In other #UWCL news, qualification either Friday or Saturday for these teams: Netherlands - Ajax (L2), Feyenoord (#UWEC) Denmark - Koge and Brondby (one to C2, one to L2) Albania - Vllaznia and Apolonia (one to C2, one to L2) Romania - Csikszereda (UWEC) Poland - Czarni (C1)

#UWCLfinal Two Ewa Pajor goals and two more from Salma Paralluelo give Barcelona an emphatic 4-0 victory and a fourth #UWCL title!

#UWCLcountdown 0: It's time for the #UWCL Final! After 152 matches among 74 teams, it's Barcelona and it's Lyon, kicking off in just over an hour. Thanks to everyone who's liked, commented, and shared these posts over the last ~2 months. Remember, next season is just weeks away!

#UWCLcountdown 1 England (steady): For the second straight year, all three English entrants made it all the way to the quarterfinals. Chelsea ranked 3rd, Arsenal 5th, and Manchester United 6th in the league phase.

#UWCLcountdown 2 Spain (up 1): Barcelona has qualified for an unprecedented sixth consecutive #UWCL final. Since last year's final, they have lost one game. They beat their biggest domestic rivals three times in a week by a combined 15-2. The title is there's to lose...

#UWCLcountdown 3 France (down 1): Is France still the best women's league in Europe? Probably not. Is Lyon still the best women's club in Europe? We'll find out. OL Lyonnes blitzed through the league phase, with only a draw at Juventus keeping them from a perfect 18.

#UWCLcountdown 4 Germany (steady): Bayern Munich's UWCL started and ended the same way, with losses at Barcelona. But in between the 1-7 league phase opener and the 2-4 loss semifinal second leg, Bayern went 6-2-0, finishing the main stage in 4th and beating Man United 3-2,2-1 in the QFs

Earlier on Monday, SeaSters defeated Vorskla to wrap up second place in Ukraine, and a #UWCL L2 berth. Vorskla will have to settle for #UWEC this year. From what I can tell, no UWCL-relevant games in any league until Friday, so I should have time to update the website.

#UWCLcountdown 5 Italy (steady): Is Italy at the bottom of the first tier, or the top of the second tier of women's leagues in UEFA? In my opinion, at least for now, the latter. Juventus finished the league phase 8th at 10 points. In the KO round, they drew at Wolfsburg, but then lost at home.

#UWCLcountdown 6 Portugal (steady): Things can change very quickly for a nation with some good results. In 2020, Portugal ranked 23rd, and had never had a team reach the last 16 of the #UWCL. Then came Benfica, qualifying for the group stage in 21-22 & 22-23, then the 23-24 QFs.

#UWCLcountdown 7 Sweden (steady): No nation could be happier with the new UEFA women's club system than Sweden. Under the previous system, third-place Hammarby would be left out of European play altogether. Instead, they had a chance at #UWCL and, after losing to Man U, a second chance in #UWEC.

Another busy Saturday sees a whole bunch of #UWCL and #UWEC berths claimed. England - Arsenal finishes 2nd (direct to UWCL Main), Chelsea 3rd (L3 qualifying) France - Paris FC top two (Main), Paris SG 3rd (L3) Czechia - Sparta champions (C2 for now), Slavia 2nd (L2)

#UWCLcountdown 8 Netherlands (up 1): Twente defeated Katowice 4-0,4-1 to advance to the #UWCL league phase. They started with a draw vs Chelsea and ended with a draw vs Real Madrid, the best results put up by any team that failed to advance, as they finished 15th place.

#UWCLcountdown 9 Norway (down 1): Valerenga soared through qualifying, and finished 13th in the #UWCL league phase, just missing the playoffs. They surely rue letting a 2-0 lead slip away in a draw vs St. Polten (the only point that side recorded); any win and they're 12th.

Hajduk Split clinches Croatia’s title and a spot in C2. Hapoel Katamon clinches Israel’s title and a spot in C1. Both making their European debuts. #UWCL

#UWCLcountdown 10 Belgium (up 11): No surprise Belgium shot up the rankings, they had a terrific year. It was one of only three nations not to have any losses during the qualifying rounds, with 6 wins and 2 draws (the others were Spain 3-1-0 and France 1-1-0).

