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Evening Standard
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Evening Standard
Arsenal trophy celebration: What time and where is it today after historic Women's Champions League win
Head coach Renee Slegers, who was only appointed on a permanent basis in January after an impressive spell as interim boss, becomes just the second manager of an English side to win the Women's Champions League - after Vic Akers 18 years ago.
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Arsenal vs Barcelona - who go win di Women's Champions League final
Arsenal go face Barcelona on Saturday evening for di Uefa Women's Champions League final. Di match go happun for di José Alvalade stadium, Lisbon, Portugal and na di second time di stadium go host dis event since 2014. Arsenal dey hope to win dia first Champions League trophy since 2007 while Barcelona aim na to win dia 4th title. For di history of di Women's Champions League, Arsenal win am one time for 2007 while Barcelona get three titles wey dem win for di 2020/2021, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons. Na Lyon ge di most title wins for di competition. Dem get a total 8 titles. Arsenal Coach Renee Sledgers fit make history? As Arsenal dey plan to face defending champions Barcelona, wit hopes to win dia second Champions League title all eyes dey on dia Coach Renee Slegers. Di last time Arsenal bin win di Women's Champions League, na Vic Akers be di man in charge. Dat time, im bin don manage di club for about 20 years. Since dat 2007 victory, no manager don eva match im success and guide a British side to di European title. But e fit change. Just four months afta dem name Arsenal head coach on a permanent basis, Renee Slegers get di chance to lead di Gunners to European glory once more. Slegers tell Uefa say di final on Saturday "go dey so special," About Barcelona, she say "We respect dem highly as a team. All of dem na veri intelligent players and technically capable, so e go be a new challenge. I tink na challenge wey we neva face yet for di league or di Champions League. We go try to replicate as many moments as possible in training and prepare for evritin wey go come." Barcelona coach Pere Romeu fit defend dia title? Di Barcelona Women's coach Pere Romeu tell Uefa say im best moments na wen im watch di videos of Arsenal team, pick out dia best players and strategise how to play against dem. Im say im dey calm and im go enjoy di match on Saturday especially as im family dey come watch di final. "I be calm guy, and I go enjoy am [di match], I go love am wit dis pipo, but e no dey put extra pressure on me, e no go make me feel nervous, e feel natural to me" Coach Romeu replace Jonatan Giráldez wey comot from Barcelona afta three seasons. For dat three seasons Barcelona win 12 possible trophies wey dey available, including back-to-back UEFA Women's Champions League titles. Pere Romeu wey be Giráldez assistant replace am wen im comot. Head to head Barcelona and Arsenal don meet five times for all competitions. Arsenal win two Barcelona win three. Di first time na for club friendlies for 2019 wen Arsenal lose to Barcelona 2-5. For October 2021 Barcelon beat Arsenal 4-1 while for December same year Arsenal lose to Barcelona 0-4 Barcelona neva lose dia last six matches for all competitions dis season while Arsenal don win three and lose three.
Scottish Sun
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Women's Champions League 2025 prize money: How much is on offer for Arsenal and Barcelona?
The Gunners have a tall task against a dominant Barcelona side BIG MONEY Women's Champions League 2025 prize money: How much is on offer for Arsenal and Barcelona? THE pinnacle of the women's football season takes place TODAY! The biggest game in the calendar is on our doorstep - and Arsenal women have the chance to win their first Champions League title since 2007. 2 Arsenal are hoping to win the Champions League for the first time since 2007 2 Barcelona could make it four wins out of the last five in the competition It's been a very long wait for the Gunners who have had a barren spell in Europe in recent years. They reached the semis in 2023 but that was their best performance since 2013. This will also be the first time they have reached the final since that special win under Vic Akers. Alex Scott, long before she became a fixture on our TV screens, scored the only goal over two legs against Swedish side Umea. Read more Arsenal news 'TOO MUCH LIKE GOODBYE' Arsenal fans fear Trossard exit after Wag's emotional Insta post But this is a different task entirely, with Arsenal now facing Barcelona - one of the most dominant sides ever. This will be the Femeni's FIFTH consecutive women's Champions League final, with three wins in the previous four. They have lost just three matches all season, have already won the Spanish league title and are on for the treble. Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers will have her work cut out. What is the Women's Champions League prize money? Uefa announced last summer that the total prize pot for the competition remains at €24million (£20.2m), the same figure as last season. Each club was given a base reward for reaching the competition and there were then bonuses for wins and draws. Prize money also increased the further a team went into the competition. The breakdown is as follows: Group stage base reward : €400,000 : €400,000 Group stage win bonus : €50,000 : €50,000 Group stage draw bonus : €17,000 : €17,000 Group winner bonus : €20,000 : €20,000 Quarter-final : €160,000 : €160,000 Semi-final : €180,000 : €180,000 Runner-up : €200,000 : €200,000 Winner: €350,000 How much prize money have Arsenal won? Arsenal were handed €250k in prize money on top of the €400k base after winning five of their six group-stage matches. They also earned a €20k bonus for topping the group. Having reached the final, they have earned a further €340,000. Total prize money so far: €1,010,000 (approx. £850,000) Barcelona also won five of their six matches to top the group so have won the exact same amount. When is the Women's Champions League final and how can I watch it?
