14 August 2001 - UEFA Opens The Door For The Women

On 14 August 2001, Moldova's FC Codru Chişinău hosted the first-ever UEFA Women's Cup match, the opening leg of a qualifying tie against Solvenia's NK Ilirija. Codru won 9-0.

UEFA established the Women's Cup in 2001 in response to the growing interest in women's football across Europe. It remains the only major European women's club competition and in 2010 was rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League, to better parallel the equivalent men's tournament. Teams qualify for the Women's Champions League by winning their domestic league (or, for countries without a league, by winning their domestic cup competition).
Codru Chişinău and Ilirija were the only two teams that needed to qualify for the 2001-02 tournament, with the winner on aggregate advancing directly to the group stage. Codru left little doubt as to the winner of the tie, quickly taking a lead with a goal from Gabriela Enache in the 2nd minute. Enache finished as the day's top scorer with three more goals (23', 36' (pen), 72'). Codru's other goals were scored by Svetlana Frisko (14', 90'), Angela Toma (26'), Marianna Berinczan (66'), and Jozefina Deliu (77').

The 9-0 lead effectively ended the tie, but Codru also won the second leg 9-0, with six goals from Enache. They won their first group stage match, against Armenia's College Sports Club, by an identical score, but their dominance ended there, as they were eliminated in the group stage with losses to Levante and eventual champions Frankfurt.

23 May 2002 - There's A Reason It's Called A Home Advantage

On 23 May 2002, Frankfurt hosted and won the first UEFA Women's Cup Final, beating Umeå 2-0.

Although UEFA first held a tournament for women's international teams in 1969, and has organized a regular European championship since 1982, the 2001-02 Women's Cup was its first club competition for its distaff members. Including a single-match qualifying round, a total of 33 teams participated.

Both Frankfurt and Umeå impressed in the early rounds, winning their groups without a loss and setting goal differentials of +24 and +10, respectively (Frankfurt's differential was reached primarily in a single game when they beat CSC Yerevan 18-0 in their final match of the group).

They both made their way through the knockout rounds to reach the final, played at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt. There, a crowd of just over 12,000 gathered to watch a closely-fought match that remained scoreless deep into the second half.

Then, in the 68th minute, defender Steffi Jones, a German international and Frankfurt native, scored the opening goal to put the hosts in front. The defenses for both sides continued to dominate for the remaining minutes before midfielder and captain Birgit Prinz (pictured) added a second for the home team in the 89th minute to set the final margin at 2-0.

The two teams met twice more in the tournament final, with Umeå winning in 2004 and Frankfurt winning in 2008.

14 August 2001 - UEFA Opens The Door For The Women

On 14 August 2001, Moldova's FC Codru Chişinău hosted the first-ever UEFA Women's Cup match, the opening leg of a qualifying tie against Solvenia's NK Ilirija. Codru won 9-0.

UEFA established the Women's Cup in 2001 in response to the growing interest in women's football across Europe. It remains the only major European women's club competition and in 2010 was rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League, to better parallel the equivalent men's tournament. Teams qualify for the Women's Champions League by winning their domestic league (or, for countries without a league, by winning their domestic cup competition).

Codru Chişinău and Ilirija were the only two teams that needed to qualify for the 2001-02 tournament, with the winner on aggregate advancing directly to the group stage. Codru left little doubt as to the winner of the tie, quickly taking a lead with a goal from Gabriela Enache in the 2nd minute. Enache finished as the day's top scorer with three more goals (23', 36' (pen), 72'). Codru's other goals were scored by Svetlana Frisko (14', 90'), Angela Toma (26'), Marianna Berinczan (66'), and Jozefina Deliu (77').

The 9-0 lead effectively ended the tie, but Codru also won the second leg 9-0, with six goals from Enache. They won their first group stage match, against Armenia's College Sports Club, by an identical score, but their dominance ended there, as they were eliminated in the group stage with losses to Levante and eventual champions Frankfurt.