#UWCLcountdown 11 Austria (down 1): St. Polten made their fourth straight appearance in the group/league stage, but again struggled once there, with a single draw and a -25 GD. Austria Wien fell in L3 qualifying to Paris FC, but defeated Slavia Praha and Anderlecht in the UWEC.

#UWCLcountdown 12 Czechia (down 1): A duopoly, without question, as Sparta Praha and Slavia Praha are the only two teams to have ever won the league, and this will be the 25th straight season they finish 1 and 2. Both teams finished 2nd in a R2 group and fell into UWEC.

#UWCLcountdown 13 Switzerland (up 1): Young Boys finished second in a C2 group, falling into #UWEC where they eliminated SFK 2000 in QR2, then fell to Sparta Praha in a dramatic R16, 3-0,0-4. Grasshopper made a respectable European debut, winning QR1 before falling to Ajax in QR2.

#UWCLcountdown 14 Denmark (down 1): A nation quite happy with the existence of #UWEC. Fortuna won their C2 group, but was eliminated from #UWCL in C3 by St. Polten 1-3,1-2. They defeated Vorskla in UWEC QR2 before falling to Breidablik in extra time 1-0,2-4 in R16.

Busy Sunday in #UWCL qualifications: Italy - Juventus secures 3rd place, spot in L2 Denmark - Koge and Brondby are top 3, UWCL or UWEC TBD Scotland - Hearts is top 2, qualifies for UWCL Turkey - Fenerbahce wins title, qualifies for C2 Also SFK 2000 removes any doubt, they are Bosnia's champ

Two #UWCL clinches already this morning: Farul Constanta secures their third straight Romania title and will play in C2. Arsenal secures a top-three finish in England, securing either a direct spot or one in L3, and eliminating Man United from UWCL contention.

#UWCLcountdown 15 Ukraine (down 3): Vorskla Poltava won their C2 group but lost in C3 to OH Leuven 0-2,0-0. They were then eliminated by Fortuna in #UWEC QR2. Second place Metalist 1925 was swept out of L2 and third place Kolos Kovalivka lost both legs of a UWEC QR1 series.

#UWCLcountdown 16 Iceland (up 2): Breidablik finished 2nd in a C2 group to fall into the #UWEC, where they beat Spartak Subotica in QR2 and Fortuna in R16 before losing 0-7,1-4 to Hacken in the quarterfinals. Valur started in the #UWCL league path but finished 4th in their L2 group.

Correcting the last sentence: The runner-ups will qualify for UWEC, but not Olimpija. I did not know there were playoffs after the 2xRR. In those playoffs, Randomlje has taken second place (though not clinched it yet) from Ljubljana (which is not the same team as Olimpija Ljubljana) #UWCLcountdown

#UWCLcountdown 17 Scotland (down 1): Champions Hibernian finished 3rd in a C2 group, then were eliminated in #UWEC QR1. Glasgow City also finished 3rd in a L2 group (taking advantage of a 3-team group) but made better work of their stay in the Europa Cup.

#UWCLcountdown 18 Slovenia (up 4): The highest-ranked country that only had one team this season, both for the season and for the five-year totals. Mura is also the first team we've reached that made it to the main part of either competition, having made the R16 of #UWEC.

#UWCLcountdown 19 Turkiye (up 8): Another nation that has gone several years without any team defending its title. Fomget advanced from #UWCL C1, finished third in C2, and went out on penalties to SFK 2000 in #UWEC QR1 after a pair of draws. They will not be back this year.

#UWCLcountdown 20 Albania (down 5): Vllaznia has a dynasty as national champions, stretching over a decade. They finished third in a #UWCL C2 group, falling into #UWEC where they were crushed in QR2 by Inter Milan. Runners-up Partizani made their European debut and were swept out in UWEC QR1.

Arsenal has three #WSL games to make up, starting today. Win one and they secure a return to #UWCL. Win two and they are in the driver’s seat for direct entry. Win all three and they go into the finale with a chance to steal the title from Man City.

Paris FC wins their regular-season finale, securing second place. They will host Paris St Germain in the #ArkemaPL semifinal, and guarantee. #UWCL berth. Nantes gets the third UWCL bid if they win the title, otherwise it goes to PSG.

The current state of my #UWCL & #UWEC qualifying planning documents as of May 4.

Playoff forfeit in Switzerland! The quarterfinal series between Basel and St. Gallen had gone 0-1, 2-1 with Basel prevailing on penalties. However, deep in extra time, after having made subs at 60, 66', 98', and 120', Basel made ANOTHER sub at 123'.

