Women's Europa Cup final, Hammarby vs Häcken: Beginners' guide
Monday, April 13, 2026
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Get up to speed on the host venues, teams and coaches as two Swedish sides face off home and away in the 2025/26 UEFA Women's Europa Cup final.
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Hammarby will take on Häcken over two legs in the inaugural UEFA Women's Europa Cup final on Saturday 25 April and Friday 1 May.
Read our full guide as the new trophy is awarded for the first time.
Women's Europa Cup final: Key information
When and where is the Women's Europa Cup final?
The first leg will kick off at 15:00 CET on Saturday 25 April at Stockholm Arena, the home of Hammarby, which will also stage the Swedish Women's Cup final between these clubs on 16 May.
The second leg will kick off at 16:00 CET on Friday 1 May at Häcken's Hisingen Arena in Gothenburg.
The final: Hammarby vs Häcken
Both of these teams are in their first European final and this is also the first all-Swedish final in UEFA club competition.
The winners will automatically qualify for the third qualifying round of the champions path of next season's Women's Champions League, leaving one round to navigate to gain a place in the 2026/27 league phase.
The winning team will be the first to lift the new Women’s Europa Cup trophy, which was crafted in Italy and features six stripes to represent each round of the competition.
How has the first Women's Europa Cup final season worked?
The inaugural edition features 43 clubs contesting a total of 42 two-legged ties over six rounds (including two qualifying rounds). Twelve teams entered the Women's Europa Cup directly (11 in the first qualifying round, one more in the second qualifying round), with 31 others transferring from Women's Champions League qualifying (11 in the first qualifying round, 20 in the second).
The teams
Hammarby
Hammarby's women's team was founded in 1970, providing four players for the first-ever Sweden women's side three years later. They claimed their maiden league title in 1985, but it is in the 2020s that they have really come to prominence, attracting big crowds at Stockholm Arena and, in 2023, completing the domestic double as they ended a 38-year gap between Damallsvenskan crowns.
That earned a UEFA Women's Champions League debut, as they beat Benfica to reach the group stage, and a season on have now reached a European final.
Häcken
The club, which also began in 1970, were known as Landvetter until 2004 and then Göteborg FC, before coming together with men's club Häcken in 2021. In the 2010s, they won three Swedish Cups and took their first strides into Europe by reaching successive Women's Champions League quarter-finals in 2011/12 and 2012/13.
They claimed their first league title in 2020 and made another Champions League quarter-final in 2023/24 before last year pipping Hammarby to the Damallsvenskan title and embarking on this Women's Europa Cup run.
Road to the final
Hammarby
Hammarby narrowly lost out to Manchester United at Stockholm Arena in their Women's Champions League second qualifying round final, having previously edged Metalist 5-4; but soon they were into their Women's Europa Cup stride by comfortably knocking out Brann and Ajax.
The loss of some key players during the Swedish off-season, including the prolific Ellen Wangerheim, did not stop Hammarby — now under promoted former assistant coach William Strömberg — from edging out Sporting CP on penalties in the quarter-final. They then saw off Sparta Praha in the semi-finals 3-2 away and 2-0 at home, with 16-year-old Fanny Peterson scoring in both legs — including an added-time winner in Czechia.
Häcken
Häcken also began in Women's Champions League qualifying, conceding a third qualifying round second-leg equaliser deep in added time at Atlético de Madrid before going out in extra time. But once into the Women's Europa Cup, they cruised past Katowice and then ousted Inter thanks to an own goal in the fourth minute of the home first leg.
They also introduced a new coach before the quarter-finals, with Elena Sadiku arriving from Celtic. Häcken sailed past Breidablik 11-1 on aggregate and then won 3-0 away to four-time European champions Frankfurt in the opening leg of their semi, allowing them to afford a 1-0 home defeat.
Players to watch
Hammarby
The loss of the likes of Wangerheim, Julie Blakstad, Smilla Holmberg and Anna Jøsendal to English clubs over the winter has given Hammarby a new look, though many key players remain — including stalwart defender and captain Alice Carlsson — and 16-year-old Fanny Peterson has swiftly captured headlines by delivering in big moments.
Peterson only made her senior debut in October, aged 15, but in mid-March she scored a long-range Swedish Cup goal against Vittsjö. Then, in a single spectacular week, she netted a tremendous late winner in the 3-2 Europa Cup semi-final first-leg win at Sparta, produced another stunning strike in the Damallsvenskan opener versus Rosengård, and then delivered again in the second-leg return at home to the Czech club. "I've done it before too, but now it just so happens that more people are seeing it," Peterson told SVT.
Häcken
Celebrating her 19th birthday in the lead-up to the final, Felicia Schröder is another young player hoping to shine in the showpiece. The Swedish forward broke into the first team just after her 16th birthday in 2023 and, by the end of that year, was scoring in the Women's Champions League and helping Häcken to the quarter-finals.
Last year, she made her senior Sweden debut and finished as 30-goal Damallsvenskan top scorer, as Häcken were crowned domestic champions. She has been showing her class in the Women's Europa Cup, scoring doubles in the first legs against Breidablik in the quarter-finals and at Frankfurt in the semi-finals.
The coaches
Hammarby: William Strömberg
Strömberg stepped up to become head coach at the end of 2025, having previously been assistant to the Chicago Stars-bound Martin Sjögren. Before that, he had worked in women's football as Linköping's head coach in 2020, when he was also promoted after being the number two.
In men's football, Strömberg has previous experience with the Djurgården youth set-up and at BK Olympic, plus assistant roles with Göteborg and Sweden's Under-16s.
Häcken: Elena Sadiku
Sadiku left Celtic to join Häcken at the end of 2025, replacing Mak Lind. Previously a player for Malmö FC (now Rosengård), Kristianstad, Eskilstuna United, Hammarby and Sweden Under-19s, Sadiku had her career cut short by injury at the age of 23 and soon began thriving as a coach.
She worked with the Hammarby academy and then as assistant coach for China's Beijing BG Phoenix, before taking similar roles at Rosengård and Fortuna Hjørring, where she was promoted to head coach for a spell in 2021. Sadiku then coached at Eskilstuna United and with Everton's academy in England, before being appointed Celtic coach in 2024 and leading them to their first Scottish title and a Women's Champions League group stage debut.