We also look at the results of the second round of WCL qualifiers for the Champions Path, with the League Path to be covered next week. As always, we review the imports that each team registered and some interesting player and coach news.
Interview with Jamaican international midfielder Izzy Groves of Athlone Town of Ireland
Israela “Izzy” Groves is a 26-year-old midfielder who grew up in Canada, has played professionally in four nations in Europe and is also a full international for Jamaica. She is in her first season with Athlone Town, a small city with 23,000 residents 60 miles west of Dublin and 20 miles southeast of Roscommon. Known as “The Pride of the Midlands,” Athlone Town is the oldest men’s Football Club in the League of Ireland, dating back to 1887, while the senior women’s side is in its fifth season.
She explained her journey in the sport: “My dad has a football academy back home in Toronto and it is called the Master’s Football Academy, and that is where I grew up playing. We didn’t really have a women’s team so I just grew up playing with the boys. That was the only team I played with; that was where I developed until I got a soccer scholarship to the States. I got a full scholarship for four years to Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York (where she was a pre-med major). I had an opportunity to go pro. I had an opportunity actually while I was still in school but my parents wanted me to finish school, obviously because you never know what will happen in football and you want your degree to fall on no matter what.”
This has been a traditional path in North America for footballers, to finish college and then play professionally, but it is starting to change, particularly for youth internationals, who now are joining NWSL or European teams in their teens. The scholarship and ultimate college degree at an American university is still a much valued path for domestic-based and international players.
Izzy Groves first went to play in Portugal in 2020 for two years with Vilaverdense and then spent a year with US Saint-Malo in France. She joined London City Lionesses in the English second tier for the 2023-24 campaign. She joined Athlone Town in Ireland in January of 2025.
The Women’s Premier Division of the League of Ireland league runs from March to October and, a little past the halfway point, reigning champions Athlone Town sit two points behind leaders Shelbourne of Dublin (37 points vs. 39 points) but have played one fewer game with a 11-4-0 (W-D-L) record to Shels (13-0-3). Last season, Athlone won their first title in the 14th season of the league, pipping Shelbourne (who have won three league titles and trail record holders Peamount United of greater Dublin, which has four) by two points (47 points vs. 45 points from 20 games, with 11 teams in the league last year; Waterford United has been added this season to take the league to 12 sides).
Groves played for head coach (and former Canadian and Trinidad and Tobago WNT head coach) Carolina Morace at London City: “She coached my cousin with Canada’s national team for a short time but she was injured… I knew Carolina so I had an idea of how she was as a coach. She’s very focused on the tactics, but we found that in England, that it was hard because the league was not dirty but very physical. So we were keeping the ball and doing really well with stats, but a team would nick us at the edge of our box and we’d get punished from it. It just was unlucky because I thought we played really well. We played football. It was unfortunate to be in that league, to have that style, I think.”
Morace was let go in February 2024, in her first full season with London City, as the team was struggling in the relegation zone.
TribalFootball.com talked to Groves after Athlone City’s first qualifying round games of the UEFA Women’s Champions League (see: The Week in Women's Football: Farah Abu Tayeh exclusive; Examining UEFA Champions League qualifying - TribalFootball.com), when Athlone Town defeated ZNK Agram of Croatia 3-0 on August 2 at home, to advance to the second qualifying round last week (see below).
She explained: “It was an unreal experience, to be able to make history for the club meant everything for us. As a captain I always want to push the club and the badge on my chest as far as I can, so for me to be able to score that first goal (in their 4-0 semifinal win over Cardiff City on July 30), and etch my name in history was absolutely amazing. The fans pushed us to do as well as we did… The atmosphere was amazing (with a sellout in their 5,000 seat Athlone Town Stadium) and it gave us the energy and strength to do as well as we did. We’re really excited looking forward and want to do our best and get as far as we can (see the second qualifying round results below)… It meant a lot from everyone in the town to come out and support us.”
She talked about Athlone Town’s hopes for the rest of the season: “Obviously we want to win the league again. That has always been the main goal because we want to give the club the opportunity to play Champions League football (again) next year. So that’s a big deal. Right now, in the rest of the Champions League, we want to push as far as we can and do our best and make the club proud. Every game we play, we are going out with the same mentality; we want to win, we want to be aggressive, we want to do well. We don’t want to wait for something to happen but we want to make it happen. That is our mindset going into each and every game. We respect our opponents but we know how good we are as a team and we want to play to our strengths.”
