Browsing: favourites

The Women’s Champions League is under way, with Arsenal aiming to defend their title, Barcelona chasing a sixth consecutive final, and Chelsea hoping to lift the trophy for the first time.

Manchester United’s presence marks a second consecutive season with three Women’s Super League teams in the competition.

This season promises exciting clashes, emerging stars, and potential upsets, but who are the 10 favourites to win the competition?

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Women’s Champions League favourites: 10. Atletico Madrid

Perhaps the surprise package, Atletico Madrid have progressed past the qualifying rounds for the first time since 2020/21.

While they’ve struggled to compete with Barcelona in Liga F in recent years, an unbeaten start this season, including a win over rivals Real Madrid, suggests potential to cause upsets in Europe.

Key players include Chelsea loanee Julia Bartel, former Manchester United midfielder Vilde Boe Risa, and star Brazilian forward Luany. With league momentum on their side, Atletico could be a dark horse in this year’s Women’s Champions League.

9. Paris Saint-Germain

Olga Carmona is now at PSG (Image credit: Getty Images)

PSG, runners-up in 2015 and 2017, shockingly missed the 2024/25 Champions League group stage after losing to Juventus, ending a six-year streak of reaching at least the quarter-finals.

New signings include Crystal Dunn, Olga Carmona, Rasheedat Ajibade, and young Canadian Florianne Jourde, but they lost key players like Kadidiatou Diani to rivals Lyon and Grace Geyoro to London City Lionesses.

Having finished runners-up to Lyon in seven of the past eight seasons, PSG will be desperate to challenge Europe’s elite, and they have the talent – though they’ve won just two of their opening four league fixtures.

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8. Wolfsberg

Two-time Champions League winners and four-time runners-up, Wolfsburg may not dominate Europe like they once did, but always pose a threat on the big stage.

Under new manager Stephan Lerch, replacing Tommy Stroot in the summer, they’ll face a brutal league phase including Chelsea, Lyon, Real Madrid, and PSG.

Standout talents include midfielder Janina Minge and young Swiss forward Smilla Vallotto, who impressed at the Euros, and with their stars firing, Wolfsburg have the quality to make a deep run in Europe.

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7. Bayern Munich

England international Georgia Stanway stars for Bayern Munich (Image credit: 2023 UEFA)

Frauen-Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, led by new manager Jose Barcala, boast stars including Lioness Georgia Stanway and German talents Giulia Gwinn and Klara Buhl.

Their toughest challenge? A brutal league phase featuring former winners Barcelona, who they have already endured a 7-1 defeat to on Matchday 1. They also face current holders Arsenal and PSG.

Historically, their best Champions League runs ended in the semi-finals, losing to Barcelona in 2018/19 and Chelsea in 2020/21. With their talent and domestic success, Bayern have the quality to navigate tough matches and make another deep run in Europe.

6. Real Madrid

Boasting talents including Athenea del Castillo, Caroline Weir, and new signing Sara Dabritz, Real Madrid are steadily rising in women’s football, making history in March when they beat Barcelona for the first time.

Last season, they narrowly lost both group-stage ties to Chelsea (3-2 away, 2-1 home) but stunned Arsenal 2-0 in the first leg of the quarter-finals before Arsenal’s brilliance blew them away in the return fixture.

These glimpses of brilliance could be enough to see them progress far, although their start to Liga F under new manager Pau Quesada has seen them win just three from six games.

5. Manchester United

Manchester United are making history, reaching this stage of the Champions League for the first time.

After a 1-0 away loss to Norwegian side Brann in qualifying, they bounced back emphatically with an Elisabeth Terland hat-trick. Terland’s attacking flair is matched by Melvine Malard, who leads the WSL Golden Boot race with four goals in five games.

A recent league draw against Chelsea highlights their growing credentials as title contenders, while November’s clash with PSG promises extra spice as Mary Earps returns to her former club, with Ella Toone admitting to texting her with excitement immediately after the draw.

4. Arsenal

Reigning champions Arsenal stunned Europe by dethroning Barcelona last season in Lisbon, but their title defence has started shakily with a 2-1 defeat to Lyon on Matchday 1.

With a squad featuring seven Ballon d’Or nominees (including four in the top 10), their individual quality is undeniable – many felt Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo, who placed second and third respectively, deserved the top prize.

