Women's Champions League

LIVE NOW: Austria Vienna Takes on Chelsea

(Bild: AFP/BEN STANSALL)

Kickoff of the group stage in the Women's Champions League: Vienna's Austria faces Chelsea FC on the road. We're covering the game live (see below). The score is currently 1-0!

Here’s the LIVE TICKER:

The women’s soccer team from Vienna’s Austria makes its Champions League debut at a prestigious venue: Eight-time English champion Chelsea hosts Austria’s double winner tonight in London. “We’re not going there just to check out the team and the stadium,” said Austria coach Stefan Kenesei ahead of the Violets’ away match in England’s capital. “We want to be bold and represent our colors well.”

“... that it will be a very difficult task!”
With a mix of nerves and anticipation for the first round of the group stage, the Austria delegation boarded the plane on Tuesday. “Everyone dreams of the Champions League, and that dream is now coming true as we begin this journey,” said Kenesei. They also want to put on a strong performance against the English team, which is a regular in the knockout stages of the “Champions League.” “But we’re realistic enough to recognize that it will be a very difficult task.” St. Pölten learned this the hard way last season. Austria’s reigning champions at the time suffered a 0–6 home defeat in the group stage. Chelsea has lost only one of its last 30 games in the group stage and has celebrated 22 victories.

Stamford Bridge remains off-limits to Austria. Although the “Blues’” women’s team has also been playing its league home games at the famous stadium since this year, the Champions League match against Austria will take place at AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane, which holds just over 9,000 fans. A glance at the financial figures shows that the two teams operate in completely different financial spheres: Chelsea Women’s payroll alone for the 2024–25 season—at just over 17 million euros—was higher than that of the entire FK Austria Wien club (14.94 million), including the men’s division, which is by far the largest expense.

Hanshaw: “It doesn’t get much tougher than this”
Lotta Cordes hinted at how the Viennese women plan to take on the stars led by English goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, Erin Cuthbert, and Lauren James. “Chelsea is, of course, the clear favorite. We want to focus on our strengths in playing tight, compact defense and try to make life difficult for Chelsea,” said the midfielder.

Verena Hanshaw, who knows the opponents well as a longtime player in England, described it as an extremely tough challenge. “It’s our first time in the Champions League, and right off the bat we’re facing Chelsea—it doesn’t get much harder than that,” Hanshaw told ORF. According to the player, who has 131 caps for the Austrian national team, this tough test will also show whether “we’ve made progress and can prove ourselves on this stage as well.” With Bayern Munich, Juventus Turin, Inter Milan, and Manchester City as their other opponents, Austria drew some of the toughest opponents in the draw.