VAR in the final since 2020, and this season its use was also extended to the new league phase.
New competition format
A new 18-team league phase was introduced in 2025/26, replacing the previous 16-team group stage. Each team played six opponents, hosting three games and playing three away matches.
The teams that finished in the top four positions, including finalists Barcelona and OL Lyonnes, progressed straight to the last eight, while sides finishing between fifth and 12th contested knockout phase play-offs to decide the other four quarter-finalists.
For the first time, some teams eliminated during Women's Champions League qualifying continued their European journeys in the inaugural UEFA Women's Europa Cup, in which Häcken beat Hammarby 4-2 on aggregate in the final.
The teams
Barcelona
After opening their campaign with a statement 7-1 victory over Bayern München, the Spanish champions went on to finish top of the league phase table with five wins and one draw.
They knocked out their domestic rivals Real Madrid 12-2 in the quarter-finals and overcame Bayern 5-3 across a thrilling semi-final to reach their seventh final in eight seasons and a sixth in succession.
Barcelona have won three Women's Champions League titles by beating Chelsea 4-0 in the 2021 showpiece, coming from behind to defeat Wolfsburg 3-2 in 2023, and winning 2-0 against OL Lyonnes in the 2024 decider. They lost last season's final 1-0 to Arsenal.
OL Lyonnes
Last season's semi-finalists finished level with Barcelona on 16 points in the league phase table and second on goal difference, with their highlights including victories against Wolfsburg, Manchester United and Atlético de Madrid.
They bounced back from first-leg losses in both their quarter and semi-finals to defeat Wolfsburg 4-1 on aggregate after extra time and Arsenal 4-3 across two legs respectively.
This will be OL Lyonnes' 12th final, extending one of the multiple European records they hold. The French side lifted their first Women's Champions League trophy in 2011, defeating Turbine Potsdam 2-0 in the final, and went on to win seven of the following 11 titles.
Their last triumph came in 2022, when they beat Barcelona 3-1. This season's final will be the fourth between these two sides, with OL Lyonnes winning two and Barcelona one of the previous three.
Key players
Star forwards
Barcelona's Ewa Pajor jointly leads the season's top scorer rankings with Arsenal's Alessia Russo, having found the back of the net nine times. The Polish forward has brought additional firepower to an already formidable Barcelona attack since joining from Wolfsburg two years ago, delivering 42 goals across all competitions last season.
The Women's Champions League's all-time leading scorer Ada Hegerberg has added three more to her tally during OL Lyonnes' journey to the final. With the showpiece being played in her native Norway, the 30-year-old is bidding for her seventh winners' medal and has scored in four past final wins, including a hat-trick against Barcelona in 2019.
Midfield maestros
Two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas has struck seven times and assisted seven more goals for Barcelona this campaign. She marked her 500th appearance for the club by scoring the opener in their 6-0 quarter-final second-leg success against Real Madrid, in front of 60,067 spectators at the Camp Nou.
Last season's Women's Champions League Young Player of the Season Melchie Dumornay has once again delivered on the European stage, picking up four Player of the Match awards along the way. The 22-year-old is OL Lyonnes' top scorer on five goals and provided the assist for Jule Brand's winning strike in their semi-final against Arsenal.
Defensive stalwarts
Both sides have kept four clean sheets in ten games. Irene Paredes and Mapi León have regularly formed a solid partnership at the heart of Barcelona's back line, letting just eight goals through all campaign, with goalkeeper Cata Coll also a mainstay after taking over from Sandra Paños between the posts since 2023/24.
Wendie Renard has been part of all 11 of OL Lyonnes' previous finals and has won 103 matches in this competition. Now aged 35, the centre-back continues to dominate in the air at both ends, while also leading by example as captain and showing composure from the penalty spot. As for goalkeeper Christiane Endler, she joined OL from Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, helping the club clinch their eighth Champions League title in her debut season and adding a host of domestic honours since.
The coaches
OL Lyonnes coach Jonatan Giráldez is set to face his former Barcelona assistant Pere Romeu, who was promoted to succeed him in summer 2024 following Barcelona's two consecutive Women's Champions League titles.
Romeu oversaw a domestic double and another Champions League final run last season, with the possibility of a treble this time around after already wrapping up the Liga F crown. Giráldez, who joined OL Lyonnes last summer after just under a year at Washington Spirit, could become the first coach to win the competition three times.
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