Competition facts

Final ambassador: Monica Jorge

Date of birth: 09/06/1978
Nationality: Portuguese
Coaching career: Portugal

Talented in many sports, the UEFA Women's Champions League final ambassador Jorge was a champion weightlifter as well as excelling in athletics and football. Having coached at youth level, she joined the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) in 2000, working with age-group teams.

Jorge become the first female women's national coach of Portugal in 2007, leading them for more than 50 games. In 2012 she stepped down from the national team to become director of women's football for the FPF, the first female director in the body's 100-year history.

Competition history / facts

• At its meeting in Paris on 23 May 2000, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the proposal to introduce a European Women's club competition, and thus the UEFA Women's Cup for national league champions came into being.

• For 2009/10 the competition was relaunched as the UEFA Women's Champions League, also allowing entry to the runners-up from the eight top-ranked nations.

• In the first final on 23 May 2002, 1. FFC Frankfurt beat Umeå IK 2-0 with two Steffi Jones goals in the Waldstadion.

• Frankfurt were to pick up further wins in 2006 and 2008. Umeå triumphed in 2003 and 2004 and also lost the 2007 and 2008 finals. A second German team, 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, took the trophy in 2005. Arsenal LFC won in 2007.

• In 2009 two debutants reached the final, with another German club, FCR 2001 Duisburg, defeating Russia's Zvezda-2005 to emulate both Frankfurt and Potsdam in winning the trophy at their first attempt. Duisburg won the first leg in Russia 6-0 and drew their home leg 1-1 in front of a competition record 28,112 crowd at the MSV Arena.

• In 2009/10 the competition became the UEFA Women's Champions League, with the final be played as a one-off fixture in the same city as the men's UEFA Champions League final, two nights before.

•  Winners so far have been 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (2010 at Getafe CF), Olympique Lyonnais (2011 at Fulham FC, 2012 at Munich Olympiastadion) and VfL Wolfsburg (2013 at Chelsea FC).

Women's football in UEFA

• UEFA first became involved in women's football in 1971 when a motion was passed urging national associations to take responsibility for the female game in their countries.

• The first competitive fixture in a UEFA women's competition was played on 18 August 1982 in Vammala when Finland were beaten 6-0 by Sweden in the opening game of qualifying for the UEFA European Competition for Representative Women's Teams. Sweden were to win the final in 1984.

• For the 1991 edition the competition was relaunched as the UEFA Women's Championship.

• The final was played over two legs in 1984. Between 1987 and 1993 there was a four-team knockout final tournament, before a one-off final in 1995. In 1997, 2001 and 2005 there was an eight-team final tournament played every four years, expanded to 12 in 2009. The 2017 final tournament will include 16 teams.

• From 16 competitors in the 1984 edition, the 2013 tournament began with 45 entrants.

• Germany won in 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013. Other than Sweden in 1984, the only other winners were Norway in 1987 and 1993.

National youth teams

• The UEFA European Women's Under-18 Championship was launched in 1997/98 and has run annually ever since, altering to an U19 event in 2001/02. Germany have secured six wins (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2011) while other champions have been Denmark (1998), Sweden (1999 and 2012), France (2003, 2010 and 2013), Spain (2004), Russia (2005), Italy (2008) and England (2009). Norway will stage the 2014 finals this summer.

• In 2007/08 the first annual UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship was held. The first six final tournaments were four-team knockout competition in UEFA's home town of Nyon, Switzerland, with Germany winning three times (2008, 2009, 2012), Spain twice (2010, 2011) and Poland taking the title in 2013.

• For 2013/14 the final tournament bacome an eight-team event held by pre-selected hosts. England staged the first of those from 28 November to 8 December 2013, won for the fourth time by Germany. There is a revertion to summer dates for 2014/15 (Iceland) and 2015/16 (Belarus).

Women's football development programme (WFDP)

• At its meeting in Prague in December 2010, the UEFA Executive Committee noted the huge growth in the female game on this continent, in both registered players and participation. It agreed to support a new development programme over the period until 2016 via UEFA's HatTrick assistance scheme on behalf of the UEFA member national associations.

• The WDFP envisages expansion at all levels of the sport throughout Europe. The guidance, expertise, advice and resources accompanying the project are intended to give UEFA and its national FAs the chance to put ambitious visions into practice, as well as allowing the associations to advance in accordance with their respective needs.

•  In addition, Steffi Jones, the German women's football great, has been appointed as ambassador for the UEFA WFDP. In this newly created post, Jones will work closely with the governing body to further cultivate women's football across the continent.

• UEFA has drawn up a list of values to fit its overall vision of the female game. It pledges to lead the development of all aspects of girls and women's football as a key priority and will endeavour to act as a role model by concrete action and by bringing women into governing positions.

• The chairwoman of the UEFA Women's Football Committee, Karen Espelund, became a full member of the UEFA Executive Committee in the spring of 2012.