The Women’s Champions League kicks off this Thursday with Europe’s top clubs competing for the most prestigious continental title. Since its creation in 2001, the competition has undergone a remarkable transformation in terms of structure, investment, audience and international visibility. What began as an ‘invisible’ event on the calendar has grown into a tournament generating multimillion broadcasting deals and record-breaking attendances.

The competition was born in 2001 under the name UEFA Women’s Cup, featuring 33 teams from 33 associations and matches played in modest stadiums, where attendances rarely exceeded a few thousand spectators. In 2009 it adopted its current name, Women’s Champions League, and in the 2021-22 season introduced a 16-team group stage following record qualifiers with 72 clubs from 50 associations.

The professional leap is reflected in budgets and prize money. While at the start of the century most clubs struggled to maintain women’s teams, today organisations such as FC Barcelona allocate 12.7 million euros in salaries for the 2024/25 season, with section revenues of around 17.3 million euros.

At the same time, since 2021/22 UEFA has distributed 24 million euros per season across prize money and solidarity payments. Under the new format, between 2025 and 2027, the 18 teams in the league phase will share 18.2 million euros, with a fixed 505,000 euros per club plus performance bonuses. A solidarity package of 5.6 million euros will be allocated to leagues and clubs not participating in the phase. Under the previous system, the champion could earn up to 1.995 million euros, a figure set to rise to 2.8 million euros from the 2027/28 season.

Commercial growth and the social dimension

The growth is also visible in the commercial and broadcasting fields. The global deal signed with DAZN in 2021, valued at around 7 million euros per season, was the first centralised rights agreement for the Women’s Champions League, with matches also available free on YouTube. From 2025, the competition will move to Disney+ in Europe, with free-to-air coverage guaranteed through the European Broadcasting Union -EBU-, and to CBS/Paramount+ in the United States. UEFA estimates the competition will generate 33.8 million euros annually under this new cycle. In parallel, the UEFA Women’s Football commercial programme, which includes the Champions League, currently produces between 97 and 102 million euros in sponsorships, with partners such as Amazon already committed through to 2030.

These figures highlight a radical contrast with the context of 2001, when the UEFA Women’s Cup was staged with no significant sponsorship revenue and without a defined commercial structure.

Global icons and media visibility

The Women’s Champions League has been crucial in projecting players who are now global icons. Alexia Putellas has over 3 million followers on Instagram, Sam Kerr close to 2 million, and Ada Hegerberg more than 400,000. These numbers reflect a media impact unimaginable during the tournament’s early years and confirm their role as international ambassadors for the sport.

The cultural impact was also evident in 2022, when over 91,000 spectators filled the Camp Nou for a match between FC Barcelona and Wolfsburg, setting the world record attendance for a women’s club football game. This contrasts with the early editions, when visibility was minimal and crowds often numbered only in the hundreds.

Today, 16 clubs compete in the group stage, compared to the 33 teams in the preliminary round of the first edition. The difference underlines the evolution from an almost amateur competition to a tournament that now generates multimillion revenues, record audiences and global stars.