Gotham FC will try for a possible quintuple in 2026, competing for five different trophies across the calendar year.
The very first 2026 competition the reigning NWSL and Concacaf W Cup champions will face is a new intercontinental tournament cooked up by FIFA, the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup.
What is this tournament, how did the four semi-finalists left in contention get here, and what can we expect from the final four matches? We attempt to answer every pertinent question you might have about the FIFA Women's Champions Cup before it kicks off on January 28.
Which teams are competing for the trophy? Gotham FC from the United States, SC Corinthians Paulista from Brazil, Arsenal FC from England, and ASFAR from Morocco are the four semifinalists. Two other teams have already been eliminated from Cup contention – Wuhan Chegu Jiangda from China and Auckland United FC from New Zealand.
Wuhan Chegu Jiangda beat Auckland United 1-0 in the tournament's opening match played on October 8, then ASFAR dramatically beat Wuhan, 2-1, with both goals scored after the 89th minute, a late victory that sent the Moroccan side through as the fourth semi-finalist.
How did they all originally qualify? Each club became a champion of their continental federation. Gotham won the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup, Corinthians captured a sixth CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores Femenina, Arsenal stunned Barcelona to win the 2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League, and ASFAR are now two-time CAF Women's Champions League winners after their October triumph over ASEC Mimosas of Côte d'Ivoire.
When are the matches? The first two semi-finals will be on Wednesday, January 28, and the Final and Third-Place Game will be on Sunday, February 1, so it's two days of doubleheaders.
Where are the matches to be played? It's all going down in London, with the semi-finals played at Brentford FC's Gtech Community Stadium, and the Third-Place Game and Final both scheduled for Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal FC women and men.
If not in London, how do you watch the games? Hope you didn't forget your password because you'll need to head back to our old pal DAZN ("da-zone," allegedly) to watch any and all Women's Champions Cup action. All four matches will stream there, for free.
Oliver Strand
What does the bracket look like?
What do the clubs earn for winning/participating? The winners of Gotham-Corinthians and Arsenal-ASFAR guarantee themselves, at minimum, a cool $1 million, while the semi-final losers walk away with $200,000.
The ultimate winner of the tournament earns $2.3 million, which FIFA says is the biggest payout ever in women's soccer. The total prize pot amounts to $6 million, with early-round losers Wuhan Chegu Jiangda and Auckland United also each earning $100,000 despite the early exits.
What's the new trophy look like?
It's not an actual cup, but it's similar to the new men's Club World Cup trophy unveiled in 2025 – the one that had to be replicated because FIFA president Gianni Infantino let US President Donald Trump keep the first version in the Oval Office at the White House.
How often will this new competition happen? The Champions Cup is set to now take place annually, except for the years in which FIFA holds its new quadrennial Women's Club World Cup, which will debut in 2028.
Wait, this tournament isn't the same as the Club World Cup? No, the Women's Champions Cup is more like the men's FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the new name FIFA gave to the old, smaller version of what used to be the Club World Cup before they expanded it in 2025.
Only six teams compete for both the Women's Champions Cup and the men's Intercontinental Cup, whereas 19 teams will be in the field for the 2028 Women's World Cup, similar to the 32 teams in the field for the 2025 Club World Cup.
Okay, so who are the favorites to win Champions Cup? Arsenal FC and Gotham FC are being tipped as favorites to advance from the semi-finals given their star-studded rosters and recent history of capturing some of the women's game's most prestigious prizes, the Women's Champions League and the NWSL Championship, respectively.
Arsenal might be the biggest favorites, given all the matches will be in their home city in London and possibly at their home stadium, and also given that Arsenal are in the middle of their WSL season, whereas Gotham and Corinthians are both in the middle of their preseasons, with the NWSL season not kicking off until March in Gotham's case.
What's new with Gotham since we last saw them? Plenty! They brought Midge Purce back on a new contract, traded for veteran midfielder Savannah McCaskill, and added a few promising college players like forwards Jordynn Dudley and Andrea Kitahata and goalkeeper Teagan Wy. They've also still got world-class stars like Rose Lavelle (US Soccer's 2025 Women's Player of the Year), Esther González, Jess Carter, and Ann-Katrin Berger, too.
You should read through our frequently-updated Gotham FC Transfer Tracker to catch up on the players that came and went since the 2025 NWSL season ended.
Megha Gupta
