Arsenal begin their Champions League defence with an intriguing test against OL Lyonnes (formerly Lyon) on Tuesday.
Renée Slegers’ side come into the competition as one of the favourites after stunning the football world and beating Barcelona to win the second Champions League title in their history.
They remain the only English side to have won the competition. Can they become the first to retain it?
We look at all the different previous winners of the Women’s Champions League and how they fared when defending their crown.
– Women’s Champions League on Disney+: Schedule, format, more
– Arsenal in Women’s Champions League: Fixtures, results, news
– Women’s Chamions League: Arsenal ‘humble’ as they begin defence
Turbine Potsdam
Winners in 2009-10
German side Turbine Potsdam were the first winners of the rebranded Women’s Champions League in the 2009-10 season.
The six-time Frauen Bundesliga champions defeated OL Lyonnes in the final, drawing 0-0 in normal time and after extra time, before Bianca Schmidt scored the winning penalty in Madrid.
Potsdam went all the way to the final in 2010-11, where they met up with Lyonnes for the second successive season. But this time it went the way of the French side, who won 2-0 at Craven Cottage, and clinched their first Women’s Champions League title.
OL Lyonnes
Winners in 2010-11 and 2011-12
OL Lyonnes and Turbine Potsdam met for the third consecutive season in 2011-12, this time at the semifinal stage.
A 5-1 first leg win was enough for Lyon to advance to the final, where they met Frankfurt in front of 50,000 people at the Olympiastadion in Munich.
Joint top scorers Eugénie Le Sommer and Camille Abily scored first half goals to see Lyon past German opposition again and successfully defend their crown.
It seemed inevitable they would win an unprecedented three-peat as they eased into the final with a 9-1 win aggregate win over Juvisy in the semifinals. But against German opposition for the fourth successive Women’s Champions League final, this time in the form of Wolfsburg, they slipped to a 1-0 defeat.
Wolfsburg
Winners in 2012-13 and 2013-14
After beginning their title defence with a 27-0 aggregate win over Estonian side Parnu JK, the warning signs were in place early to anyone planning on taking their crown off them.
Comfortable wins over Malmo (5-2) and Barcelona (5-0) saw them face Turbine Potsdam in the semifinals, which they won 4-2 to set up a final clash with Swedish side Tyreso.
Wolfsburg were 2-0 down at half-time but a strong second half performance saw them come back to win 4-3 in a thriller in Lisbon to go back-to-back.
There was to be no third title though, as they fell 3-2 on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinals the following year, with Frankfurt their opposition in the final.
Frankfurt:
Winners in 2014-15
Frankfurt advanced to the final in 2014 in red hot form, with a 9-0 win over Torres, 12-0 win over Bristol Academy and 13-0 win over Brondby.
Celia Sasic scored her 14th goal of the tournament after 32 minutes in Berlin, but PSG hit back through Marie-Laure Delie eight minutes later to set up a tense second half.
Just when it appeared to be heading to a stalemate and extra time though, Mandy Islacker scored an incredible half volley to win it for Frankfurt.
Things were not quite as fluid for the Germans the following year though, needing penalties in both the round of 16 and quarterfinals, before losing 4-1 to Wolfsburg in the semifinals.
OL Lyonnes
Winners in 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20
OL Lyonnes clinched their third title after beating Wolfsburg on penalties in 2015.
The following season, they successfully negotiated challenging quarterfinal and semifinal ties against Wolfsburg and Manchester City and again showed their composure from the penalty spot by beating PSG in the 2017 final.
OL Lyonnes swiftly advanced to the semifinals in 2017-18, where they again met Man City. Lucy Bronze scoring the only goal across the two legs to send Lyonnes into their third consecutive final.
Again they faced Wolfsburg and inevitably the Kyiv crowd got their money’s worth as the final headed into extra time.
Pernille Harder scored for Wolfsburg but four goals in 18 minutes saw Lyon win their third title in a row, with Ada Hegerberg scoring her 15th goal, breaking the record for most goals in a single campaign.
