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Many United States women's national team stars have enjoyed a European adventure over the years and the chance to play in the UEFA Women's Champions League is a huge reason why they choose to make the trip across the Atlantic, as nothing quite like it exists yet for those representing NWSL clubs. Some have done more than just play in the competition, though - a few have gone on and actually won it.
To lift the UWCL trophy as an American is to join quite an exclusive club. Often, the U.S. stars don't stay too long in Europe, which is part of the reason why, making the already slim chances of winning such a title even trickier. However, there are a handful who have done it and even more who have come extremely close, only to be defeated at the final hurdle.
GOAL takes a look at the USWNT stars who have won the UWCL...
Which USWNT stars have played in Europe?
There is a long list of USWNT stars who have played in Europe. Hope Solo and Aly Wagner were two of the first when they signed for Lyon back in 2005, though the club that has since won the UWCL eight times did not then hold the status it does today in the women's game. Plenty more have since spent time in France, with Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe among the biggest names while Lindsey Horan's seven years there make her one of the first to come to mind.
Having welcomed the odd member of the USWNT in the years prior, England became an attractive destination for American stars during the Covid-19 pandemic too, due to the shortened season that the NWSL adopted in 2020. Most of them would return to the U.S. once its domestic league returned to a usual schedule but there are still names on the national team roster today that represent English clubs, such as Catarina Macario and Mia Fishel at Chelsea.
Elsewhere, though it has since become more of a development league, Sweden's Damallsvenskan was once the home to several of the world's best players, including members of the USWNT, and two American stars would become European champions while representing a German club back in 2008.
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GettyWhich USWNT players have won the UEFA Women's Champions League?
| Player | Year(s) won |
|---|---|
| Ali Krieger | 2008 |
| Gina Lewandowski | 2008 |
| Alex Morgan | 2017 |
| Lindsey Horan | 2022 |
| Catarina Macario | 2022 |
Ali Krieger and Gina Lewandowski became the first Americans to win the UEFA Women's Champions League when they helped FFC Frankfurt (now Eintracht Frankfurt) beat Swedish team Umea 4-3 on aggregate back in 2008. The pair started in defence for the German side in both encounters of what was, at that time, a two-legged final, helping Frankfurt to get a 1-1 draw in Sweden and then a 3-2 win at home the following week. Krieger was already a member of the USWNT at this point, having made her debut in January of the same year, but it would take another seven years for Lewandowski to win her sole cap for her country.
Alex Morgan joined the pair in triumphing in this competition in 2017 when she capped a short stint with Lyon with a Champions League winners' medal. The striker only played 15 games during her loan spell in France but she scored 12 goals, won three trophies and started the UWCL final against Paris Saint-Germain, though she was subbed off after just 23 minutes due to injury.
Five years later, two more USWNT stars lifted the title with Lyon when the French giant beat Barcelona 3-1 in Turin, Italy. Lindsey Horan and Catarina Macario were both in the starting line-up and the latter even got on the scoresheet, putting Lyon 3-0 up in the 33rd minute as it rather comfortably secured a record-extending eighth European title.
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GettyWhich USWNT stars have lost a UEFA Women's Champions League final?
A number of others have come close to joining that exclusive five-woman club. Megan Rapinoe was in the line-up for Lyon in the 2013 final but ended on the losing side as Wolfsburg edged it 1-0. The German giant broke the hearts of three more USWNT stars the following year, too, as Christen Press, Whitney Engen and Meghan Klingenberg were all part of the Tyreso team that lost an incredible 2014 final by a 4-3 scoreline.
Though Lewandowski was on the winning side for Frankfurt back in 2008, she has also lost a final. The German side was back in the big game in 2012 but came up short on this occasion, losing 2-0 to Lyon. Had it gone the other way, Lewandowski would've become the first, and to date only, USWNT star to win the UWCL twice.
Horan had a chance to be the first American to achieve that feat in 2024, too, when she returned to the final with Lyon. However, Barcelona instead got its revenge for 2022 as it beat the French side 2-0 in Bilbao.
Stacey Pearson, with Fortuna Hjorring in 2003, and Venus James, with Djurgarden in 2005, are other Americans to have played and lost a UEFA Women's Champions League final. However, neither was ever capped at senior level by the USWNT.
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GettyWhich USWNT stars could win the 2024-25 UEFA Women's Champions League?
A number of U.S. stars had good runs with their clubs in the 2023-24 UWCL season, with five on the rosters of the four semi-finalists, even if none went on to lift the title. Could anyone do it in the next edition of the competition?
Horan is confident that Lyon will bounce back from defeat and have a shot at claiming the club's ninth European title sooner rather than later, while there is intrigue over what Chelsea could do with coach Sonia Bompastor joining from the French giants. Bompastor won the title twice as a player and also lifted it as a manager in 2022, with Blues fans hoping she can be the missing piece as the team of Macario and Fishel looks to win the trophy for the first time.
Elsewhere in France, PSG have so often been there or thereabouts, reaching a fourth semi-final in five seasons during 2023-24. Midfielder Korbin Albert and defender Eva Gaetino, yet to be capped at senior level but a player who received a first call-up in April, represent the USWNT on that roster.
Other U.S. stars that will feature in the competition include Emily Fox, whose Arsenal side reached the last four in 2021-22, and Lily Yohannes, the 16-year-old who shone on Ajax's first appearance in the UWCL group stage in 2023-24. Yohannes is yet to decide on her international future but has been included in the USWNT's last two squads.
The qualifying stage of the 2024-25 UWCL will begin in July and conclude in May 2025, with the final to be held at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon.