Across the Atlantic: The global pull of the UEFA Women's Champions League

At just 18, Alyssa Thompson skipped college entirely and became the first high school player to ever be drafted into the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), for her home-town team Angel City, who are based in Los Angeles.

 But despite the most American of beginnings to her professional career, Thompson agreed to terms with Chelsea in late 2025, leaving behind her home city, the club who drafted her, and her sister, Gisele – the pair were team-mates at Angel City – to move 5,000 miles across the world. The UEFA Women's Champions League, she explains, was a key reason why.

"A lot of Americans have childhood dreams of coming to Europe," she said. "Being able to play in the Champions League is something that I feel like all soccer players want to do. Having that opportunity was definitely a reason why I came [to Chelsea].

"Being able to play at the highest level against different competition in Europe is just amazing. From America to England, to Spain, to Italy, every league has a different style, so it's really cool to see that and build my game through that as well."

Testing themselves on Europe's biggest stage

Thompson's career move is not an anomaly. She's just one of the latest in an increasingly long line of players coming from outside Europe to play for teams competing for the Women's Champions League crown.  

High-profile compatriots who have made their mark this season include US women's national team stars Lily Yohannes and Lindsey Heaps, who form a ferocious midfield duo at Women's Champions League finalists OL Lyonnes; last year's champion Emily Fox has been running a tight ship in Arsenal's defence; and goalkeeper Phallon Tullis- Joyce at Manchester United, whose five clean sheets in six games propelled her team to the quarter-finals in their debut season in the competition.

The United States is just the most high-profile example; it's not the only country whose stars are flocking to Europe. Fifty-two players from outside Europe have seen game time in the Women's Champions League this season, and while the US leads the way with 13, they are closely followed by Brazil on ten and Canada on eight.

This isn't a flash-in-the-pan trend – it is a clear sign of growth for the competition that is impossible to ignore. The number of non-European players has been growing steadily year on year; in fact, it has surged by 29% over the past three seasons.

Those players have contributed to the goals tally this season, combining for 33 in the competition's league phase. A Canadian player, Roma striker Evelyne Viens, topped the league phase scoring charts, netting five of the Italian side's nine goals.

With one of the four long-term goals of UEFA's Unstoppable women's football strategy to make Europe the home of the world's top players, the Women's Champions League is rapidly becoming exactly that.

A growing global audience

Inevitably, more overseas players joining teams who compete in Europe means more international eyes will turn to the game here. Global visibility of the Women's Champions League has sharply increased this season, with a number of new broadcasters signing on to screen games – and commit more resources to their programming in the process.

For the first time, Disney+ has become an official broadcast partner, showing every one of the competition's 75 games in territories as far afield as Brazil and Australia. The streaming giant has introduced a dedicated match night show led by former winner Alex Scott, and the minimum number of cameras covering every match has doubled to six, boosting the production value and showing just how much stock the network is putting in the competition.

In the US, broadcaster CBS Sports also signed up to a five-year deal to screen every game for the next five years, with dedicated studio shows recapping the action and providing top-level punditry.

Attracting investment

As players and broadcasters make their way across the pond, international investors are seeing the potential in the European game as well.

In recent seasons, there have been a number of new overseas backers putting their money into clubs competing on the continent, including US businesswoman Michele Kang – the majority owner of OL Lyonnes – and American entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, who became a minority stakeholder in Chelsea Women last season.

When he announced his investment in the west London side, Ohanian made a bold statement about the expected levels of US interest in his new club, declaring: "This is going to be America's team."

Given the continuing rise in players and fans turning their attention to Women's Champions League clubs, there will certainly be a very healthy amount of competition for that coveted title.