Athlone’s run in the Champions League into the second round is rare in Irish Football as they are the first Irish team since Raheny United in 2014/15 to advance past the first qualifying stage, joining Peamount United and St. Francis who also did it in the past. We have touched in past columns on the struggles that the League of Ireland women’s teams have had, at home and in Europe.
The sport is making inroads with youth players—with a huge boost from Ireland’s dramatic route to the 2023 WWC Finals—who traditionally play Gaelic Football, particularly in rural counties like where Athlone is located. Gaelic has strong community ties and more Irish players have gone to play in the Women’s Australian Football League and done well, which is another incentive to youth. Athlone’s progress in Europe this season is sending the message that the League of Ireland sides are improving and bringing in more imports like Izzy Groves to boost the quality of the league—that strategy is paying off.
She is seeing more imports come into the League of Ireland than there have been in previous years: “I played last year (with London City) with a lot of the girls who are actually from the Irish national team and they’ve always said that it is hard to get the league improving if they don’t go out and bring in players… This season, now that I’m here, is the first time I’m actually seeing it myself but I think they have done it quite a bit because my team (Athlone Town) has quite a few Americans (four) and some from Cyprus (one, along with one from Germany). I feel like it is diversifying and it is always helping the league.”
This year, three of the four top scorers in the league are from America:
Mackenzie Anthony of Shelbourne, who played at Baylor and Michigan State Universities, tops the table with 13 goals.
Kelly Brady of Athlone Town played at the University of Mississippi and is tied with Republic of Ireland national Kate Mooney of Shelbourne with 12, who previously played with Peamount United and Lewes FC in England.
Isabella Flocchini (ex-San Jose State University) with Treaty United has 11 goals.
Groves came on the national team radar for Jamaica a few years ago, through their current coach Hubert Busby Jr, who was also born in Canada and coached the Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders Women in the original USL W-League. She explained: “Back in 2020, Busby reached out (while I was) still at university and had an initial call. They wanted me to come in; they had been looking at me for a while and he sat me down and had a play by play of how the team played and how I would fit in the team. COVID halted everything and I didn’t get my passport until 2023. That’s when I debuted. It all worked out.”
She said that injuries have held her back some but she has played in Women’s Gold Cup qualifiers and against Brazil in friendlies in 2024. She said that head coach Busby keeps constant communication with the WNT players.
With Canada having established a new women’s professional league this season (see our column from last month on the Northern Super League: The Week in Women's Football: Jackie Sawicki exclusive; Smith's Arsenal move; NSL review - TribalFootball.com), TribalFootball.com asked if the league was on her possible consideration list in the future: “I’m definitely at a point where I have played away from home for so long that it would be amazing to eventually to go back and play where my family can easily come watch me rather than get on a plane and fly overseas. For sure, it is in my head and something I have been paying attention to… I keep it on my radar and when the timing is right, I may possibly end up there.”
Izzy Groves has, to date, scored two goals in their four WCL league matches to date and has had a very positive impact on the side as captain in Athlone Town’s debut season in Europe. She should certainly have multiple options when her contract expires in the Republic of Ireland, in Europe and in North America.
UEFA Women’s Champions League second qualifying round review
UEFA.com described the format for the 2025-26 Women’s Champions League tournament. New for this season, the former 16-team group stage is replaced by an 18-club league phase, for which holders Arsenal are among nine direct entries. The other nine contenders will emerge from three rounds of qualifying, split into a champions path (producing four qualifiers) and league path (five).
The champions path began with the first qualifying round in early August, which produced the last six contenders for the second qualifying round to join the 22 teams already drawn into groups for the knockout mini-tournaments. The seven group final winners now advance (see below) to join St. Pölten in the third qualifying round of the champions path.
The league path starts with the second qualifying round, for which the 15 teams were playing in four mini-tournaments. Those four winners join Real Madrid, Häcken, Paris FC, Atlético de Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt and Sporting CP in the third qualifying round of the league phase.
