Portland Thorns FC to host Lyon, FC Barcelona for summer tournament

Steven Goff of the Washington Post reported today that Olympique Lyonnais and FC Barcelona will travel to Portland this summer for a tournament hosted by Portland Thorns FC. The current champions of the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, Houston Dash, will also partake.

The tournament will be held at Providence Park from Aug. 18-21. Because of health and safety restrictions, the number of fans allowed at this tournament has yet to be determined.

A formal announcement of the tournament is expected this spring.

This tournament would pit four titleholders against each other as the women’s game continues to push for an official global championship.

Olympique Lyonnais are the current holders of the UEFA Women’s Champions League title (fifth consecutive, seventh total), Division 1 Feminine title (14th consecutive, 14th total), and the Coupe de France Feminine title (ninth total). Lyon have a 0-1 aggregate advantage over French rivals Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The teams are fighting for a spot in the semifinals where they would meet FC Barcelona.

FC Barcelona Femeni are the current champions of Spain and are sure to win the league again this year. It would be their sixth league title and would give them sole possession of the record for most Spanish titles (Athletic Club also has five). Barcelona have not been able to put it all together in the Champions League yet. In 2019, they advanced to the final but were thrashed by Lyon. The following year, Barcelona were dumped out of the semifinals against Wolfsburg. But this season they have to be one of the favorites to win the competition and have advanced to the semifinals after defeating Manchester City 4-2 on aggregate.

The Women’s International Champions Cup will take place the same days as was planned for the four-team tournament in Louisville. This tournament includes Racing Louisville FC, Chicago Red Stars and two European teams yet to be named.