The favourites to win the Women’s Champions League – ranked
With the Women’s Champions League now ready for the semi-finals, the four teams left in the competition are ready to fight for the most prestigious club trophy in the game.
Ranking favourites to go all the way in any competition can be difficult, but it’s a particularly tough job with the calibre of side left in the 2022/23 edition.
Olympique Lyonnais were the defending champions after seeing off Barcelona in the 2022 final. But their crown will now be passed on after a dramatic quarter-final exit at the hands of Chelsea.
Here’s 90min’s favourites to scoop up the trophy when it’s all said and done.
Arsenal haven’t been the most consistent side this season, with Jonas Eidevall’s team going through some major ups and downs.
In recent years, Arsenal, alongside other English clubs, haven’t been able to get over the hurdle of the UWCL knockout rounds, but the spirit shown to overcome Bayern Munich 2-1 on aggregate shows the determination and fighting spirit in the current squad.
Leah Williamson said after the game ‚we’re ready‘ – Arsenal will need to be if they are to repeat their 2007 success.
VfL Wolfsburg can never be counted out of the Women’s Champions League, and this year, they’ve been especially dominant in all competitions.
It’s a team stacked in every area of the pitch, with several of their players impressing last summer for Germany during the Euros, making it to the final in Wembley. All eyes will particularily be on Lena Oberdorf, who has the ability to break up opposition play and progress her team forward with great speed and skill.
Wolfsburg last won the Women’s Champions League in 2014, and fans are confident that they can go back to winning Europe’s greatest competition.
Chelsea will feel like they have a lot to prove after disappointingly crashing out of the group stages last season.
Emma Hayes‘ side are doing well domestically, although they are down to third in the WSL after a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City left them a point off top spot with a game in hand.
Things have been good in Europe so far, with five UWCL group wins mixed in with a 1-1 draw against Real Madrid. But the pain of the final in 2021, in which they conceded four goals within 36 minutes, is still surely a sore subject in the Chelsea dressing room, and they’ll want to right that wrong as soon as possible.
The Blues were on the brink of going out in the quarter-finals until a late penalty forced a shootout. You can’t fake that kind of never say die mentality.
Barcelona are once again the team to beat, having blitzed past Roma in the last eight as they bid to avenge last season’s surprise defeat to Lyon in the final.
They may not yet have Alexia Putellas back at their disposal, but they’ve fared well without her. The Catalans have won every single game they’ve played this season, bar one (Bayern Munich in the UWCL group stages), and have scored a ridiculous amount of goals.
On current form, it would be foolish to look past them.