The Irish Sun
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Women's Champions League 2025 prize money: How much is on offer for Arsenal and Barcelona?
THE pinnacle of the women's football season takes place TODAY! The biggest game in the calendar is on our doorstep - and 2 Arsenal are hoping to win the Champions League for the first time since 2007 2 Barcelona could make it four wins out of the last five in the competition It's been a very long wait for the Gunners who have had a barren spell in Europe in recent years. They reached the semis in 2023 but that was their best performance since 2013. This will also be the first time they have reached the final since that special win under Vic Akers. Read more Arsenal news But this is a different task entirely, with Arsenal now facing This will be the Femeni's FIFTH consecutive women's Champions League final, with three wins in the previous four. They have lost just three matches all season, have already won the Spanish league title and are on for the treble. Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers will have her work cut out. Most read in Football What is the Women's Champions League prize money? Uefa announced last summer that the total prize pot for the competition remains at €24million (£20.2m), the same figure as last season. Each club was given a base reward for reaching the competition and there were then bonuses for wins and draws. Prize money also increased the further a team went into the competition. The breakdown is as follows: Group stage base reward : €400,000 Group stage win bonus : €50,000 Group stage draw bonus : €17,000 Group winner bonus : €20,000 Quarter-final : €160,000 Semi-final : €180,000 Runner-up : €200,000 Winner : €350,000 How much prize money have Arsenal won? Arsenal were handed €250k in prize money on top of the €400k base after winning five of their six group-stage matches. They also earned a €20k bonus for topping the group. Having reached the final, they have earned a further €340,000. Total prize money so far : €1,010,000 (approx. £850,000) Barcelona also won five of their six matches to top the group so have won the exact same amount. When is the Women's Champions League final and how can I watch it? The Women's Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona takes place on Saturday, May 24. Kick-off is at 5pm BST, with the march held at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal. The match will be broadcast on TNT Sports in the UK. The game is also available to live stream for FREE on Discovery+ and Alternatively, SunSport will live blog all the action as it happens.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'The next Wiegman' - the story of Arsenal manager on brink of history
When Arsenal last won the Women's Champions League, Vic Akers was the man in charge. At that point, he had been at the helm for the best part of 20 years. Since that triumph in 2007, no manager has been able to replicate his success and guide a British side to a European title. That could be about to change. Just four months after being named Arsenal's head coach on a permanent basis, Renee Slegers has a chance to lead the Gunners to European glory once more. But how has the Dutchwoman - billed as the "next Sarina Wiegman" - risen up the ranks and become one of Europe's most promising young coaches? Here's the story of Slegers - the player, the coach, and the person behind it all. Slegers' relationship with Arsenal goes way back, having joined the club's academy at the age of 17 in 2006. When she left the club the following year, having made one senior appearance, Arsenal were freshly-crowned winners of the Champions League - or Uefa Cup as it was then known - under Akers. Little did Slegers know that just nine years later her own playing career would be over, and that in another nine years she would be back in north London again - guiding Arsenal to within touching distance of a second European trophy. But what was Slegers like as a footballer before a serious knee injury ended her career in 2016? 'Intelligent' is the word that springs to mind from Leonne Stentler for the 55-cap Netherlands midfielder. "You see in everything she does that she's very intelligent," said Stentler, who played alongside Slegers with the Dutch national side. "Every action she makes on the field is intelligent. She knows which spaces she has to be, she was very technical - a beautiful technique." The midfielder played for Dutch side Willem II before moving to Sweden for spells at Djurgardens and Linkoping, but it all came to an end when she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in a friendly against England - just nine months before the Netherlands went on to win Euro 2017 under Wiegman. "Of course that's not how you want to end a career. You want to end on a high and play football and choose when you want to quit," said Emma Lennartsson, who played with Slegers at Linkoping. Williamson's rise from Champions League mascot to finalist Scotland & Arsenal's low-key, high-grade superstar Arsenal's 2007 European champions - where are they now? The end of her playing career marked the start of a bright future in coaching. However, it wasn't always an obvious calling for Slegers who studied communication sciences while still playing the sport. "In my opinion, she was way too