Women's Europa Cup quarter-finals: Players to watch

The inaugural UEFA Women's Europa Cup is down to the quarter-final stage, with the two-legged ties taking place on 11 and 18 February. We look at a player from each of the eight contenders with a key role to play, as the race to be the first team to lift the trophy hots up.

Austria Wien: Courtney Strode

Courtney Strode (right) celebrates scoring against Anderlecht in the Women's Europa Cup round of 16UEFA via Getty Images

Austria Wien are aiming to become the first team from their nation to reach a UEFA women's club semi-final. But their ambition was already clear before their first European campaign through the signing of American striker Courtney Strode, the daughter of former French Open tennis mixed doubles finalist Charles Strode.

The 27-year-old forward joined from Young Boys, where two seasons in a row she had finished as the Swiss league's top scorer. Strode, who also has experience playing in France and Sweden, is a mobile No9 who has consistently been in the goals for Austria Wien, including a double in their UEFA Women's Champions League second qualifying round final defeat of Minsk and one more in their Women's Europa Cup run to the last eight.

Breidablik: Agla María Albertsdóttir 

Agla María Albertsdóttir in action against Fortuna HjørringUEFA via Getty Images

In their off-season, Icelandic champions Breidablik have seen several key players depart but the team that stunned Fortuna Hjørring with a dramatic away comeback in the round of 16 still boast plenty of talent, not least Icelandic international attacker Agla María Albertsdóttir.

The 26-year-old's senior career began at Breidablik when she was 15 and she has represented her nation at three Women's EURO tournaments. The playmaker is also familiar with quarter-final opponents Häcken, having had a spell there in 2022 before returning for her third stint at Breidablik.

Eintracht Frankfurt: Elisa Senss

Elisa Senss (left) in defensive mode against PSV in the Women's Europa Cup round of 16UEFA via Getty Images

At age 28, Elisa Senss has established herself as one of Europe's leading holding midfielders, joining Frankfurt from Bayer Leverkusen in 2024 and becoming a Germany regular in their runs to the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 semi-finals and the UEFA Women's Nations League final.

Little gets past a player who has fine technique but makes no secret that "I play very aggressively". Senss is likely to play an instrumental role if the winners of the first UEFA Women's Cup (now Women's Champions League) in 2001/02 are to also lift the inaugural Women's Europa Cup 24 years later.

Häcken: Felicia Schröder

Felicia Schröder scored a late equaliser against Atleti in Women's Champions League qualifying before Häcken's Women's Europa Cup runTT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images

Felicia Schröder's prodigious talent has long been obvious; aged 16 she scored home and away against Twente in her first two Women's Champions League appearances for Häcken, sending them into the 2023/24 group stage and on their way to the quarter-finals.

Last year she broke into the senior Sweden squad and finished as the 30-goal Damallsvenskan top scorer as Häcken were crowned domestic champions. Last summer, Schröder signed a new long-term contract with the Gothenburg club and, if she keeps up her form, she could be a UEFA club competition winner not long past her 19th birthday, which falls on 13 April.

Hammarby: Alice Carlsson

Alice Carlsson (left) celebrates Hammarby knocking out Ajax in the round of 16UEFA via Getty Images

With departures including Julie Blakstad and Smilla Holmberg over the Swedish off-season, it will be a different-looking Hammarby side that faces Sporting CP; but at the heart of their defence remains a familiar face in Alice Carlsson.

Captain of Hammarby since joining in 2020, when they were playing in the Swedish second tier, Carlsson has played a central role in her side's rise to major Swedish honours and European football thanks to her leadership, defensive ability and authority on the ball.

Nordsjælland: Anna Walter

Anna Walter (right) in round of 16 action against Mura UEFA via Getty Images

Taking on European stalwarts Frankfurt will not be easy for Nordsjælland, who are in only their second UEFA competition campaign, but their youthful squad is full of talent.

Among them is 21-year-old forward Anna Walter, who has scored in five of her eight European appearances this season, including in both of Nordsjælland's Women's Champions League qualifiers before her side moved into the Women's Europa Cup. Walter has already reached double figures in the Danish league for the first time this season, while her 2025 highlights included making her senior Denmark debut and being voted her nation's Talent of the Year by fellow players.

Sparta Praha: Michaela Khýrová

Michaela Khýrová celebrates her heroics away to Young BoysUEFA via Getty Images

Czechia international Michaela Khýrová rejoined Sparta Praha from city rivals Slavia in 2024, five years after moving in the opposite direction. At her previous club, the midfielder showed an eye for delivering important European goals when she scored the decisive goal in Slavia's first-ever Women's Champions League group stage win against St. Pölten.

But for Sparta, she produced an even more memorable display in the second leg of their Europa Cup round of 16 tie with Young Boys by scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 away victory that overturned a 3-0 home defeat, which was the first time that had happened in UEFA women's club competition.

Sporting CP: Telma Encarnação

Telma Encarnação in action against Glasgow CityUEFA via Getty Images

Telma Encarnação made history in 2023 by scoring Portugal's first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup finals goal, against Vietnam. Having joined Sporting CP the following year, she will be hoping to create another mark by aiming to help her side become their nation's maiden semi-finalist in UEFA women's club competition.

She was key to Sporting making the last eight, scoring three goals across their two round of 16 legs against Glasgow City, with a superb individual display in the second leg comeback. Telma Encarnação is a clinical finisher in a rich vein of form.