It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.

In the 2021–22 season, the competition proper included a group stage for the first time in the Women's Champions League era.

[2] As in the men's game, the new tournament aimed to include runners-up of the top women's football leagues in Europe.

[4] Numbers were based on three principles: Competition from the Round of 32 onwards would be in the form of home-and-home pairings using the away goals rule, except for the single-legged final.

For the five years under this format, seven nations remained in the top eight: Germany, Sweden, England, France, Denmark, Russia, and Italy.

A different nation provided the eighth runner-up in each of the five years: Iceland, Norway, Austria, Czech Republic,[5] and Spain[6] in that order.

At the start of the pandemic the Round of 16 had been completed; the quarterfinals and on were delayed and eventually played as single-legged matches in the summer of 2020.

[12] The 2021–22 Women's Champions League introduced a 16-team group stage to the competition, and with it a vastly expanded prize pool of €24M total.

Of that pool, €5.6M (23%) would be used for solidarity payments to non-participating clubs of participating countries, to provide funding for development.

[20] As of 2024, official sponsors are: During the first Champions League era with no group stage (2009–2021), only one team from a nation outside the top two of France and Germany won the title: Barcelona in 2021.

Also during that era, only two teams from a nation outside the top four (then France, Germany, Sweden, and England) ever made the semi-finals: Brøndby in 2015 and Barcelona in four of the last five years under that format.

MENA) rights of the competition from 2021–22 until 2024–25, 61 matches in both 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons were live streamed for free on the DAZN UEFA Women's Champions League YouTube channel.

[33] Warner Bros Discovery's channel TNT Sports also covered the competition for 2023–24 season for viewers in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Ireland, and UK.