Vying for a fourth straight title, the French side ominously eased past Wolfsburg in the quarterfinals of the 2018-19 season to set up a semifinal clash with Chelsea. They won 3-2 to advance to their fourth final on the bounce against Barcelona.
A dominant first half display saw OL Lyonnes race into a 4-0 lead, with Hegerberg scoring a 16-minute hat-trick, and they won their fourth Women’s Champions League on the spin 4-1 in Budapest.
Could anyone stop them from going for five in 2020? Bayern Munich were beaten 2-1 in the quarterfinals and a Wendie Renard goal sent OL Lyonnes to the final yet again after a 1-0 semifinal win over PSG.
Their opponents? Wolfsburg of course. It was OL Lyonnes who led 2-0 at half-time on their way to a 3-1 win to seal their complete dominance over Europe with an incredible fifth consecutive win.
Searching for a sixth win in a row, they met PSG in the quarterfinals and led 2-0 early in the second leg.
Disaster struck though through a Grace Geyoro strike and a Renard own goal, and they were dumped out of the competition on away goals, putting an end to one of football’s most successful dynasties.
Barcelona
Winners in 2020-21
After PSG ended OL Lyonnes’ monopoly, they came up against Barcelona in the semifinals. The game was tied 1-1 after the first leg, but it was the Liga F side who would advance to the final, thanks to a brace from Lieke Martens.
That meant that for the first time since the 2013-14 season, there was no French side in the final.
Barcelona met Chelsea in Gothenberg and led after less than a minute after Melanie Leupolz‘s own goal.
By half-time the game was effectively done thanks to goals from Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí and Caroline Graham Hansen as Barcelona won 4-0.
They looked to defend their crown and safely navigated their way to the final the following year, where they met a OL Lyonnes side desperate to return to the summit of European football
In a thrilling first half in Turin, it was the French side who went up 3-1 up and they held onto the lead to make it six triumphs in seven years.
OL Lyonnes
Winners in 2021-22
Alarm bells were ringing for Lyonnes fans from the start of the 2022-23 season, when they lost 5-1 at home to Arsenal in their first group match.
That was their only loss of the group stages, even winning 1-0 at Emirates Stadium. But they finished second in the group, to set up a quarterfinal tie with Chelsea.
Again they fell at home to English opposition, as Guro Reiten scored the only goal in Lyon, and they were crushed when Maren Mjelde slotted a 98th minute penalty to level the scores, before Chelsea advanced on penalties at Stamford Bridge.
Emma Hayes’ side would again face Barcelona and were again faced with elimination as the Spanish giants advanced to their third straight final to face Wolfsburg in Eindhoven.
The German side got off to a phenomenal start with early goals from top scorer Ewa Pajor and Alexandra Popp to lead 2-0 at half-time but a second half onslaught, led by Patri Guijarro’s two goals in three minutes saw Barcelona win 3-2.
Barcelona
Winners in 2022-23
The Spanish side saw off Chelsea in the semifinal stage in the 2023-24 season to setup another final against Lyon, who overcame PSG in the semifinals.
Spanish midfield greats Bonmati and Putellas, who now five Ballon d’Ors between them, scored in the second half, to see Barcelona defend their crown in Bilbao.
Last season, the Spaniards very ominously advanced past Wolfsburg (10-2) and Chelsea again (8-2) in the knockout stages to reach the final for the fourth straight season.
Surprisingly it was Arsenal they met in the final after the London side staged a sensational comeback, losing 2-1 at home to Lyonnes but managing to win 4-1 away.
Barcelona were the clear favourites to win their third title in a row, but a dogged Arsenal performance made it difficult for the Spaniards and a Stina Blackstenius goal in the 74th minute saw Arsenal take the trophy back to London.
So can Arsenal go back-to-back? History certainly says so!
The reigning champion reaching the final on 12 of 15 occasions, winning eight, giving Arsenal fans plenty to be optimistic about.
