Barcelona resume dominance in new-look Women's Champions League

For the 25th season of UEFA women's club football, the 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League had a new format, with three rounds of revamped qualifying leading to an expanded 18-club league phase, and a new knockout play-off round before the familiar quarter-finals.

At the end of it all Barcelona, having reached an unprecedented sixth straight decider, overwhelmed eight-time winners OL Lyonnes to claim the trophy for the fourth time.

OH Leuven, in their debut European season, became the first Belgian side to reach the league phase/group stage, and further impressed by making the top 12 to advance to the knockout play-offs ahead of teams including Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica and Roma. The top four, going straight into the quarter-finals, were Barcelona, OL, Chelsea and Bayern München, who bounced back from losing 7-1 away to the Blaugrana on Matchday 1.

Arsenal, defending the title after ending Barcelona's reign as champions in 2024/25, were among the teams in the play-offs and eliminated OH Leuven, advancing along with Wolfsburg, Real Madrid and Manchester United (who had never previously reached the competition proper). The Gunners then ended Chelsea's campaign in the quarter-finals, winning 3-1 at home meaning they could afford a 1-0 loss at Stamford Bridge.

Barcelona came through against Real Madrid 12-2 on aggregate, including a 6-0 win in front of more than 60,000 fans at the reopened Camp Nou. Bayern edged out Man Utd 5-3 overall, childhood United fan Pernille Harder scoring twice in the Old Trafford first leg, while OL lost 1-0 at Wolfsburg but prevailed 4-0 after extra time in the return.

A year earlier OL fell to a second-leg Arsenal comeback in France in a dramatic semi-final; 12 months on the Gunners won their home game 2-1 but their reign was ended with a 3-1 away loss after a late Jule Brand goal. Barcelona ensured they would break OL's old record of consecutive final appearances, drawing 1-1 at Bayern but coming through 4-2 in front of another big Camp Nou crowd.

For a record-equalling fourth time, Barcelona faced OL in a final, and in front of a sell-out Oslo crowd the French side probably shaded the first half. But it was a different story after the break, as Ewa Pajor struck twice (to take her season-leading tally to 11 goals, two ahead of Alessia Russo) and then Salma Paralluelo got two late on for an emphatic 4-0 win; Barcelona victorious for the fourth time in six seasons.

Alexia Putellas was named Player of the Season for the season time after 2021/22, having produced a tournament-high 14 goal contributions (both scoring and assisting seven times). OL's Lily Yohannes took the Young Player of the Season award.