Meanwhile, 22 teams will also transfer from the second qualifying round mini-tournaments to the new UEFA Women's Europa Cup. The 11 group runners-up will go into the second qualifying round, and the 11 third-place finishers to the first qualifying round.
Champions Path
Group 1 (Hosts: Mura in Slovenia)
Wednesday 27 August:
Semi-finals
BIIK-Shymkent (KAZ) 0 vs GKS Katowice (POL) 2
Mura (SVN) 3 vs Spartak Myjava (SVK) 2
Saturday 30 August:
Third-place match
BIIK-Shymkent (KAZ) 2 vs. Spartak Myjava (SVK) 1
Final
Mura (SVN) 0 vs GKS Katowice (POL) 2
GKS Katowice advanced to the WCL third qualifying round. Mura (second qualifying round) and BIIK (first qualifying round) move on to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
BIIK-Shymkent
BIIK Shymkent is playing in its 19th season and 11th consecutive edition in the Women’s Champions League. Head Coach Kaloyan Petkov again has an import heavy squad including players from: Cameroon (3), Ghana (2), Belarus (1), China (1), Georgia (1), Ivory Coast (1), Malawi (1), Trinidad and Tobago (1) and U.S. (1).
Midfielder Ting Xie (27) of China joined the club after playing the 2024-25 season with Wuhan and the previous season with Granada in Spain. Forward Guinara Gabelia (40) is a full international from Georgia and been with the Kazakh powerhouse for years. Senior and youth Trinidad and Tobago international forward Maria-Frances Serrant (22) grew up in Port of Spain and went to college at Corban University in Salem, Oregon and West Texas A&M University. She has also played futsal internationally at the U-18 level for T&T.
Forward Lagoali Kreto of the Ivory Coast previously played in the African Champions League for TP Mazembe in DR Congo, winning the title in 2024 with a 1-0 win over AS FAR of Morocco, in El Jadida in front of 15,000 fans. Malawi international forward Vanessa Mbinho Chikupila (29) is in her second season with BIIK and previously played at home with Green Buffalos. Defender Halle Catherine Rogers (24) of the U.S. played at the University of Maine and Xavier University in Ohio and is a new recruit to BIIK this season.
GKS Katowicz
This is GKS Katowicz’s second year in the WCL and they are two-time champions of Poland’s Orlen Ekstraliga kobiet (in English Ekstraliga), in 2023 and 2025, with Pogon Szezecin pipping them in 2024—the teams were even on points with 51 but Szezecin had a much better goal difference (+47 vs. +33). The Polish champions had three imports on their roster—two from Slovakia and one from Latvia.
Mura of Slovenia
Mura used three imports—one each from North Macedonia, Poland and Ukraine.
Spartak Myjava of Slovakia
The side advanced from the first Prelim Round (see the link to our column last month above) but narrowly lost out on a Europa Cup qualification spot after a narrow 3-2 loss in the third place match to BIIK of Kazakhstan.
Group 2 (Hosts: Apollon LFC of Cyprus)
Wednesday 27 August:
Semi-finals
Apollon LFC (CYP) 0 vs Young Boys (SUI) 1
Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 2 vs Hibernian (SCO) 1
Saturday 30 August:
Third-place match
Apollon LFC (CYP) 2 vs. Hibernian (SCO) 3
Final
Young Boys (SUI) 0 vs. Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 1
Fortuna Hjorring advanced to the WCL third qualifying round. Young Boys Bern (second qualifying round) and Hibernian (first qualifying round) move on to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
Apollon Ladies
In 2025-26, imports came from the U.S. (4), Ghana (2) Romania (2), and one each from Argentina, England, Greece and the Republic of Ireland. Nikki Flannery (26) is registered with a Greece passport (for whom she has ancestry) but is well-known to regular readers of this column as she is a native of Australia and scored five goals in 26 matches last season for Ninja A-League finalists Melbourne Victory; she has moved to Apollon on loan and will be back with the Victory for the start of the 2025-26 season. She played for many years in three different stints with Canberra United and one season with Newcastle Jets (2019/20).
Fortuna Hjorring
Fortuna Hjorring of Denmark has long been a heavy importer of talent from abroad and this season has brought in players from: the U.S. (3), Japan (2), Romania (2) and one each from Finland, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Nigeria, and Sweden, including:
Defender Caitlin St Leger (22) is registered as from the Republic of Ireland for FIFA but is American and played at the University of Delaware and for the Delaware Ospreys in the WPSL summer league.
