What to look out for in women's football in 2026
A spotlight on the biggest events in the women's game next year
Following a huge year that saw Euro 2025 and WAFCON take centre stage, 2026 brings new competitions and some exciting continental clashes too. Here’s a run down of all the major women’s football events in 2026.
Fifa Women’s Champions Cup
The inaugural Fifa Women’s Champions Cup takes place in London in January and February.
This new competition, which is taking place as a warm-up to the new Club World Cup that is set to arrive in 2028, sees league winners from all six confederations compete to become the continental club champion.
Once the Club World Cup kicks off in two years, this tournament will still be held in every non-Club World Cup year.
For this first edition of the Women’s Champions Cup, Champions League winners Arsenal will be taking on NWSL champions Gotham, Brazil’s Corinthians, and African giants AS Far. Chinese side Wuhan Jiangda, and Auckland United from New Zealand, were knocked out in the first two rounds of the tournament at the end of 2025
Arsenal have received a bye to the semi-finals and will be facing AS Far on 28 January. The semi-finals are taking place at the Brentford’s Community Stadium in west London, with the final being hosted at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on 1 February.
AFC Women’s Asian Cup
March is probably the biggest month in the women’s football calendar in 2026.
The 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup will take place in Australia from 1 to 21 March. China go into the tournament as holders but the hosts will be hoping they can claim a first regional title since 2010.
It’s been a rocky few years for the Matildas since their historic run to the semi-finals of the 2023 Women’s World Cup. They’re now under the leadership of former Arsenal and Lyon head coach Joe Montemurro and it remains to be seen whether he has had enough time to build a tournament-winning side.
Australia’s squad is still stacked with individual stars now in the latter stages of their careers, including Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley, but the Aussies will have to get past an exciting Japan side if they’re going to win the title.
WAFCON
WAFCON 2026, the next edition of the African tournament, will kick off in Morocco on 17 March and run until 3 April.
Nigeria are the holders but there is more on the line than just regional dominance, as the next edition of WAFCON will determine qualification for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
The top four teams at WAFCON 2026 will automatically qualify for the World Cup in Brazil.
Much of the narrative of WAFCON 2025 was Nigeria’s search for a 10th title and whether they could reclaim their dominance in the region.
The quest for what Nigerian football called ‘Mission X’ was complete when they came back from 2-0 down to beat hosts Morocco 3-2 in July.
It was a heartbreaking defeat for Morocco who had been seen as the best performing side heading into the final, but Nigeria’s dominance eventually came through when they needed it most.
The manner of Nigeria’s comeback was also impressive, given they were up against a rowdy and expectant home crowd who thought they were about to see Morocco claim their first ever WAFCON title.
In the end, it was goals from Esther Okoronkwo, Folashade Ijamilusi, and a dramatic late winner by Joe Echegini that sealed a historic 10th title for Nigeria.
Uefa Women’s Champions League
European leagues reach the business end of their seasons in April/May and with that also comes the Champions League semi-finals and final.
Arsenal are the European holders and will be hoping they can make it to Oslo for the final on 23 May.
First, they need to get past OH Leuven in the playoff round in February. Get through that and they’ll set up a quarter-final with Chelsea in April.
Manchester United take on Atletico Madrid in their playoff game and have a quarter-final against Bayern Munich lined up if they win.