Happy New Year! I hope you’ all had a wonderful winter holiday season. With 2026 just a few days old, I wanted to review some of the major competition starting (or restarting) in the early months of the new year.

What
The second half of the 2025/26 season of Mexico’s top division kicks off with the first match week.

When
Sunday, January 4th

The first match kicks off at noon eastern.

Where to Watch
Most matches are streamed live on the league’s YouTube channel. Many of the clubs will also stream their matches on their own channels.

For options that may require you to have a paid subscription of some kind, Fox One and Tubi also have matches available. Vix is a streaming service that will definitely have matches. I believe you can get a Vix add-on to Prime Video.

Point of Interest
This may be the last apertura/clausura split tournament for Liga MX Femenil. News came out in late December that the league was planning to run a single season with the clubs split into two groups.

What
FIFA’s new competition pitting the champions of each of the regional club competitions from the 2025 season. This includes:

Arsenal FC - winners of the 2024/25 UEFA Women’s Champions League
Gotham FC - winners of the 2024/25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup
Corinthians FC - winners of the 2025 CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores
AS FAR - winners of the 2025 CAF Women's Champions League
Wuhan Jiangda FC -winners of the 2024/25 AFC Women's Champions League
Auckland United FC - winners of the 2025 OFC Women's Champions League

Wuhan Jiangda and Auckland United have already been eliminated from the tournament. The remaining four teams are paired off to play in the semifinal round.

When
Semifinals: Wednesday, January 28th
Finals: Thursday, February 1st

Where to Watch
In early December, news came out that FIFA was struggling to sell the distribution rights to this competition. As far as I can tell, they remain unsold.

At this point, the best bet is that they will be shown on FIFA+. The two matches that were already played were shown (and can still be seen) on FIFA+, so that’s the best bet.

Point of Interest
FIFA is planning a Women’s Club World Cup, similar to the men’s competition that took part in the US in the summer of 2025. It was initially announced to take place in 2026; however, after receiving feedback from various stakeholders, FIFA decided to postpone the inaugural women’s competition until 2028. In the interim years, this Champions Cup style of tournament will be held.

Most of the major leagues in Europe return to action in January, including the WSL (which can be watched via WatchESPN), the Frauen Bundesliga, the Premiere Ligue in France and Serie A Femminile in Italy (all of which are on DAZN).

In Asia, the Australian Women’s A-League is in action. This can be watched on WatchESPN as well.

What
UEFA’s premier club competition returns with the knockout phase playoffs. The teams that win in this knockout phase will progress to the quarterfinal round. The bracket to the final looks as follows:

When
Knockout Phase Playoff Leg 1: Thursday, February 12th
Knockout Phase Playoff Leg 2: Thursday, February 19th

Where to Watch
For those you in the United States, you can watch all of the matches via CBS Sports/Paramount+.

Point of Interest
The Champions League is one of the best competitions in the world and pits some of the best teams in Europe against each other. It’s just plain old fun.

What
2026 will be the year for the bulk of matches to determine who will qualify for the Women’s World Cup in 2027. In all regions (except Europe), some element of qualifying as already kicked off. I wrote a primer on the qualifying process a few weeks back.

The first region to kick off their qualifying matches in 2026 is Oceania.

When
Thursday, February 26th*

*Kickoffs are at 11am on Feb. 27th local time, but that will be on the 26th in the US (8pm eastern).

Where to Watch
The earlier qualifiers were shown on FIFA+, so I would expect the same pattern to follow for these matches.

Point of Interest
Watch the matches that don’t involve New Zealand. Watch the players celebrate when they score. That’s what it’s all about.

What
The second half of the 2025/26 season of Mexico’s top division kicks off with the first match week.

When
TBD, late February

The schedule for the 2026 season has not been released yet. In 2025, the league kicked off in late February, and I would expect that to be the same in 2026.

Where to Watch
Matches are streamed on the WinSports YouTube channel.

Point of Interest
This may be the last apertura/clausura split tournament for Liga MX Femenil. News came out in late December that the league was planning to run a single season with the clubs split into two groups.

A number of league kick off in March, include NWSL. This is also when the top leagues in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador typically kick off. At the international level, the Women’s Asian Cup and Women’s African Cup of Nations both take part in March. Along with being their respective confederations major tournaments, both competitions will also serve as qualification tournaments for the Women’s World Cup.

There is a lot to look forward to in the first months of 2026, and I look forward to writing about it.