UEFA announce new competition which could affect Hibs, Hearts and Spartans

Hibs' Jorian Baucom celebrating with the Capital Cup. Credit: David Mollison

UEFA have announced a new, second women’s club competition that will launch at the beginning of the 2025/26 season. 

The competition will be in a straight knock-out format and will offer more teams the ability to play European football. With the Champions League getting the first two spots, third place is very likely to offer continental football in the coming seasons if Scotland maintains their 12th spot in the UEFA coefficients. This is due to the third-placed teams in the domestic league from associations ranked 8-13 getting the new place.

This could be extremely good news for the likes of Hibs and Hearts who are both aiming to break into the top three over the coming seasons. Spartans may also benefit if they follow the same path in the coming seasons.. The winners of the new tournament will also qualify for the Champions League in the next season. 

The announcement comes in the wake of UEFA’s announcement to reformat the Champions League. Two more teams will now be added to the tournament with it switching to a single-league stage from the 2025/25 season. This will be much like the changes that are happening to the men’s Champions League from next season. 

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said: "UEFA has placed huge importance on developing women's football in recent years, making enormous strides thanks to a dedicated strategy, solid investment and a passion to ensure the game is open to everybody. The new UEFA Women's Champions League format and the introduction of a second competition are further demonstration of this commitment and both will be exciting, competitive competitions that allow more players and clubs across the continent to dream of European glory.”

Nadine Kessler, UEFA managing director of women’s football, said: “Despite the success story of the UEFA Women’s Champions League in recent years, we will not stand still. Today, we look forward to another fundamental milestone for the professionalisation of European club football. The new format for the UEFA Women's Champions League will reinforce the competition’s position at the pinnacle of club football and combined with the introduction of the new second competition, will further incentivise growth domestically and help us to build a strong and open European football pyramid that everyone can be proud of.”