Defender Janelle Cordia (38) from the U.S. has played in Finland and Italy and won three league titles with Fortuna in two different stints for the side, as well as one in Finland with Aland United.
Midfielder Sydney Masur (22) from the U.S. played at Indiana University and turned pro in February.
Midfielder Ashley Riefner (31) of the U.S. is in her fourth season at Fortuna after also playing with Nordsjaelland in Denmark and Aland United, HJK and PK-35 Vantas in Finland; she played her college ball at the University of Richmond.
Hibernian of Scotland
In Hibs 2025-26 WCL debut they had an entirely Scottish-based crowd except for one import each from Australia, the Republic of Ireland and the U.S.:
American goalkeeper Noa Schumacher (25) played 17 regular season games last season and collegiately at Cal State-Fullerton.
Defender Stacey Papadopoulos (28) of Australia scored two goals in 28 matches in her first season in Scotland after two seasons with Western United in Melbourne in the A-League.
Defender Ciara Grant (32) is a Republic of Ireland international and moved to Hibs for 2024-25 after two seasons with fellow Edinburgh club Hearts. She also played with Rangers, with Sion Swifts in Northern Ireland and multiple clubs in the Republic.
Young Boys Bern of Switzerland
YBB’s imports for the WCL came from Germany (4), and one each from Croatia, Denmark, Greece and Spain. Maja Jelčić (21) is registered as Croatian but is a Bosnia and Herzegovina international (with four goals in 21 matches), having played 25 games in the last two seasons with Inter Milan and then with Napoli on loan.
Group 3 (Hosts: OH Leuven)
Wednesday 27 August:
Semi-finals
Rosengård (SWE) 5 vs. Ljuboten (MKD) 0
SFK 2000 Sarajevo (BIH) 1 vs OH Leuven (BEL) 2 (after extra time)
Saturday 30 August:
Third-place match
SFK 2000 Sarajevo (BIH) 5 vs. Ljuboten (MKD) 0
Final
OH Leuven (BEL) 3 vs. Rosengård (SWE) 2
Leuven advanced to the WCL third qualifying round. Rosengard (second qualifying round) and Sarajevo (first qualifying round) move on to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
OH Leuven
OH Leuven of Belgium made their European debut in the second round and was one of the revelations of those games at the end of August. They relied heavily on six imports from neighbors Netherlands, along with two from Hungary and one from Greece. One of their Dutch imports is forward Jada Chiméne Conijnenberg (22), who played four seasons with Feyenoord and the first half of the Swedish Damallsvenskan with IFK Norrkoping. Conijnenberg scored a first half brace in their 3-2 Final win over Rosengard on August 30.
Ljuboten
The North Macedonian champions advanced from the first qualifying round (see the link to our column last month above).
SFK 2000 Sarajevo
SFK of Bosnia and Herzegovina are competing in a record 23rd WCL (including the pre-2009 UEFA Women's Cup), all in consecutive seasons. In 2025-26, they had eight imports, with two each from Croatia and Montenegro and one each from Colombia, England, Serbia and the United States.
An import from Colombia is forward Gisela Lisbeth Arreta Betancourt (38). She went to Graceland College in Iowa and played professionally in Greece since 2016 and with the Houston Aces in the WPSL across two seasons. She has also been an assistant coach at Graceland and at a university side in Mexico. Midfielder Taylor Harrison (22) just completed her collegiate career at Loyola University-Chicago.
Rosengard of Sweden
Rosengard of Sweden utilized imports from Nigeria (2) and one each from Belarus, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Scotland, and U.S.
Group 4 (Hosts: Vllaznia of Albania)
Wednesday 27 August:
Semi-finals
Ferencváros (HUN) 3 vs. Racing Union Luxembourg (LUX) 0
Vllaznia (ALB) 1 vs Dinamo-BSUPC (BLR) 2
For Dinamo of Belarus, Anna Pilipenko (36) had the ultimate winner in the 56th minute which gave them a 2-0 lead until a late goal in the 88th minute from defender Arbiona Bajraktari (28).