intelligent to do something in coaching," Stentler said. "I would say she would go work at a company where she would manage a lot of people and just have a big career in something like that." But when word got round that Slegers was working through her Uefa coaching licence, people started to take note. "From that point on in Holland, some of the women's football experts were saying 'OK we should wait until Renee Slegers gets her Uefa pro [licence]. Then she would be the best next Sarina Wiegman," Stentler added. "Whenever a coach was sacked or just quit, then always, everyone would say Renee Slegers would be the ideal next coach. Everyone believes a lot in her." After ending her playing career at Linkoping, Slegers stayed in Sweden for the start of her coaching journey - taking charge of Limhamn Bunkeflo and Sweden's Under-23s before moving to Rosengard to coach their B team. When Jonas Eidevall left Rosengard to manage Arsenal in 2021, she was promoted to head coach of the first team, who she led to to back-to-back league titles before Eidevall called about an individual player development role at Arsenal in 2023. "I was playing with her son at the time, but we were on the walk when Jonas called and asked her whether she was interested in that position," said Rosengard's head of youth coaching, Jonathan Bartling, who remains good friends with Slegers, her partner - former Linkoping defender Maja Krantz - and their three-year-old son. "I worked with Jonas myself for two years, and I know that he knows his football and is very, very driven. So I think it was a great opportunity, and especially seeing now where she's at – it's a nice projection she's had there." Former Scotland defender Jen Beattie was playing at Arsenal while Slegers worked in the player development role and said she "always give you the time". "If you couldn't get an answer from the head coach, you could always go to Renee and she would always give you the time to sit and chat about something," Beattie said. Just like at Rosengard, Slegers has worked her way up the ladder at Arsenal - first becoming Eidevall's assistant, and then taking interim charge when he resigned in October after a disappointing start to the season. Her impact was instant. She went unbeaten in her first 11 games in charge - a run of fixtures that proved to be an almost-perfect audition for the permanent position. "Renee came in she steadied the ship," Arsenal left-back Katie McCabe said. "She instilled a confidence in us and a belief. She oozes confidence and for me, I really trust in what she says and how she leads this team." There have been some bumps along the road since Slegers became the Gunners' new boss, but two spectacular comeback wins against both Real Madrid and Lyon have booked Arsenal's ticket to the Champions League final. "Knowing how to communicate" with her players has been key to Sleger's success, according to Stentler, while Beattie believes the Dutch coach has given Arsenal player's confidence. "That's typical Renee - to make sure you know every player you're working with, know how you approach them and how you should communicate with them, how you can make them think about tactical ideas and pitch them to you," Stentler said. Beattie added: "What she's done is listen to players, understanding what they're thinking, what they need in certain situations and filled them with confidence. I think the confidence shining through the players is seen by all at the minute." Jonna Andersson, who also played with Slegers at Linkoping, said: "She sees everyone. She did it as a player as well." While Arsenal have put their fans through the wringer on several occasions in the Champions League this season, Slegers has cut a composed figure on the touchline. Despite her cool demeanour, the 36-year-old said after Arsenal's comeback victory against Lyon that although she may come across as though she "doesn't feel anything" she is "not just calm and composed". "She's always very true to herself. She's calm and she has a lot of calmness over her, but she also has a lot of humour so there's this balance in it," Stentler said. "I don't know anyone who wouldn't like her. It's easy to be in in the same room as Renee. Bartling, meanwhile, sees another side to Slegers, who visits him often in Sweden and the pair often work on "handiwork projects" together. "She's probably very much the same person [as on the pitch]. Maybe not the same amount of adrenaline on the sideline, but very friendly, family-orientated, down to earth, likes to be quite handy," he said. "We've been working a bit on renovating. I don't know how you call it in English - it's like an allotment garden where you have this kind of small house on it. "We've been renovating the floor of one of those outside rooms and building new window panes for that room, planting and harvesting vegetables." For Slegers, Saturday's final is undoubtedly the biggest moment of her coaching career so far, but the 36-year-old is already a "role model" for many. "We talk about believing your dream, and I think that's she's a role model. I would say I use her now in my work with youth coaches as a role model," Bartling added. "She's so firmly planted with both feet on the ground. It's kind of like a person that that you could lean on quite easily, even though she's not that old yet."
