Wales edges Ireland to win hosting of 2029 Women's Champions League final

Welsh FA chief Noel Mooney. Pic: Charles McQuillan - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

Ireland has missed out on hosting the 2029 Women’s Champions League final, with Uefa awarding the privilege to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Parc Olympique Lyonnais in France and Basel's St Jakob-Park were the other two bidders for the 28th staging of the biggest club game in women's football.

A meeting of UEFA's executive committee on Tuesday confirmed a decision that has delighted the Welsh FA, including their Limerick-born chief executive, former Cork City and Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Noel Mooney.

The 51,000-capacity Lansdowne Road stadium staged the men's Europa League finals in 2011 and 2024. It has also been allocated seven matches at Euro 2028, including at least three Ireland matches, should the side qualify, either via next year’s regulation series or as one of the two co-hosts awarded access spots.

FAI CEO David Courell had declared Ireland’s prospective hosting as an opportunity for "generational change" in women's football across the country.

"Dublin would be the perfect host city for the 2029 Uefa Women's Champions League Final because of our track record of successfully hosting major UEFA events, the strong working relationship that we have with Government, Dublin City Council and Aviva Stadium, the growing popularity of women & girls' football around the country, and our ambition to deliver, what we believe, would be the best Final in the competition’s history.” 

Mooney, who previously worked for the FAI and Uefa, hailed the importance of the 74,000-seater Cardiff arena edging the contest.

“This is about much more than one night in 2029. Our ambition is for the Uefa Women’s Champions League Final to become a catalyst for the continued transformation of women’s and girls’ football in Wales.

“We want a young girl watching the best players in Europe at the National Stadium of Wales to see a place for herself in our game – whether that is as a player, coach, referee, volunteer, supporter or future leader.

Barcelona’s renovated Camp Nou has been selected over Wembley Stadium to host the 2029 Champions League final. The choice gives Barcelona a marquee game one year before Spain co-hosts the 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Morocco. Staging that final is a contest between Real Madrid’s renovated Santiago Bernabéu home and the 115,000-seat stadium being built in Casablanca.

UEFA’s executive committee also confirmed the 2028 Champions League final will return to Bayern Munich’s stadium, which was the only bidder, just three years after the 2025 edition.

The much-delayed rebuild of a 105,000-seat Camp Nou is ongoing with the upper tier and roof still under construction. Barcelona last hosted the Champions League final in 1999, when Manchester United’s two stoppage-time goals stunned a dominant Bayern team.

Wembley has hosted three times since then — in 2011, 2013 and 2024 — and eight times in total since the European Cup started 71 years ago.

This season’s Champions League final goes to Madrid at Atletico’s Metropolitano stadium.