Saturday 30 August:
Third-place match
Racing Union Luxembourg (LUX) 1 vs. Vllaznia (ALB) 3
Final
Ferencváros (HUN) 4 vs. Dinamo-BSUPC (BLR) 0
Ferencvaros advanced to the WCL third qualifying round. Dinamo of Belarus (second qualifying round) and Vllaznia (first qualifying round) move on to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
Racing Union Luxembourg
Racing Union Luxembourg advanced from the first qualifying phase (see the link to our column last month above).
Ferencváros
In 2025-26, the Hungarian champions had six imports from: Serbia (2), U.S. (2), Argentina (1) and Estonia (1).
Midfielder Milagros Diaz (25) was capped once by Argentina in 2019 and has played with Gimnasia y Esgrima in La Plata (outside of Buenos Aires) at home since 2018. This is her first stint abroad. Forward Vlada Kubassova (30) has 60 full international caps for Estonia and won a league title at home with Flora last season before joining the Hungarian side. She has also played in Italy for Napoli and Como.
Ferencvaros’ duo from Serbia is full WNT goalkeeper Milica Kostic (27), who has played with Eskilstuna in Sweden after playing for years at home with Spartak Subotica, where she won six league titles. Defender Andela Fraitovic (25) is also a full international for Serbia and joined the Hungarian side from Spartak Subotica.
Their two Americans both return from last season: Midfielder Jadyn Edwards (25) played at the University of New Mexico and scored 31 goals and 24 assists in 94 games, finishing first in school history in assists and games played and third in goals. A native of the State of Washington, she signed with the Seattle Reign in 2023 as a national team replacement player after being selected in the 2023 NWSL Draft in the third round (29th overall of 48 selections) by Racing Louisville.
Forward Alesia Garcia (25) is in her third season with the Hungarian champions. She played at the University of New Mexico and Louisiana State University.
Vllaznia
For 2025-26, Vllaznia utilized a number of imports (11) from: the U.S. (3), Canada (2), Colombia (2) and one each from Guatemala, Kosovo, Panama and Paraguay. Fifteen of their 26 member roster were Albanians.
The Albanian champions had two import goalkeepers on their WCL roster, one from Paraguay and one from Canada. Cristina Recalde (31), a full international for Paraguay, has played with CD Grande in Spain since 2020. Dior Manuella Wilson (22) of Canada is from Ontario and just finished college at the University of West Alabama.
Jemery Myvett (21) is a Guatemalan international defender who has played in Mexico with Necaxa of Aguacalientes. We featured her last year in our review of Liga MX Femenil for the 2024 Clausura (see: https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/the-week-in-women-s-football-reviewing-liga-mx-femenil-apertura-uanl-tigres-do-it-again-4483448).
Defender Mireilis Rojas (21) moved from Panama to play with Vllaznia in the WCL.
The Panamanian youth international was previously with Santa Fe, the 2-time champions of the Panamanian Women’s Soccer League (LFF). She also played at home with CD Plaza Amador and Chorrillo FC. At Santa Fe, she was a key player in the Apertura 2025, scoring two goal and also played during the inaugural W CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2024. She played two matches in the second qualifying round for her new club in Albania to become the first Panamanian to play in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Defender Miamour Juana Mesa (24) from the U.S. is a native of Washington D.C. and played at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Midfielder Natalie Strkalj (24) is a native of Toronto in Canada and played at Middle Georgia State University and at ZNK Hajduk Split in Croatia from 2023-2024, after coaching at Barcelona’s Academy in Miami and working as an intern with Inter Miami of MLS.
Forward Sophie Marie Castro (20) of the U.S. was a youth club championship 2019 National Finalist with Colorado Rush. She played a few minutes with West Point Military Academy this year after no minutes last year but has moved to Europe.
Dinamo Minsk
Dinamo Minsk had three imports from Africa on their Women’s Champions League roster: two from Nigeria and one from Cameroon. Forward Blessing Kasarachi Okpe (21) from Nigeria has previously played for Amed SK Women of Turkey and Rivers Angels of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL). Forward Emueje Ogbiagbevha (35) of Nigeria has played in Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. Defender Alvine Njolle (31) for Cameroon has played for years in Belarus and in Uzbekistan for FC Nasaf.
