Arsenal to play in inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup in 2026

This summer, the FIFA Club World Cup is launching on men's football, with a format similar to the usual FIFA World Cup with nations. It comes after FIFA launched the new Intercontinental Cup last year, with Real Madrid winning its first edition. Next year, FIFA is introducing those same ideas to women's football, with the creation of FIFA Women's Champions Cup in 2026 and Women's Club World Cup in 2028.

Announced last March, FIFA Women's Champions Cup is the direct equivalent to Intercontinental Cup in men's football: a competition to be held every year, with the exception of the year where Women's Club World Cup happens. Champions Cup will be a reduced tournament with only six participants, each winner of the six continental confederations: UEFA (Europe), CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia), CONCACAF (North America), CONMEBOL (South America), and OFC (Oceania).

In the case of UEFA, that's naturally the winner in Women's Champions League, won by Arsenal this year, defeating FC Barcelona against all odds. In this short competition, the AFC (Wuhan Jiangda) and OFC (Auckland United) clubs play the first round, and the winner fights CAF winner. The winner then fights UEFA representative in semi-finals (Arsenal in this case), while the CONCACAF (Gotham FC) and CONMEBOL (TBD) play directly the other semi-final.

The first edition of FIFA Women's Champions Cup is taking place from January to February 2026, and it will be held in the winter every year, except for the years where FIFA Women's Club World Cup takes place, which will take place in 2028, with 19 teams.