He FC Barcelona qualified for the fifth consecutive time and sixth in the last seven appearances for the semifinals of Women’s Champions League. The Barça team, which will face English Chelsea in the last two-legged tie before the Eindhoven final on June 3, now starts as the main favorite to win the second title in its history after the collapse of the reigning champions. Lyon Olympics, the king of the competition with eight titles. In fact, this week an unprecedented event was accomplished in the last eleven seasons in the great continental tournament: no French club in the semifinal round.
For the first time since then 2013-2014 campaign, no French team will be in the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League. He Olympic Lyonnais, dominator of European women’s football with eight titles in eleven years, was eliminated from the current edition in the quarterfinals in a penalty shootout in a game full of emotions. He Chelseahis executioner, who will be Barça’s rival and will try to avenge his defeat in the 2021 final against the Catalans, the only one who managed to break OL’s hegemony in the record since 2016.
He Women of Paris Saint-Germain follow in the footsteps of the men’s team and will not win the Champions League this time either, after falling in the quarterfinals of this edition against German Wolfsburg.
The negative impact on French football has put public opinion in the country on notice. The elimination of Lyon and PSG from the quarterfinals of the Champions League left, for the first time in eleven seasons, no French clubs in the semifinals of the great continental tournament. Even in 2017 there was a complete French final which Lyon scored on penalties against PSG, after a goalless draw in regulated time. Of the thirteen Champions League finals in its current form, since 2010, only two have not featured a French team. The French press alerted this Friday that the Leagues of England, Italy and Spain are gaining ground in France. France Info highlighted the television rights of the English women’s Super League, which receives around nine million euros a year, compared to 7 million euros for the Spanish League and 1.2 million euros for the French League. As for public attendance, they regret the painful comparison between 7,000 average spectators per game in English stadiums, compared to 841 in France, according to a study by Two Circles, a sports marketing agency who specializes in data.
They also emphasize that FC Barcelona has already established itself among the greats of women’s football in Europe, with three finals played in the last four editions of the Champions League. Of course, the number of attendees at the Camp Nou is also impressive, which has successively broken its own world records and this week, against Roma, brought 54,667 spectators to the culé stand. The former French international Marinette Pichon He already warned in 2021 that “Barça and Chelsea, for example, have given themselves the means to have effective people in key positions.”
Sonia Bombastor, The OL coach also warned in May 2022 that French football needs to “improve the infrastructure, the stadiums, the conditions for television broadcasting and the Federation must advance in things such as training in clubs, in championships of the youth because otherwise they will quickly catch up with us and it will be a shame.”
The FFF is working on creating a new professional women’s soccer league that will see the light of day in the 2023-2024 season.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
