PARIS (AP) — Tiny Danish club HB Køge must find a way to stop Barcelona's attacking power when it hosts the defending champion in the Women’s Champions League on Thursday.
Køge plays its home games on artificial turf, and its players took confidence from a 5-1 win over Swiss champion Servette. But last-place Servette has already conceded 13 goals in two games in the competition, so facing four-time champion Barcelona is a different level again for Køge in terms of difficulty.
Barca routed eight-time champion OL Lyonnes 4-0 in last year's final for a third European crown in four seasons and is vying for a seventh straight final appearance. Barca has netted 11 goals in two games with free-scoring winger Caroline Graham Hansen leading the competition with three goals. The Norway international also has three assists. Furthermore, the past six women's ballon d'Or awards have been evenly split by Barca players Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, who won it for the third time on Monday.
“Believe in yourself, that's the most important thing,” said Putellas, who played for Barca last season before joining London Lionesses. “If you have a dream, go for it.”
Père Romeu won coach of the year after guiding Barca to a domestic treble as well as the European title.
The coastal town sits on the Bay of Køge some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Copenhagen, and has a population of around 40,000.
A sea battle took place there against a Swedish fleet in 1710 and in 1807 Danish militia fought British troops led by Arthur Wellesley — later known as the Duke of Wellington. The Battle of Køge went down in folklore as Træskoslaget (the Clogs Battle).
After drawing with Real Madrid in the previous round, Manchester City is hosting Paris Saint-Germain.
City won a domestic league and cup double last season and is chasing a first women's Champions League title. So is PSG, which routed Belgian club OH Leuven 5-0 in the last round, with France forward Naomie Feller scoring twice.
Earlier this month, PSG won 4-2 away to City in a men’s Champions League contest featuring current and former champions. City is fighting a damning verdict into inflated revenue of more than 900 million pounds ($1.19 billion), but the women’s team is not implicated.
A rarity in the competition saw OL Lyonnes held to a scoreless draw by Chelsea three weeks ago.
Coach Jonatan Giráldez's Lyon side hosts Inter Milan on Wednesday. Inter has only scored twice so far and needed a goal from captain Ivana Andres Sanz with seconds left to salvage a draw at Austria Vienna.
Benfica defender Marit Bratberg Lund is aiming for her third goal of the competition when the Portuguese club travels to 2025 champion Arsena l on Wednesday.
Real Madrid has made a sluggish start with two draws and has a challenging match at Bayern Munich, touted as one of the pre-tournament favorites.
After blanking Lyon, 2021 runner-up Chelsea takes on Italian club Roma on Wednesday. Roma's confidence will be low after being crushed 6-0 by Barca and held goalless by Belgian side OH Leuven.
Servette needs a morale-boosting win on Wednesday when it hosts Leuven.
In Thursday's other matches, Paris FC hosts Häcken at Stade Charlety and Juventus goes to Vienna.
The competition has six match days, with the top four teams advancing to the quarterfinals and those finishing between fifth and 12th entering knockout-phase playoffs.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
FILE - FC Barcelona's Caroline Graham Hansen attends a press conference in Oslo, Friday May 22, 2026, ahead of the Women's Champions League soccer final between Barcelona and Lyon on Saturday. (Piroschka Van De Wouw/Pool via AP, file)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country is embroiled in unresolved wars, still reeling from Hamas' 2023 attack and deeply divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing off against an array of parties seeking to oust the longtime leader from power. Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot. Over 7 million people are eligible to vote.
In Israel's fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won an outright parliamentary majority, so political leaders must forge coalitions.
There is a chance that neither Netanyahu's religious and ultranationalist coalition nor the group of parties looking to remove him has enough support to win a parliamentary majority. That could set off weeks of negotiations before a leader is declared.
Israel's Arab-led parties, who are pushing for heavy turnout, could emerge as kingmakers if they agree to support one candidate over the other — and if other parties agree to join forces with them.
Already, some emotions were high as polls opened. In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu stronghold near the border with Lebanon, one man kicked and tore down a poster of Eisenkot.
Hanging over the election are lingering tensions with Iran. Netanyahu ramped up threats against the country ahead of the vote. He appeared in a video this week standing beside a missile-defense battery and warned Tehran it would face “a devastating blow” if it attacked Israel.
The election is Israel's first national vote since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza and related conflicts across the region. In Tel Aviv, families of some of those killed on Oct. 7 or former hostages held a moment of silence before polls opened. “Remember all those whose voices are no more,” said Yona Adam, whose daughter Mapal Adam was killed.
Around 330,000 young Israelis, many facing compulsory military service under the shadow of war, are eligible to vote for the first time.
The vote serves not only as a referendum on Netanyahu's lengthy leadership but also on what kind of country Israel should be — heavily influenced by religious and nationalist forces, or more firmly anchored in liberal and secular values. Tens of thousands of voters living overseas reportedly flew to Israel to vote.
At stake is the fate of a country whose policies and leadership are being sharply criticized by its traditional allies. Since the 2023 attack, Israel has found itself increasingly isolated over its conduct in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank, where violence by Jewish settlers has intensified. Public support among Americans has plummeted and stalwart partners in Europe and elsewhere have slapped sanctions on Israel in recent months.
For Israelis, the election presents a chance at charting the country's course after Netanyahu's latest, and especially turbulent, four-year term.
Netanyahu's supporters see him as a steady hand and a consummate statesman who they believe has triumphantly guided Israel through multiple wars. They think he is protecting Israel’s Jewish identity while keeping in check what they see as an interventionist judiciary.
His Israeli detractors see him as a polarizing leader who, beset by an ongoing corruption trial, dragged on the war in Gaza and its hostage crisis for political reasons. They say he is undermining Israel's independent judiciary and weakening its democratic underpinnings. And they accuse him of abetting a system that has allowed ultra-Orthodox religious Jews to avoid enlistment in Israel's compulsory military.
Eisenkot is viewed by supporters as a capable leader with sterling security credentials who, along with his likely governing partners, could act as a bulwark against creeping illiberalism. As someone personally touched by the conflict — his son and two nephews were killed in Gaza — his backers believe that he feels deeply the pain that still courses through Israel three years after the attacks.
Parties that would likely throw their support behind Eisenkot have vowed to improve Israel's international standing and work to conscript ultra-Orthodox men while bolstering the independence of the judiciary.
A Palestinian citizen of Israel votes for Israel's general election at a polling station in Maghar, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Voters arrive to cast their ballots in Israel's general election, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Voters line up before a polling site opens to cast their ballots in Israel's general election, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar ("Straight") party, visits a polling station in Ofakim, southern Israel, during the country's general election Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A pigeon flies past a Likud Party campaign billboard featuring U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a Hebrew message reading, "We have one opportunity to win," in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A demonstrator picks up an Israeli flag surrounded by photos of victims of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack during an anti-government protest ahead of Israel's general election, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, gestures to supporters as security personnel surround him during a campaign appearance at a market in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, ahead of the country's general election. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar ("Straight") party, waves an Israeli flag after speaking at a campaign rally ahead of the country's general election, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A pedestrian passes a campaign billboard featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and his main rival, opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot, with a message in Hebrew that reads "The race is tight," Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
