This Week In Women's Soccer 4/24/2026

Welcome back to This Week In Women's Soccer! After a long international break, all seven leagues we're keeping track of, plus a special bonus from down under, and of course the Champions League semifinals.

I'm going to try a new format here to keep things streamlined – essays when health permits, but simple (repeatable) recommendations every week. What's the status of each league and what are the key matches on TV? In order, we've got the Champions League, England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Australia, and the United States.

European Champions League

The semifinals of the Champions League are this week, and thanks to a quirk of women's scheduling, both take place over the weekend instead of midweek. They're also both early, very early for those of us on the west coast.

Bayern Munich v Barcelona (Sat 9:15am PST)
Arsenal v Lyon (Sun 7:30am PST)

There's an element of revenge to both of these ties as they head into their first leg. Last season, Arsenal absolutely thrashed favorites Lyon in their semi-final, embarrassing the French giants in a way they've almost never been.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich has had an absolutely incredible season with one slightly blemish: getting murked 7-1 against Barcelona in the first round of the Champions League league phase. Both of the (relative) underdogs are at home in this first leg, how likely further upsets – or embarrassments – will be depends a lot on if they can sneak wins here. 

All Champions League matches are on Paramount+, with replays available. 

England

Manchester City lead the title race and just need to keep winning to hold off Arsenal. Arsenal have two games in hand that if they win, give them the advantage in the race for second. Chelsea and Manchester United are both pushing for second and third, with one of these clubs almost certainly missing the Champions League next year. Three matches remain for everyone except Arsenal, who have five. 

Manchester City v Brighton (Sat 4am PST)
Chelsea v Everton (Sun 4am PST)
Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur (Sun 4am PST)
Arsenal v Leicester (Wed 11am PST)

All English Women's Super League matches are streaming on ESPN+ here, with replays available there and a day later on YouTube. 

France 

The top four clubs make the playoffs, while the top three make the Champions League, regardless of playoff results (unless the fourth-place club wins the playoffs, in which case it takes a spot). Lyon have already clinched a playoff spot. Paris Saint-Germain, Paris FC, and Nantes are all within three points and should all make the playoffs, but one will miss the Champions League – Nantes are currently last one out. Two matches remain in the season.

Paris Saint-Germain v Fleury (Sat noon PST)
Dijon v Paris FC (Sat noon PST)
Nantes v Lyon (Wed 10am PST)*

A loss for surprise underdogs Nantes against superclub Lyon will likely remove them from the Champions League race, depending on other results. 

All French matches are on DAZN and will have streamable replays free with registration, under Women's Sports on the menu. * is not currently listed but I expect it to be added after this weekend. 

Germany

Bayern Munich have clinched the title. VfL Wolfsburg will almost certainly finish second. Eintracht Frankfurt have the advantage in the race for the final Champions League spot, with Werder Bremen their most likely rival, and Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen also in competition should they stumble. Four matches remain in the Frauen-Bundesliga.

VfL Wolfsburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (Sun 5am PST)
Werder Bremen v Bayern Munich (Wed 9am PST)

All German matches are on DAZN and will have streamable replays free with registration, under Women's Sports on the menu.

Spain

Spain is boring this season. Barcelona have clinched the title. Real Madrid are fairly comfortably in second, while Real Sociedad have an eight-point lead for the final Champions League spot. Five matches remain.

All Spanish matches are on DAZN and will have streamable replays free with registration, under Women's Sports on the menu.

Italy

With four matches to play, Roma have a six-point lead over Inter Milan, who are comfortably ahead of Juventus for second. Juventus have an advantage over Napoli, Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentina for the third Champions League spot, but….

Roma v Juventus (Sat 3:30 am)*

The last two champions of Italy in a massive match, where a loss or draw for Roma tightens the champions race, while a loss or draw for Juventus puts them right in the middle of a battle for the Champions League.

All Italian matches are on DAZN and will have streamable replays free with registration, under Women's Sports on the menu. * For some reason this one isn't currently listed despite being between the two biggest clubs in the country, I hope they add it soon. 

Mexico 

This week is the last match of the regular season for the Clausura before the eight-team playoffs start. Thanks to two-legged ties for the playoffs without away goals, there isn't a ton of importance for seeding, which is unfortunate, as the top four clubs are all playing each other. Monterrey and Club America are battling for top seed, with Pachuca, Tigres (the last two champions), Chivas, and Toluca in the mix for top four. Cruz Azul are comfortably in the playoffs with Juarez and Club Tijuana deciding the last spot between one another. 

Club America v Pachuca (Fri 6pm PST)
Tigres v Monterrey (Fri 8pm PST)

I'm not certain America v Pachuca will have both teams at full strength, but Tigres against Monterrey should have both sides trying to win, with Monterrey trying to clinch the top spot and Tigres trying to avoid one of the other superpowers in the first round. 

All Mexican matches are live en Espanol on Vix or YouTube, with replays on Youtube.  

Australia 

Welcome to the newsletter, Women's A-League! Six-team playoffs start this week in Australia, with the top two teams, Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix receiving byes while the following teams play a single-elimination match. 

Canberra United v Melbourne Victory (Fri 9pm PST)
Brisbane Roar v Adelaide United (Fri 11:55pm PST)

All Women's A-League matches are streaming on ESPN+ here, with replays available. 

United States

The NWSL season is still early, with teams still jockeying for position. While the European season is going on I'll be only recommending three specific NWSL matches per week, but I generally recommend every NWSL match as more competitive with better production values than any other league in the world. 

Washington Spirit v Kansas City Current (Fri 5pm PST)
Angel City v Portland Thorns (Sat 3pm PST)
Houston Dash v North Carolina Courage (Sat 5pm PST)

Washington and KC are two of last year's best squads, but have struggled to start this year, which might make this match surprisingly desperate. 

The NWSL has its matches split between several different providers, and the best way to find the matches is the Schedule page on their website. 

ESPN requires a subscription. CBS matches require a connection to a CBS network channel. Victory+ and NWSL+ are free with registration. Ion can be found here. Most matches on streamers can be watched on replay soon after; all matches can be watched on NWSL+ three days after airing. 

International Break Results

The two-week international break saw a lot of results in World Cup qualifying as well as some notable friendlies between major powers.

Argentina and Colombia are both all-but qualified for the 2027 Women's World Cup, both just needing one point from their last two matches to take the two direct qualification spots in South America. Almost every nation is still in contention for the playoff spots except Bolivia, eliminated.

New Zealand qualified directly from Oceania, becoming the first non-Asian/non-host team to qualify for Brazil 2027.

In North America, the eight teams to make the Gold Cup, which also serves as the qualification tournament, were officially set. The United States and Canada both qualified automatically, while the six to win their groups were Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Savador, Panama, and Haiti. Four of these teams will qualify directly for the WWC at the Gold Cup, while two will go onto the playoffs. All of these teams were the favorites to win their groups.

In Europe, the somewhat convoluted qualification system means that most aspects of it will be resolved next international break, although in the biggest match of the round, England beat Spain to put themselves in extremely good position to directly qualify.

In friendlies, the United States played a fairly quiet three-match series against Japan, with the Americans winning the first and last matches and the Japanese taking the middle game. Nadeshiko Japan generally looked a little tactically confused under their sudden new manager, and the United States also took advantage of some ridiculous conditions in the final match to win 3-0.

Finally in the biggest other friendly, Canada fell 1-0 to Brazil. The Brazilians affirmed once again that they are a major contender for 2027, while the Canadians continued to struggle against top opposition.