Group 5 (Hosts: Gintra)
Wednesday 27 August:
Semi-finals
Vorskla Poltava (UKR) 5 vs Lanchkhuti (GEO) 0
Ukraine teams scored 9 goals in first round one winner and loser. Forward Yana Kalinina (30) of Ukraine scored three goals against Lanchkhuti.
Gintra (LTU) 2 vs Farul Constanța (ROU) 1
Saturday 30 August:
Third-place match
Farul Constanța (ROU) 4 vs. Lanchkhuti (GEO) 1
Final
Gintra (LTU) 0 vs. Vorskla Poltava (UKR) 2
Vorskla Poltava advanced to the WCL third qualifying round. Gintra of Lithuania (second qualifying round) and Romania’s Farul Constanta (first qualifying round) move on to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
Lanchkhuti
Lanchkhuti advanced from first qualifying found (see the link to our column last month above).
Farul Constanța
Farul Constanta made their WCL debut last season and their imports were similar in terms of what countries they came from to last year, with three from Bulgaria, two from Kenya and one each from Ivory Coast and Moldova. Last year they used two from Kenya, two from Moldova and one from Bulgaria.
Goalkeeper Lilian Awuor Onyango (26)—Kenya; she joined Farul in February of 2024. She previously played at Olympique Valence (France) in the regional leagues. She is a member of the Kenyan national team.
Defender Enez Mudeizi Mango (32)—Kenya; she is a Kenyan international who played at home with Vihaga Queens.
Defender Nikoleta Boycheva (31)—Bulgaria; she is a full international for Bulgaria and played in the German second tier in the past. She won three league titles at home with Lokomotiv Stara Zagora.
Forward Claudia Chiper (29)—Moldova; she is a Moldovan international who has also played in Cyprus.
Note: Forward/attacking midfielder Estell Gnaly (23) is an Ivory Coast international who has signed for Farul Constanta last season but was registered in time for the 2024-25 WCL matches. Gnaly previously played at Athlético Club of Abidjan where she won two Ivory Coast championship titles (2021-2022 and 2022-2023) and played in the 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League with Athlético Club Abidjan. Gnaly also played with Africa Sports d’Abidjan.
Vorskla Poltava
As in 2024-25, Vorskla, also known as Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv, used an all-Ukrainian roster except for Armenian international midfielder Olga Osipyan (29) who is a full international and is in her third season with the club.
Gintra
In 2025-26, Gintra used 11 imports: US (4), Brazil (3), Nigeria (3) and Canada (1). Gintra has a new coach for 2025-26 in English native Steve Beeks (53), who ran his own academy in England and coached the women’s side of Aland United in Finland and multiple clubs in England, replacing Ollipekka Ojala of Finland, who left the club in November in 2024, after winning the clubs 20th consecutive league title (23rd overall) for personal reasons.
South African international Thubelihle Shamase (23) scored four goals for Gintra in their 5-1 win over the Moldovan champions Agarista Anenii Noi in their opening first round match last season. In the first round last season and 8 goals in 17 games left the club after the 2024 season to return home to play for her former club, the University of Johannesburg.
Group 6 (Hosts: Twente)
Wednesday 27 August:
Semi-finals
Breidablik (ISL) 3 vs Athlone Town (IRL) 1
Izzy Groves (see interview above) scored just around the hour mark to cut the lead to 2-1 for Athlone Town against the Icelandic champions.
Twente (NED) 6 vs Red Star Belgrade (SRB) 0
All of Twente goals came in the second half with Netherland’s international Jill Roord scoring two within five minutes late in the match
Saturday 30 August:
Third-place match
Red Star Belgrade (SRB) 0 vs. Athlone Town (IRL) 2
Final
Twente (NED) 2 vs. Breidablik (ISL) 0
Twente advanced to the WCL third qualifying round. Breidablik (second qualifying round) and Athlone Town (first qualifying round) move on to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
Athlone Town
Athlone Town advanced from first qualifying round (see the link to our column last month above) and our interview this week with their Jamaican international Izzy Groves (see above).
