We Were There: Inside the First-Ever FIFA Women’s Champions Cup

History doesn’t always announce itself loudly. Sometimes it kicks off on a cold January evening in west London, with six champions, one trophy, and the quiet sense that women’s club football has just levelled up.

The inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup wasn’t just another tournament squeezed into an already packed calendar. It was a statement. And Double Tap was there to witness it properly not from the sofa, not via highlights, but on the ground, soaking it in. We sent seven creators to experience the competition first-hand. Two of them were our own StuntPegg and Rose Ruland.

A New Tournament, Done Properly

Announced in March 2025, the Women’s Champions Cup brings together the champions of each continental competition Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America and Oceania in a format that mirrors the old men’s Club World Cup.

Six teams. One global title. No filler.

It’s FIFA’s attempt to finally give women’s club football a truly international stage, not just in name but in scale, structure and, crucially, investment. The competition will run annually, except in years when the Women’s Club World Cup takes over, a bigger 16-team tournament set to debut in 2028.

For now, this felt like the right starting point: focused, competitive, and genuinely global.

Semi-Finals Under the Lights

The semi-finals took place at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium, intimate enough to feel close to the action, but big enough to carry the weight of what was at stake.

On one side, Arsenal booked their place in the final after overcoming African champions AS FAR. On the other, Brazilian giants Corinthians edged out Gotham FC with a late winner, setting up a final that felt perfectly balanced: Europe versus South America, styles colliding, narratives already written.

For our creators, this was the sweet spot. No second screen. No distraction. Just elite football, played live, with an atmosphere that didn’t need manufacturing.

Final Day at the Emirates

Sunday meant north London, and a proper stage.

The Emirates hosted both the third-place play-off and the final, with over 60,000 seats looming large, a reminder that women’s football belongs on the biggest pitches, not tucked away as an afterthought.

Arsenal versus Corinthians was everything you’d want from a first final: intensity, quality, tension, and moments that demanded your full attention. For StuntPegg, Rose, and the rest of the Double Tap crew, this wasn’t about content quotas or quick clips. It was about being present for a milestone moment in the game.

Sometimes, just being there matters.

More Than Silverware

The stakes weren’t symbolic either. The winners of the inaugural tournament took home $2.3 million, the largest single prize ever awarded in women’s club football. The runners-up earned $1 million, with significant prize money distributed all the way down the bracket.

That matters. Not just for clubs, but for the wider ecosystem. This competition isn’t just about crowning a champio, it’s about making women’s football commercially viable at a global club level.

And that’s how real progress sticks.

Why This One Felt Different

What made this tournament special wasn’t just the teams or the prize money. It was the feeling that this wasn’t an experiment.

No novelty framing. No “first-ever” awkwardness. Just champions playing champions, on serious stages, with serious intent.

For Double Tap, sending our creators to cover women’s football at its highest level isn’t a campaign, it’s the baseline. The Women’s Champions Cup felt like a reflection of where the game is going, not where it’s been.

And if this first edition is anything to go by, we’ll be seeing a lot more of it.