Häcken v Chelsea Women team news: Girma, James
Chelsea Women face BK Häcken in the UEFA Women's Champions League league phase on Tuesday 10 November 2026, with kick-off at 18:45 WAT (17:45 GMT) in Gothenburg. Head coach Sonia Bompastor told Chelsea's official website that Naomi Girma and Lauren James were not part of the travelling squad, and that all the other players are fit and available.
By Emily · · Updated
When is Häcken v Chelsea Women?
Chelsea Women play BK Häcken in the UEFA Women's Champions League league phase on Tuesday 10 November 2026, with kick-off at 18:45 WAT (17:45 GMT). Chelsea's official preview lists the venue as Hisingen Arena in Gothenburg, with kick-off at 5.45pm UK time (6.45pm local). BBC Sport's fixture page and BK Häcken's match-day note both name the same ground as Nordic Wellness Arena, the current title of the stadium previously known as Bravida Arena.
The match had not kicked off when this page was filed. BK Häcken's official match centre for the fixture still showed starting elevens as not available and had not posted live match statistics.
Chelsea team news: who is missing?
Sonia Bompastor told Chelsea's official website that Naomi Girma and Lauren James were not part of the travelling squad. "All the other players are fit and available," she said, in the club's team-news article published before the trip to Gothenburg.
The fixture comes after a 1-1 Women's Super League draw with Everton on Saturday. Chelsea's official team-news article said Sandy Baltimore put the side in front with a header and that an own goal from Lucy Bronze levelled the scores. Bompastor, quoted in that same article, said Chelsea had 65 per cent possession and fired 20 shots, and that she was frustrated not to take all three points. "Dropping two points at home is never good, but it happens," she said. "The good thing with a quick turnaround is you analyse the game and give the players feedback, but you also need to move on."
Bompastor also pointed to Chelsea's start in the league phase. The club article said Chelsea had not conceded in their opening three league-phase matches and were in the top four. "That’s the goal: we want to be in the top four and stay there," she said. "Staying strong defensively, not conceding too much and keeping a clean sheet would be a good thing."
Chelsea's official how-to-watch preview set out the three results behind that record: a 1-0 win over Austria Vienna and a 2-0 win over Roma at Plough Lane, either side of a goalless draw away at Lyon. The same preview said Chelsea were looking for a first away win of the campaign, and that the run had extended a record-breaking unbeaten streak in league-phase and group-stage fixtures to 27 games. Our earlier report on Chelsea Women's 2-0 win over Roma covers that Plough Lane result in more detail.
What is Häcken's form, and where does Joy Omewa fit?
Chelsea's official team-news article said Häcken were crowned Swedish champions for the second year running last week and won the inaugural Women's Europa Cup last season. The how-to-watch preview added that they had lost just once in 25 league games. Their Champions League campaign has been harder: defeats to Inter and Juventus, then a 1-1 draw away at Paris FC, secured by a 93rd-minute equaliser, according to the same Chelsea articles.
Bompastor warned that those European results had not necessarily reflected Häcken's performances. "They have strengths and threats, especially in the attacking line, with speed and pace," she told Chelsea's official website. "So we will have to be really careful in the transitional moments of the game." BBC Sport's league-phase table, last updated 1 November, listed Chelsea fourth on seven points, with three goals scored and none conceded, and Häcken 16th on one point, with one goal scored and five conceded.
Nigerian striker Joy Omewa is at Häcken for this fixture. In an interview published on 9 November by BK Häcken's official website, the 23-year-old, who said she grew up in Lagos, described the meeting as special. In the English version later carried by AllNigeriaSoccer, she said: "Being in the Champions League is really cool. I'm so happy to be playing against Chelsea. I was a big Chelsea fan growing up so it's a dream to face them. It will be a special match for me."
The same Häcken interview said Omewa joined the club in July 2026 after a spell in Nottingham, and that she had previously played in Denmark. She also told the club website that she made her senior Nigeria debut against Benin last year, and that she had already been part of Häcken's Swedish title. BK Häcken's match centre listed her in the squad grouping but said the starting eleven was not available yet, so this page does not place her in a starting side.
Have these sides met before?
Chelsea's official preview said the club were unbeaten in two previous meetings with Häcken, both in the group stage of the 2023/24 Women's Champions League: a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge, followed six days later by a 3-1 win in Gothenburg, with a goal from Sam Kerr and an Erin Cuthbert brace. BBC Sport's head-to-head listing records the same scores: Chelsea 0-0 Häcken on 14 December 2023, and Häcken 1-3 Chelsea on 20 December 2023.
TuSport desk: a Lagos childhood fan in Gothenburg
The hook Nigerian readers do not get from a standard Chelsea preview is Joy Omewa. On 9 November, the day before this fixture, BK Häcken's official website published an interview in which the 23-year-old, Lagos-born striker called facing Chelsea a dream because she supported the club growing up. AllNigeriaSoccer carried an English version of those remarks the next day. That is a Super Falcons thread inside a Gothenburg league-phase night, not a decorative nationality tag.
The timetable also matters in WAT. Kick-off is 18:45 in Lagos and Abuja, while another UEFA Women's Champions League league-phase match, Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich, is listed by BBC Sport at 20:00 GMT (21:00 WAT). Readers who followed our earlier report on Rasheedat Ajibade and PSG in this competition have a second European window the same evening. This page does not treat that older report as fresh injury news.
The table is tight in a different way from a knockout tie. BBC Sport's league-phase table, last updated 1 November, has Chelsea fourth on seven points with three goals scored and none conceded, inside the automatic quarter-final places, and Häcken 16th on one point. Chelsea's official preview said the side were still looking for a first away win of this league phase after the goalless draw at Lyon, even as a 27-game unbeaten run in league-phase and group-stage fixtures was still intact. Häcken, newly crowned Swedish champions and last season's Women's Europa Cup winners, have the domestic record; their European results are the open question Bompastor herself flagged. None of that is a result. The match had not kicked off when this page was filed.
Why it matters
Chelsea Women go to Gothenburg at 18:45 WAT on Tuesday 10 November 2026 without Naomi Girma and Lauren James, while Nigerian striker Joy Omewa has called the night a childhood-club dream in a BK Häcken interview. Follow the Chelsea hub and the WAT kick-off times guide. Read our earlier reports on Chelsea Women's win over Roma in this league phase and on Rasheedat Ajibade and PSG in the Women's Champions League.
Who will win?
BK Häcken Women v Chelsea Women · Tue 10 Nov, 18:45 WAT · Hisingen Arena / Nordic Wellness Arena, Gothenburg
One vote per reader. Results show after you vote.
Sources: Chelsea FC — Bompastor on latest team news and needing to be at our best against Hacken · Chelsea FC — Chelsea Women vs Hacken: How to watch, TV channel, kick-off time, date · BBC Sport — Häcken v Chelsea · BK Häcken official — Europaspecial: Lär känna Joy Omewa · AllNigeriaSoccer — 'It's a dream' - Super Falcons forward excited to face favourite childhood club Chelsea in UWCL · BK Häcken official — Chelsea FC kommer till Göteborg – detta händer på Nordic Wellness Arena
