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The Women’s Champions League will provide a €24m (£20.8m) cash boost to women’s teams across Europe as part of the competition’s revamp for next season, when VAR will be introduced.

Uefa has also agreed 23% of the €24m available via “solidarity payments” will go to clubs not taking part in the tournament but whose leagues are represented in the competition.

From next season the competition is being expanded to include a group stage for the first time which will have centralised sponsorship and media rights, with new commercial partners to be announced in the run-up to this season’s final in Gothenburg on 16 May. Uefa also confirmed VAR will be used from the group stage onwards “to further professionalise the competition”.

Teams playing in the new group stage will receive a minimum of €400,000, at least five times more than the amounts paid to teams reaching the equivalent stage – the round of 16 – in the current competition. The overall winners could receive up to €1.4m, depending on their results throughout the competition.

The European governing body has also introduced a rule which will allow teams to adjust their squad lists should a player become pregnant or be about to take or return from maternity leave. A “B-list” will also allow clubs to supplement squad lists with young players who meet certain criteria. A new homegrown rule is also to be introduced from the 2022-23 season.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/27/uefas-revamp-of-womens-champions-league-cash-boost-groups-and-var