It’s 7:00 pm on an October evening in Oslo, and Vålerenga supporters have taken their seats in the stadium to watch their team face Wolfsburg. Blue and red flags flutter in the air as fans gather in the stands to make as much noise as possible.
When the players take the field for warm-ups, the supporters’ chants and the club anthem, Vålerenga Kerke, ring out in the stadium. Known as Østblokka, this group of devoted supporters understands the impact a passionate and coordinated community can have on a match.
The scene was almost the same for all of Vålerenga’s UEFA Women’s Champions League matches this year, both at home and away. For the last match against Bayern Munich, this small but powerful group of supporters did not go unnoticed, despite traveling 1500 km to Germany. At the end of the match, the team came to thank them, a group united by love for their growing club.
While Norway will host the UEFA Women’s Champions League final on Saturday, May 23, Norwegian supporters are not the only ones engaged in football fan communities.
Across Europe, different groups have naturally formed around women’s football. The way the sport brings people together is evident: whole junior football teams attend matches together, friend groups wear matching custom clothing, and families unite to share the matchday experience.
Establishing visiting supporters’ bases
During the 2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League final in Lisbon, the sense of community brought by the match in the city was undeniable. Supporters donning their team colors were everywhere, creating the atmosphere of a giant open-air festival.
In Lisbon’s famous “Pink Street,” Arsenal fans sang under the sun, while FC Barcelona jerseys and faces painted in red and blue gathered by the waterfront. Supporters of both teams mingled, and people who had never met before became friends around a common passion: their favorite club.
The influx of Barcelona supporters was particularly unsurprising. Regularly in the Women’s Champions League finals in recent years, Barcelona supporter groups know how to make their voices heard wherever they are.
“Catalonia’s Almogàvers,” a supporter group named after Catalan soldiers from the Middle Ages, has made it their mission in recent years to organize trips from Barcelona to final cities like Eindhoven, Bilbao, and Lisbon, while smaller Catalan supporter groups also organize group trips. The result is a base of passionate and loud supporters for the Blaugrana wherever they play, creating a vibrant and welcoming space for female team supporters who feel integrated.
Connected beyond borders
When it comes to mobilizing local support, Barcelona is a reference for women’s football, but there are many other ways for supporters to create connections with their favorite teams, even if they are not close geographically.
Kristin Schrumpf, a Bayern Munich supporter living in New Jersey (USA), is one of those supporters. While on a trip to London in 2015, where she attended a match in a pub with a group of Bayern Munich supporters, the idea of creating an international supporters group for the team emerged, giving birth to the Bayern Red Ladies.
“To form an official Bayern Munich supporters club, you need eleven members, and to reach that number, I had to sign up my mother, who had never seen a match in her life,” she explains. “And now, we have more than 300 members from about forty different countries.” The Red Ladies follow both the female and male teams and have members in countries as far as Mozambique, Cuba, and Pakistan, as well as throughout Europe and the USA.
“I heard about two women in Argentina who didn’t know each other and simply started talking about Bayern,” Schrumpf says. “One of them said, ‘I’m part of a group called the Red Ladies, you should join,’ and the other responded, ‘Incredible, I’m already a member of the Red Ladies!’ It’s great to see that two women in a country I’ve never been to are members of my club and have found each other.”
Having members worldwide means the Red Ladies group regularly organizes gatherings in different regions, crossing borders and time zones with virtual parties during match broadcasts. This sense of being united by a common passion, regardless of background or geographical location, permeates women’s football from top to bottom.
An inclusive game for everyone
Women’s football also benefits from strong support from the LGBTQ+ community.
It’s natural for a sport that features so many openly gay athletes. At the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO, it was estimated that over 70 LGBTQ+ community members played in the tournament. Thanks to this visibility, women’s football has earned a well-deserved reputation for being an inclusive sport.
Whether it’s supporters traveling by bus to an away match, fans living far from their team watching matches online with friends, or supporters in a bar with new friends watching a match, women’s football offers a truly welcoming and inclusive community for all.
“No matter if you saw your first match yesterday,” explains Schrumpf, “And I don’t care if you’ve been a supporter for decades. We are all here for the same purpose: to support this team. If you’re a Bayern supporter, you’re a Bayern supporter, period. Welcome. We welcome you with open arms.”
Buy the final’s program
Here is an adapted version of a document produced for the official program of the 2026 UEFA Women’s Champions League final. Click here to buy it.