However, Renee Slegers’ challenge is consistency in her team’s performances and they earned a reputation of being the comeback queens in last year’s competition. Winless in four and slipping in the WSL race, they’ll need a statement result against Benfica next week to steady momentum.

3. OL Lyonnes

Ada Hegerberg is still a force (Image credit: Getty Images)

Record eight-time winners Lyon remain a powerhouse in Europe and show no signs of slowing as they came out firing on matchday one with a 2-1 victory over reigning champions Arsenal.

Backed by Michele Kang and with a squad featuring Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Kadidiatou Diani, Melchie Dumornay, new signing Jule Brand and the competition’s all-time top scorer Ada Hegerberg, their lethal attacking threat will be hard to stop.

Lyon’s nouse in this competition combined with a plethora of talent makes them a serious threat to reclaim their European throne once again.

2. Barcelona

Barcelona may have lost 17 players over the summer, but their core of world-class talent remains intact.

Three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati and two-time winner Alexia Putellas continue to set the standard in midfield, while Claudia Pina was the top goalscorer in last season’s competition. Young star Vicky Lopez adds to the firepower and is fresh off winning the inaugural women’s Kopa Trophy (best under-21 player in the world). Who needs squad depth when you have players like this?

The three-time champions sent a clear message on matchday one with a 7-1 demolition of Bayern Munich, and they’ve started Liga F with a staggering +30 goal difference in six games. Even amid transition, Barcelona can never be underestimated.

1. Chelsea

Chelsea completed a domestic treble last season, winning the WSL, FA Cup and League Cup (Image credit: Getty Images)

Despite last season’s domestic treble, Chelsea remain desperate for the one trophy that continues to evade them.

Their closest attempt to the Champions League crown came in 2021, when they were dismantled 4-0 by their European nemesis Barcelona in the final. Barca have repeatedly been their stumbling block, including an 8-2 aggregate defeat in last season’s semi-final.

Determined to change the narrative, Chelsea have invested heavily this year, notably in their club-record signing of Alyssa Thompson from Angel City to bolster an already impressive attack of perennial goalscorer Sam Kerr and Aggie Beever-Jones, who is on fire this season.

A group-stage clash with Barcelona on matchday four could set the tone for their campaign, and getting a taste of their rivals earlier in the competition than usual with the new format could play in their favour.

This could finally be the year…

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Sports Mole speaks to Steven Finn about England’s chances at the T20 World Cup following a mixed group stage in which they scraped through ahead of Scotland.

England have been touted as “third favourites” to go all the way and win the T20 World Cup this summer by former bowler Steven Finn.

The defending champions went through an up-and-down group stage campaign which included two heavily rain-affected matches, a chastening defeat to Australia and a record-breaking hammering of Oman.

At one stage it looked as though England might crash out at the first hurdle, having seen their opener with Scotland rained off before losing to Australia by 36 runs in their second match.

That left England facing two must-win games back to back, and they stepped up to the challenge by dismantling Oman by eight wickets in their third game – a result which not only gave them crucial points, but also vastly improved their run-rate.

A 41-run win over Namibia then followed – although not without some weather-induced tension – before England’s place in the Super 8s was confirmed when Australia rallied to beat Scotland in the final group game.

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England could be peaking at the right time

England’s convincing defeat at the hands of Australia suggested that they are some way off the level of the very best in their bid to become the first team to ever retain the trophy, and also the first to win it three times.

However, Finn, who took 27 wickets in 21 T20 internationals for his country, believes that suffering such a bad loss so early in the tournament could end up proving to be a positive, as long as England are able to peak at the right time.

“They’ll have been disappointed with those first two games. The game against Scotland, losing it to the rain when it looked like Scotland were in a really good position, I think would have left a lot of questions unanswered for us watching it because you felt as though England could come back into the game, but you’re just guessing at that stage,” Finn told Sports Mole.

“And the defeat to Australia, I think was a tough one to take because England would have felt as though they were the better team on paper going into that game. But they got bashed by Australia in those first five overs. But what I think it will have done, those first two losses, I think it steels their mind to know what they need to do in those power play overs in order to be successful.

“They changed their team in the third game; Reece Topley came in, who’s a specialist power play bowler. He doesn’t really bowl elsewhere in the innings. I think that the balance of their team looked far better because of that.

“I think that in a world tournament, you don’t want to be peaking at the beginning. You want to be peaking as you’re coming into the latter stages of it and to have got that bad loss out the way and then have played well in the subsequent games, I think will have given them a lot of confidence that they might be peaking at the right time.”

