Women's Champions League season concludes: Goals galore, new format and unbeaten champions
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
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With the 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League having drawn to a close, Plugged In, presented by Euronics, reviews some of the key talking points of the first season under the competition's new format.
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Barcelona's unbeaten campaign, great goals and the exciting new league phase format are among the themes of the latest episode of Plugged In, presented by Euronics, which looks back at the 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League season.
The Spanish champions clinched the European title for a fourth time, returning to the summit after beating OL Lyonnes 4-0 in Oslo.
Barcelona reclaim the crown
Last year's runners-up won back the title they had previously earned in 2020/21, 2022/23 and 2023/24, emerging victorious against OL Lyonnes thanks to a ruthless four-goal second-half performance at Ullevaal Stadion.
After a tight first half, Ewa Pajor broke the deadlock in the 55th minute and the Polish forward extended Barcelona's lead by scoring again 14 minutes later – before Salma Paralluelo added two late goals to wrap up victory.
The 2025/26 champions won nine of their 11 games this season and drew the other two, against Chelsea in the league phase and Bayern München in the semi-finals. They finished top of the league phase table and got past Real Madrid and Bayern in their subsequent knockout contests, winning those ties 12-2 and 5-3 on aggregate respectively.
Goals galore
Ewa Pajor's two goals in the final boosted her tally to 11 and moved her ahead of second-placed Alessia Russo to become the season's outright top scorer.
A combined total of 258 goals were scored this term, at an average of 3.44 per match – the equivalent of a goal for every 26 minutes of football played.
Barcelona were the most prolific team with 41 strikes – 15 more than nearest rivals OL Lyonnes on 26, with Arsenal next on 24. The champions also led the way in keeping five clean sheets, a figure matched only by Manchester United.
New format
The 2025/26 season was the first to be played under the competition's new format. The previous 16-team group stage was replaced by an 18-team league phase, in which each side faced six different opponents, contesting half their games at home and half of them away.
The top four teams in the league phase table progressed straight to the quarter-finals, while sides finishing between fifth and 12th contested knockout phase play-offs to decide the remaining four spots in the last eight.
Women's Champions League debutants Manchester United and OH Leuven enjoyed memorable campaigns by both progressing to the knockout phase. United made it all the way to the quarter-finals in their first season in the competition proper, beating Vålerenga, Atlético de Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus along the way.
OH Leuven became the first Belgian team to progress through qualifying and won one and drew three of their league phase games to reach the knockout phase play-offs, where they lost to holders Arsenal.
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