In the capital of Italy, a potential new leader for both Le Azzurre and Le Giallorose is coming to the fore. Eighteen-year-old Giulia Galli recently won the Italian league title with AS Roma and is eagerly looking forward to the new season, in which she could take on a bigger role on the team.

Salaries in women’s football remain one of the sport’s most frequently discussed topics. Across many clubs and leagues, players are still not fully professional, despite competing at the highest levels and, in some cases, representing their national teams. Yet, as in many other industries, the landscape is changing rapidly and for the better.

In 2021, the NWSL launched the Nationwide Community Impact Award, an annual honor given to a player for their work off the pitch. In 2024, the league announced that the award would be renamed to the Lauren Holiday Impact Award to honor former USWNT and NWSL player Lauren Holiday for her work on and off the pitch. Each year, one player from each club is nominated for their work with a community partner. 

This may well have been the craziest week in women’s football history. And the transfer window hasn’t even opened. The headline story, of course, was Alexia Putellas’ departure from Barcelona. But La Reina won’t be the only star leaving the Catalan club this summer. Mapi León and Ona Batlle are both reportedly on their way to London, signalling the end of an era at Barça Femení. But there are another stories to tell In Austria, Austria Vienna ended St. Pölten’s domestic reign, while significant developments across Europe continued to shake up the women’s game.

Alexia Putellas is one of the biggest names in the world of football. On the pitch, the Barcelona Femení player has become a legend and one of the best players in the world after winning Ballon d’Or twice. She was the first Spanish woman to win a Ballon d’Or, a milestone she repeated a year later, alsoo being the first player to win two awards of this type in a row. Any trophy or individual distinction was too small for her: she won everything she could and more.

Natalia Escot will never forget the year she turned 18 and came of age. Months earlier, she received a call from FC Barcelona, who signed the player in 2024 from Levante Las Planas, a Liga F club currently known as Badalona Women. Her talent and individual quality at the top of the attack have made her one of the most outstanding players in Barcelona’s reserve team and 1 RFEF, the second Spanish division of women’s football.

Although one of Germany’s biggest football institutions, Borussia Dortmund, long remained one of the few major clubs without a women’s side in the top division. And while the club is still playing in the third league, its plans and ambitions are already impossible to ignore.

Although it had been rumored about for a long time, few could truly imagine it happening. But it did. On 26 May 2026, Alexia Putellas left Barcelona, her childhood club, after 14 seasons. Over that time, her persona became almost synonymous with Barcelona Femení. Whether you are a fan of hers or not, one thing is undeniable: she made countless people to love women’s football.

The San Diego Wave are in red hot form right now as they sit near the top of league standings and teenager Kimmi Ascanio has played a part in four of their 15 goals in the NWSL this year. The 18-year-old Florida native signed her first professional contract with the Wave in 2024 at the age of 16, and since then has made her mark on the team with five goals and five assists in just over two seasons.