2021 Women's International Champions Cup
The Portland Thorns are the best club in the World and have just been crowned the 2021 Women’s International Champions Cup Winners! Weaver came through in the 87’ for the only goal of the game.
WICC Finals - August 21st
WICC
Aug 22, 2021
Portland Thorns
1
0
Olympique Lyonnais
M. Weaver (87')
Full time
WICC
Aug 21, 2021
Houston Dash
2
3
Barcelona
Jana Fernández (48' og), S. Groom (62')
Full time
A. Crnogorčević (34'), Alexia Putellas (72', 78')
Semi Final Results
WICC
Aug 19, 2021
Portland Thorns
2
2
Houston Dash
(PENS: 3) • N. Kuikka (51'), O. Moultrie (58')
Full time
(PENS: 1) • S. Groom (17', 41')
WICC
Aug 19, 2021
Barcelona
2
3
Olympique Lyonnais
Mariona Caldentey (9', 63')
Full time
A. Majri (20'), A. Henry (27'), M. Malard (85')
2021 Women's International Champions Cup Overview
The Women’s International Champions Cup returned this week in 2021 and has featured four trophy-winning teams that represent the best that women’s soccer has to offer.
The four participants have each qualified for the WICC by winning championships in their 2020 tournaments, competitions, and leagues. The Portland Thorns will host the tournament and have qualified as winners of the 2020 NWSL Fall Series. The remaining three clubs are Olympique Lyonnais, who qualified as winners of the 2020 UEFA Women’s Champions League and 2020 D1 Féminine, the Houston Dash, who qualified as winners of the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, and FC Barcelona, who qualified as winners of the 2020 Primera División.
The clubs have continued their winning ways in 2021, with the Portland Thorns taking home the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup and FC Barcelona winning the 2021 UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Olympique Lyonnais is looking to defend its WICC title, while the other three clubs are first time participants in the prestigious event.
The tournament will take place from August 18-21, 2021 at Providence Park, the home of the Portland Thorns. The tournament consists of four matches played as two doubleheaders. In the first doubleheader, Olympique Lyonnais faced off against FC Barcelona in an all-European clash (Olympique Lyonnais 3, FC Barcelona 2) and the Portland Thorns played against the Houston Dash in an all-American battle (Portland Thorns 2 (3), Houston Dash 2 (1)). This set up a Portland Thorns vs Olympique Lyonnais final on August 21, as the winners of the first doubleheader meet, while Houston Dash and FC Barcelona will play in the third-place match on the same day.
FC Barcelona
There has been no women’s team in Europe as dominant this season as FC Barcelona, which steamrolled the competition in Spain and the UEFA Women’s Champions League as it prepares for a summer visit to the United States.
The Catalan side rattled off 26 consecutive victories, outscoring opponents 128-5, on the way to its second consecutive Primera Iberdrola title. Overshadowed in recent years by the dominance of French powerhouse Olympique Lyonnais, FC Barcelona staked its claim as the new queens of Europe after demolishing Chelsea to win its first Champions League title.
Led by a high-powered attack that includes Lieke Martens, Jennifer Hermoso, Alexia Putellas and Asisat Oshoala, FC Barcelona has assembled one of the most entertaining teams in the game, and one that should be a leading contender to add a Women’s International Champions Cup to its other trophies in 2021.
PLAYER PROFILES
Olympique Lyonnais
The most successful women’s club soccer team in history, Olympique Lyonnais, will make its triumphant return to the United States this summer, and will bring with it an unmatched resume and star-studded squad.
Olympique Lyonnais saw its run of five consecutive UEFA Women’s Champions League titles come to an end, but that hasn’t changed their standing as women’s club soccer’s gold standard. The French giants will compete in the Women’s International Champions Cup aiming to win the same competition it won in 2019 when they defeated the North Carolina Courage in the tournament final in North Carolina.
Olympique Lyonnais is one of four champions competing in the 2021 edition of the Women’s International Champions Cup, and the champion with the most impressive trophy case. They have won seven Champions League titles, 14 French League titles and nine French League crowns, and the present-day squad is once again one of the best in the world.
PLAYER PROFILES
Portland Thorns
No team in American women’s soccer has the history that the Portland Thorns can boast, and that was the case even before the NWSL powerhouse swept up the two most recent trophies up for grabs.
The Thorns recently added the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup to its list of accolades, following up the Fall Series title and Community Shield that came with it. They will look to add to that trophy case when they compete in the Women’s International Champions Cup this summer.
The 2021 Thorns are even stronger than last year’s squad, with Crystal Dunn among the upgrades to a roster that already boasted Canadian legend Christine Sinclair and U.S. Women’s National Team standouts Lindsey Horan and Becky Sauerbrunn.
PLAYER PROFILES
Houston Dash
In 2020, the Houston Dash leveled up in a big way.
The team had never qualified for the NWSL Championship playoffs, but overcame that and more by winning the inaugural NWSL Challenge Cup last summer in style. They defeated the Chicago Red Stars in the final for one of the great underdog stories in American soccer history.
Now, the Dash are looking to maintain their reputation and add a second piece of silverware to the trophy cabinet.
A disappointing third-place showing in the 2021 Challenge Cup group stage factors the team out of defending the title, so it will be more than motivated to rise to the occasion in the Women’s ICC tournament and show that it can go toe-to-toe with the best in the world.
In the knockout phase of last year's tournament, the Dash proved to be more than capable of prevailing in nervy games. They were rewarded with hardware, and it comes with a little territory to defend. The Women’s ICC tournament sets the stage to broadcast its staying power.
PLAYER PROFILES