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England “third favourites” to win T20 World Cup

Despite such a mixed group stage, most bookmakers still have England as third favourites to lift the trophy, behind Australia and India, both of whom have qualified to Group 1 of the Super 8s.

England, meanwhile, are in Group 2 alongside South Africa and co-hosts West Indies and USA, the latter of whom have been a surprise package at this year’s tournament.

Finn is particularly wary about the threat of South Africa and two-time T20 world champions West Indies, but he agrees that England should still be regarded amongst the favourites to go all the way.

“I would say that out of the teams that have come through to the group stage, you’d probably say England are third favourites. I think you’ve probably got Australia and India as one and two and then England. I would have us as the next best in that situation,” Finn told Sports Mole.

“I think they’ve got a very good chance of doing it and I think that on their day that T20 cricket is all about performing in a really small window and one person having a day. I look up and down that line up and I see a lot of people who have got the ability to affect a game within five or six overs to really change the fortunes of the team.

“I think England are well poised, but I do think there are other good teams out there. South Africa are so dangerous. They’re going to win a world tournament at some stage. They have to. They can’t keep choking at semi-finals. So they’re going to win a tournament at some stage, and you look at their team one to 11 and they’ve got almost everything covered that you would want in a T20 team.

“They’ve got pace. They’ve got power with the bat. They’ve got wrist spin, They’ve got good finger spin, they’ve got really athletic fielders. I see South Africa as really dangerous.

“And then you can just feel the atmosphere in the West Indies for the West Indies team in the Caribbean. Any time they’re playing at home with their big superstar players Andre Russell and the like, then they’re always going to be contenders in there as well.

“England have got a really tricky group to get through but you just hope that historical memories and good memories of this team doing well in previous tournaments in the last few years in those pressure moments will be able to carry them through.”

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England must improve in power play bowling

In their group-stage win over England, Australia did most of their damage in the power play, blasting 70 without loss inside the first five overs to largely take the game away from England from the outset.

“I think against the bigger teams, it’s going to be their power play bowling [which they need to improve]. I think their death bowling with Jofra Archer back in the mix is pretty good. Chris Jordan was selected as a death bowling option as well, if they choose to play him,” Finn told Sports Mole.

“But it’s that power play bowling where teams can get flyers in the games here, especially on better surfaces, teams can get away from you as Australia did in those first five overs.

“England being on their game, having Reece Topley as a specialist power play bowler with his left arm swing I think will leave England in better stead than they were in their first couple of games.

“So if England can tighten that up and continue to tighten that up, then again I see them as really big contenders in this tournament.”

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Elimination due to weather would have been tough to take

It was not just the result of the match which was hanging in the balance when the weather once again threatened their final group game against Namibia, but also England’s continued participation in the tournament.

Had the match been rained off then England would have been eliminated despite only being able to play two of their games – something which would have represented an enormously anti-climactic end to their title defence.

As it happened, both sides managed to squeeze in enough overs for the result to be decided by the DLS method, which coupled with Scotland’s later defeat to Australia saw England through by virtue of their superior run-rate, but Finn acknowledged that being eliminated mostly due to weather would be the worst-case scenario for Jos Buttler and his team.

“It’s sort of part and parcel. But when you’re playing in a world tournament and you’re defending your title, the way that you would not want to go out is because it’s hacked it down for two of your four group games. There’d have been a big sigh of relief by England in that game against Namibia,” Finn told Sports Mole.

“When I was there, it was absolutely hacking down, and there would have been so much of the day where England would have thought that they weren’t going to be playing the game whatsoever. They’ll be delighted that they’ve ended up playing.

“I think if you play and you lose, it’s a lot easier to take because you can understand where you went wrong and you can give reasons as to why you went out, whereas if you don’t play and it’s curtailed by rain, then you’re just left guessing about where you’re at as a team and I think this tournament is an opportunity for everyone to gauge where this England team is at.

“For them to have progressed through the group stage by the skin of their teeth, with some help from our old foes Australia, I think that England will feel as though coming into these middle stages of the tournament that they’re in much better shape.”

England’s next match will come against in-form co-hosts West Indies in the early hours of Thursday morning, before taking on South Africa on Friday and USA on Sunday in their other two Super 8s fixtures.

Find out everything you need to know about the 2024 T20 World Cup, including fixtures and results, by clicking here.

Steven Finn was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of BetVictor.

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