Breidablik
In the WCL for Breidablik in 2025-26, the club had three imports from the U.S., including two goalkeepers. Midfielder Samantha Smith (24) has returned to the team for the 2025 season; she scored four goals in five regular season matches thus far this season after scoring nine times in seven games for Breidablik in 2024 on loan from FHL in Iceland’s second tier, helping that club win promotion. She played at Boston College and Texas A&M.
Twente
Twente has won the last two league titles in a row, four of the last five and nine in total, including two of the three seasons of the now defunct BeNe league, combining teams from Belgium and the Netherlands. They made the group stage of the WCL last season.
For the 2025-26 WCL, Twente had only two imports—one from Belgium and one from Iceland. One of their domestic players to watch out for is their U-17 Netherlands international goalkeeper 16-year old Tess Doeschot.
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda) this season only had two registered imports—compared to five last season—one from Bosnia-Herzegovina and one registered from England: defender Joan Mulan Ayliffe (17), but she lives in Singapore and is a U-16 international for Singapore. Last season their imports hailed from: Bosnia-Herzegovina (2), Montenegro (1), Bulgaria (1) and Ghana (1).
Ayliffe explained in an interview with local Singapore media ahead of the second round qualifiers for the UEFA WCL that her club team in Singapore, Turf City, was at a camp with Red Star Belgrade’s men’s team and was spotted in a practice match and then recruited.
She grew up primarily playing with boy’s teams, which she described as: “putting me through challenges as you can imagine. That really built my confidence though…when I found myself playing with girls (at the youth national team level), I felt myself more comfortable and more composed on the ball; regardless of who or how many were watching, I always felt I like I was able to step it up and I felt no pressure, because of the struggle playing with the boys, and that has allowed me to play at higher levels.”
She has found playing in Serbia much different from Southeast Asia however: “It is a totally different language and environment. I had never been to Eastern Europe and it was so different. But my teammates being so friendly and them speaking English to me, instead of me having to forcefully learn the language; they let me take it slow and also the coaches are amazing. She concluded by saying: “The word itself ‘Champions League,’ I get shivers, it is insane. To come from Singapore and think of playing at that level is crazy.” Unfortunately, she did not appear in either of Red Star’s two matches in Group 6.
Group 7 (Hosts: HJK Helsinki)
Wednesday 27 August:
Semi-finals
Slavia Praha (CZE) 2 vs ABB Fomget (TUR) 1
Vålerenga (NOR) 1 vs HJK Helsinki (FIN)
Forward Armisa Kuc (33) of Montenegro missed a penalty in the 90th minute for Fomget before scoring in the 95th minute in their 2-1 defeat to Slavia.
Saturday 30 August:
Third-place match
ABB Fomget (TUR) 3 vs HJK Helsinki (FIN) 2
Final
Slavia Praha (CZE) 0 vs. Valerenga (NOR) 4
Valerenga advanced to the WCL third qualifying round. Slavia Prague (second qualifying round) and ABB Fomget (first qualifying round) move on to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
Slavia Prague
Slavia Prague had eight imports for the 2025-26 WCL, with four from Slovakia (4), two from the U.S. and one each from Denmark and Montenegro.
Back this year is American midfielder Molly McLaughlin (25). She played at the University of Pennsylvania and Xavier University and with Indy 11 in the USL W League. New this season is American forward Dana Joy Scheriff (26). She played at Monmouth University and first started playing professionally abroad in 2021 with IA in Iceland. In 2022-23 she played with Athlone Town in Ireland, where she scored 12 goals in 25 matches. In 2024, she played in Switzerland with Aarau and then joined the USL Super League Brooklyn FC side, scoring three goals in 22 goals in the league’s inaugural season in 2024-25 before joining Slavia.
Valerenga of Norway
Valerenga had seven imports: with five of Sweden with one each from Iceland and the U.S.—defender Michaela Kovacs (28). She played at Michigan State University and then for clubs in Portugal and Sweden and then joined Valerenga in 2023-24, winning the last two Toppserien titles.
Their head coach in Norwegian native and former Norwegian league player Nils Lexerød (49), who joined Valerenga in 2023-24 after coaching Norwegian youth national teams from 2014 to 2021.
HJK Finland
All of their roster this season were Finnish players, with no imports brought in.
ABB Fomget of Turkey
ABB Fomget advanced from the 2024-25 first qualifying match (see the link to our column last month above).
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey