A new £3.9m small-sided tournament kicks off ahead of Arsenal’s final against Barcelona, as top clubs test a condensed format in Estoril.
A new seven-a-side women’s tournament was launched in Portugal this week, providing a curtain-raiser to Saturday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona in Lisbon.
Held at Estádio António Coimbra da Mota in Estoril, the competition features eight clubs from across Europe, including Manchester City, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Roma, and Rosengård.
The format has been designed to be fast, compact and high-scoring, with 30-minute matches played on smaller pitches, unlimited rolling substitutions, and no offsides. If matches end level, they go straight to five-a-side golden goal extra time.
The competition was co-founded by Jennifer Mackesy, who holds ownership stakes in Gotham FC and Chelsea, alongside entrepreneur Justin Fishkin, and offers a prize pool of £3.9 million. The games are being streamed live on DAZN.
Manchester City interim manager Nick Cushing said: “It’s fast, it’s going to be a fast game and physically really tough, the two 15-minute halves, so there’s going to be a lot of rotation of players and roll-on roll-off subs. I think it’s going to be a really exciting form of the game.”
The final of the sevens tournament is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, just hours before Renne Sleger’s Arsenal side walk out at Estádio José Alvalade seeking their second Champions League title.
Among the players involved in the sevens competition are Ella Toone and Phallon Tullis-Joyce, though a number of high-profile names, including Vivianne Miedema and Bunny Shaw, will be rested due to injury concerns.