#UWCLcountdown 21 Republic of Ireland (up 14): The biggest jump of any nation in this year's rankings! Athlone Town made an impressive European debut, one of only two teams to start in C1 and make it to the UWEC qualifiers

#UWCLcountdown 22 Bosnia and Herzegovina (up 3): SFK 2000 (listed on UEFA's site as "Sarajevo") is the other team which has both played every #UWCL and is the only team from its nation to play UWCL. Including the Women's Cup, their streak stands at 23 as of the 2025-26 season.

Teams qualifying for #UWEC/#UWCL on Sunday: England: Man City secures top-2, spot in Main; Chelsea secures top-3, CL spot TBD Spain: Real Sociedad secures top-3, spot in L3 Netherlands: PSV secures top-3, CL/EC spot TBD

#UWCL Barcelona does it again! Bayern put up a valiant effort, but Barcelona wins 4-2 today, 5-3 over two legs, to advance to their sixth consecutive final. This will be the fourth Lyon vs Barcelona final, matching Lyon vs Wolfsburg for the most played final.

Teams qualifying for #UWCL or #UWEC Saturday: Germany: Wolfsburg secures top-3, UWCL bid TBD Italy: Roma wins the league, straight to Main Stage. Inter Milan secures second, berth in L3. Portugal: Torreense secures third, berth in L2.

With Lyon defeating Arsenal in the #UWCL semifinals, #UWEC champions Hacken are through to the Main Stage of next season's UWCL. There will be more rebalancing consequences, but because of work commitments, I'll save all further updates until end of today.

Congratulations to Hacken on winning the first-ever UEFA Women's Europa Cup! With the victory, they are (for now) placed into Qualifying Round C3 of next year's #UWCL. If this year's UWCL champions are already qualified for the Main Stage, then Hacken inherits the holders' berth.

Next 27 hours will go a long way towards clearing up the 2026-27 #UWCL access list. First, the #UWEC final today decides whether Hacken or Hammarby moves to C3, and whether adjustments will happen in Champions or League Path.

#UWCLcountdown 23 Cyprus (down 6): Apollon finished last in their C2 group; runners-up Aris Limassol lost both games of their #UWEC series in their European debut. That makes Cyprus the highest-ranking nation to put up a 0 this season.

#UWCLcountdown 24 Serbia (down 5): Crvena Zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade) has won the last two titles, but in this season's #UWCL they finished fourth in their C2 group. Previous long-time champions Spartak Subotica entered the #UWEC as runners-up and made QR2 before falling to Briedablik.

#UWCLcountdown 25 Hungary (up 6): Ferencvaros made their 7th consecutive appearance, winning their C2 group before losing 0-3,1-2 to Valerenga in C3 and falling to Sparta Praha in #UWEC QR2. In 2026, Hungary's champion starts in C1, but they're back to a C2 start in 2027.

#UWCLcountdown 26 Croatia (down 3): Agram made their #UWCL debut, was seeded in Q1 based on Croatia's past performance, was drawn with another just-barely-seeded team in a 3-team group, got a semifinal bye, and then lost their final, meaning they lost the only game they played.

And with that I have posted association 27 with 27 days to go to the UWCL final. I will intend to make one post a day the rest of the way, though probably I'll have to make some catch-up posts on days when I'm not at home much.

#UWCLcountdown 27 Lithuania (up 3): FC Gintra is the only team to have represented Lithuania in #UWCL, having done so every season, one of two clubs that can say that. They finished second in their C2 group, and lost to Nordsjaelland in #UWEC QR2.

#UWCLcountdown 28 Romania (down 4): Farul Constanta finished 3rd in their C2 group, then lost both legs of their #UWEC QR2 series to Koge. They have one foot in the door to return to #UWCL, leading by 6 points with 5 rounds to play (though they still must play 2nd place Csikszereda twice).

#UWCL semifinal two leg one: Arsenal 2-1 Lyon. An own goal from Ingrid Engen followed by Olivia Smith seizing a winner out of a clumsy backpass have given Arsenal a slight lead going into next Saturday's return leg.

#UWCLcountdown 29 Greece (steady): AEK Athens finished third in their Q1 group, having ended PAOK's run of six straight titles. PAOK leads AEK by 8 points with 4 games to go, and they could wrap up the title as soon as tomorrow.