And so it ends: the 2019-20 UEFA Women’s Champions League season, which started 13 months ago in the tiny eastern Ukrainian town of Vysokyi, finally reaches its crescendo 3000km away in the coastal Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián.
As with so much in football – and sport more broadly – in 2020, there will be a lot that feels foreign about this final. The stands will be empty, more substitutions will be permitted, club staff and officials will wear masks and observe social distancing, all for the good of the players.
And yet, despite all the precautions and preparations, the European crown will once again be lifted by a storied club: VfL Wolfsburg or Olympique Lyonnais. One club, an unstoppable juggernaut, looking to become the first to win five consecutive European Cups since the immortal Real Madrid teams of 60 years ago; the other, primed to repeat their incredible run of 2013 and win a treble by beating the reigning European champions.
VfL Wolfsburg
The Club
Founded as VfR Eintracht Wolfsburg in 1973 before joining their current brother club 30 years later, VfL Wolfsburg have been Germany’s most successful club over the past decade, succeeding 1.FFC Frankfurt as the country’s European powerhouse. After gaining promotion to the Frauen-Bundesliga in 2006, Wolfsburg finally broke the Frankfurt-Turbine Potsdam duopoly to win their first league title in 2013. With players like Martina Müller, Conny Pohlers and a young Alexandra Popp leading the line, the She-Wolves went on to win back-to-back European titles in 2013 and 2014.
Since those triumphs however, glory has eluded Wolfsburg on the continent, as the club lost two finals – both to Lyon, and both having been level after 90 minutes. Now, with the German league and cup trophies in the bag, Wolfsburg are looking exorcise their demons of 2016 and 2018, and become the first German team since 2013 to complete a domestic and European treble.
Path To The Final
R32 – 15-0 vs Mitrovica (Kosovo) on aggregate
R16 – 7-0 vs Twente (Netherlands) on aggregate
QF – 9-1 vs Glasgow City (Scotland)
SF – 1-0 vs Barcelona (Spain)
The Team
For keen observers of the W-League, Wolfsburg will be a familiar club, having been home to both Japan and Brisbane Roar fan favourite Yuki Nagasato, and Newcastle’s own Emily van Egmond, who featured for the She-Wolves in 2016-17. Since then, Wolfsburg have built their gameplan around an incredibly miserly defence, paired with an explosive attack capable of blowing teams away – as Glasgow City would know only too well.
Having conceded just eight goals in the Frauen-Bundesliga this season, Wolfsburg have relied heavily on their attacking triumvirate of Pernille Harder, Ewa Pajor, and Alexandra Popp, who between them provided 54 of the side’s 93 league goals this season. That composure at the back and incisive forward movement will challenge a well-oiled Lyon machine, and with the now-rare tactic of playing with two strikers, Wolfsburg may look to outnumber and overwhelm their back-pedalling opponents in and around the penalty area.
Ones to Watch
Alexandra Popp
Seemingly destined for greatness, Alexandra Popp has been winning trophies almost for as long as she could walk. Promoted to the senior team for former club Duisberg at the tender age of 17, Popp went on to start both legs of the 2008 Champions League final, playing alongside hat-trick hero and captain Inka Grings as her side routed Zvezda Perm 7-1 on aggregate.
Having moved to Wolfsburg in 2012, Popp won back-to-back European titles with the She-Wolves in her first two seasons at the club, as well as a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics. A brilliant striker who assists just as deftly as she finishes, Popp has more recently dropped back into the midfield as a classic #10; look for her distribution to both hr strikers and wingers as Wolfsburg look to unpick the Lyon defence.
Dominique Janssen
Since moving to Wolfsburg at the start of the season, the artist formerly known as Dominique Bloodworth has had somewhat of a charmed life in Germany, winning both domestic trophies up for grabs less than 12 months after lifting the FA Women’s Super League trophy with former club Arsenal.
A European champion with the Netherlands in 2017, Janssen played every minute of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, featuring at centre-back in every match except for the final, where she was deployed on the left flank to counter American winger Tobin Heath. A skilful and uncompromising defender, Janssen will have a tough job marking Lyon’s veteran central duo of Le Sommer and Marozsán, but the Dutch centre-half has both the experience and the talent to do just that.
Olympique Lyonnais
The Club
While OL’s recent success may be famous within the women’s football world, the club’s history is somewhat lesser-known – and perhaps for good reason. Originally founded as part of multi-sport club FC Lyon in 1970, the club first came to national prominence in the 1990s, winning four French titles – including going unbeaten throughout the 1997-98 season. After back-to-back Coupe de France wins in 2003 and 2004, the team was bought by Ligue 1 men’s club Olympique Lyonnais and absorbed into the OL structure.
In the following years, OL has become the single most-dominant team in women’s football, winning 14 consecutive French league titles since 2006 and nine Coupes de France. Like their opponents Wolfsburg, Lyon are looking to complete their second consecutive treble, and add to their already-imposing trophy cabinet.
Path To The Final
R32 – 16-0 vs Ryazan-VDV (Russia) on aggregate
R16 – 11-0 vs Fortuna Hjørring (Denmark) on aggregate
QF – 2-1 vs Bayern Munich (Germany)
SF – 1-0 vs Paris Saint-Germain (France)
The Team
It’s hard to write about a side as dominant both at home and abroad as Lyon without using clichés. Immortal, invincible, unbeatable – there are so many overused terms that come to mind with this Lyon team. Without a loss in Europe since the Coupe de France Féminin final in June 2018, and missing a cavalcade of stars for this final – Ada Hegerberg (knee), Griedge Mbock Bathy Nka (Achilles), Amandine Henry (calf), and Nikita Parris (suspension) among them – Lyon have made smart signings to strengthen their squad where needed and look to once again be ready to lift the famous winged trophy.
Incredibly, Lyon conceded in just two league games in 2019-20: a single goal against Guingamp and three goals against Reims. However, les Fenottes went the whole league campaign without conceding a goal at home, as well as routing club rivals Marseille 8-0 on their own patch. Despite losing Hegerberg to an ACL injury in January, the Norwegian striker still managed to score 14 goals for the season, two behind Golden Boot winner Marie-Antoinette Katoto of Paris Saint-Germain.
Ones to Watch
Eugénie Le Sommer
One of the most gifted strikers of her generation, Provence-born Le Sommer is now among the most senior players in the Lyon squad. At 31, she’s won everything there is to win in European club football, with a dozen or more trophies under her belt and almost 200 goals for Lyon across all competitions.
A controversial choice to start at striker for France at last year’s Women’s World Cup, Le Sommer has been more often used as a winger by Lyon, with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg preferred at the point of attack. Despite sporadic starts across this season, and with English centre-forward Nikita Parris suspended for the final after being sent off against Paris Saint-Germain, Le Sommer will have to use every ounce of her guile and grit to outsmart one of the stingiest defences in European football.
Saki Kumagai
For midfielder Saki Kumagai, winning seems to come easy; a World Cup winner at 21, an Asian champion seven years later, and now a multiple European Cup winner, the industrious Japanese powerhouse must have polishing all her silverware whenever she cleans her trophy room.
Less her side’s ticking metronome and more the equivalent of Iron Man’s implanted nuclear reactor, Kumagai is among the most brilliant defensive midfielders in the world. Never one to wilt before a physical challenge, the Japanese star has made a career out of winning tackles no-one else dares make and controlling her team with the feather touch of a orchestral conductor.
2020 UEFA Women’s Champions League Final
VfL Wolfsburg vs Olympique Lyonnais
31 August 2020, 4:00am kickoff (AEST)
Estadio de Anoeta, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Live on SBS TV – #UWCLfinal
