First & Records

The transfer window is still in full swing, and women's footballalready witnessed some big moves. Alexia Putellas to London City Lionesses, Katie McCabe to Chelsea, Georgia Stanway to Arsenal. But this summer has also been interesting from a financial perspective. Real Madrid invested in young talent Felicia Schröder, while Barcelona put their faith in experienced Kerolin.

The NWSL took a month-long break in June while the 2027 FIFA Men’s World Cup took over stadiums and training grounds across the country. Many clubs saw this hiatus as an opportunity to improve their squads as they signed new players from both inside and outside of the league. How will some of these acquisitions impact their new teams?

In the summer of 1932, several young women from Milan were spending their vacation near Livorno. As die-hard football fans, they began playing football for fun on a small field near the beach. What started as a simple vacation pastime gradually gave rise to a bold idea: to found the first women’s football club in Italy.

She was born in California, wears a pink headband, is a striker and celebrates her goals by making the gesture of drinking tea. And no, it’s not Alex Morgan. Her name is Melanie Bárcenas and from a very young age she has begun to break records and set new milestones in women’s football. 

As the first country with a fully professional women’s football league, the United States is no stranger to attracting top talent from abroad. With the development of women’s football overseas, the landscape has changed as other leagues have emerged as attractive destinations for top talents. Today, the narrative often goes the other way, as many top talents from the NWSL have left for European leagues in recent seasons. 

Major international tournaments and sticker albums have always gone hand in hand. What started as a school breaks fun, one that plenty of adults still enjoy, has, in recent years, become not only part of the atmosphere surrounding football's biggest competitions but also a thriving business, with collectors hoping to uncover the rarest stickers or trading cards. But what about women's football?

Real Sociedad continues to reap the rewards after the last major investment made by the club at the beginning of the 25/26 season. Arturo Ruiz’s team has qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League qualifiers and has managed to finish the Liga F season in third place, ahead of Atlético de Madrid and only behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona Femení.