FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2026: Has This New Global Competition Boosted Women’s Football?
Last week, the world of football saw the birth of a new international competition for women’s football: the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2026. Based on the same system as the men’s tournament (now called the Intercontinental Cup), it is a tournament that allows all the clubs that have won their continental competitions such as the Champions League in Europe in the previous season. In December 2025, the men’s version of this tournament saw Paris Saint Germain win the Intercontinental Cup on penalties, played live from Qatar against the Brazilian team Flamengo. Paris Saint Germain having won the Champions League in Europe in May 2025 and Flamengo, the Copa Libertadores in South America in November 2025. This tournament has existed since 2000 for men, but it's a novelty in women's football.
Organized mostly in London, this tournament brought together six teams from across the world. Arsenal represented England and Europe as the winner of the Champions League in May 2025, while Corinthians represented South America after winning the Copa Libertadores in October 2025. Gotham FC took part as the North American representative, having won the CONCACAF Women’s Champions Cup in May 2025. Africa was represented by AS FAR of Morocco, the winner of the African Champions League in November 2025. From Asia, Wuhan Jiangda qualified by winning the Asian Champions League in May 2025, and Auckland United completed the lineup as the Oceania representative after winning the Oceanic Champions League in May 2025.
Round 1: The champions of the Asian Women's Champions League (Wuhan Jiangda) hosted at home, the champions of the Oceanian Women's Champions League (Auckland United).
Round 2: The champions of the African Women's Champions League (AS Far) hosted at home the winner from Round 1.
Semi-finals: The Round 2 winners advanced to play the champions of the European Women's Champions League (Arsenal) in a "neutral" venue (London for the 2026 edition), while the champions of the North American Women’s Champions Cup (Gotham FC) faced the champions of the Copa Libertadores Femenina (Corinthians), also in a "neutral" venue (London for the 2026 edition).
Final and third place play-off: The semi-final winners played the final, and the losers played in the third place play-off (always in London, for the 2026 edition).
For this year’s edition, it is the club of Arsenal that won the trophy beating Corinthians in the final 3 - 2, after extra time. Detailed results can be found on the FIFA website.
The result of the final against Corinthians shows us that it wasn't necessarily that simple, but above all, it may have allowed European fans to discover new teams, ones they aren't necessarily used to seeing in Europe.
Whether it's men's or women's football, this type of competition allows clubs outside of Europe to gain international recognition. It was rewarding to see a team like Arsenal play against new clubs like AS Far and Gotham FC. However, the organization of this first edition in 2026 raised some questions.
As mentioned previously, this first edition of the tournament in 2026 was primarily held in London. The tournament format stipulates, however, that the semi-finals, the third-place match, and the final must be held in a neutral location. Arsenal (the tournament winner) is, however, a London club. Dear FIFA, that's not very neutral, don't you think? Of course, one might think that for a first edition, a location that can attract spectators and has the necessary infrastructure is essential. On this point, London perfectly fits the bill, as the passion for football, even women's football, is very strong in the English capital (with five London clubs playing in the English league). According to The Guardian, a FIFA spokesperson announced: “As this is the inaugural edition of the competition, FIFA undertook a comprehensive assessment to identify the most suitable location to launch this new event. London was selected as the optimal choice based on a range of strategic considerations.” However, the same article reports that not all clubs received equal treatment in terms of tournament preparation. With the travel to get to London, different preparation times for clubs depending on their respective seasons, and the fact that Arsenal had access to everything necessary on-site at no extra cost, the journalist questions how fair it truly is from FIFA not to provide equal access to the resources required for a tournament of this kind to all clubs.
Finally, there is another factor to consider in this competition: the number of people who came to watch the four matches.
Semi-final 1 - 6,177 fans
Semi-final 2 - 8,066 fans
Third-place match - 7,210 fans
Final - 25,031 fans
Given that the capacities of the two stadiums are 17,250 (GTech Stadium, for the semi-finals) and 60,704 (Emirates Stadium, for the two finals), it is clear that many more tickets could have been sold. With 41% of the Emirates' capacity for the final, there is hope that this figure can increase in future editions.
This tournament has likely provided more visibility for some clubs that competed. It's still too early to know the long-term consequences of this competition, but let's hope FIFA invests more resources in women's football, considering its rapid growth in popularity and the quality of the games. I was lucky enough to see Arsenal Women play at the Emirates Stadium, with thousands of cheering spectators. Women's Football is a sport that truly deserves to be highlighted if you're a real football fan.