After joining Chelsea in the summer of 2024, Bompastor won a domestic Treble in her first campaign in charge, and this season retained the Women’s League Cup, qualified for next season’s Women’s Champions League with a third-place finish and has reached the Women’s FA Cup semi-final.

While the Blues have been ahead of the curve in the women’s game, other teams have begun to close the gap, prompting an honest assessment of where we can identify areas for growth.

‘I think if you reflect in terms of results, for sure, we have been so used to winning so many games, trophies, and titles,’ said Bompastor. ‘But this season we couldn't achieve as much as we did previously.

‘We have already started a lot of reflections within the club to make sure we are in a better place for next season. We knew we were coming into a transitional period since I joined the club.

‘The first season was really successful for us. This season, in terms of success, it was more difficult, but both seasons have been transitional seasons for the club.

‘The competition is becoming bigger and bigger. I think in terms of the gap between Chelsea and the other teams in England, but also in Europe. More teams are now able to invest in the women's game, to invest in their team, to invest in players to be able to compete against Chelsea.

‘Chelsea have been a club who have been showing the pathway. Right now, most of the clubs are catching up and making sure they can compete against us. So, it’s for us as a club to have a vision around, ‘okay, how can we maintain the success in the long term at a club like Chelsea?’ That's the question we need to ask ourselves.’

New rules state that our qualification for the Champions League next season means we will not feature in the League Cup in 2026/27.

Bompastor explained how the club will focus on ensuring we have all the right tools to perform at the highest level in an increasingly competitive WSL next season, as well as in Europe.

‘We have been competing in four competitions, and going into next season, there will be three competitions,’ she continued. ‘You build a squad to have the depth to compete in every competition, because when you have this level of quality in the team, you have a lot of international players, and they play many games in the season.

‘I’ve said this before, but when you come here, you can see the difference between this league and all the other leagues in Europe. When I was at Lyon, 80 per cent of the games, we could play at 60 per cent, and it was enough for us to win.

‘I could play some of the games with players coming from the academy and still win games. That's not the case here. Here, you have to compete in every league game because every match brings you a challenge in different ways.

‘Sometimes it's a physical challenge. Sometimes it's a tough game because they are big clubs. Sometimes it's a tactical challenge. You need to make sure you are ready for every game. There is no space for you to drop a little bit because when you do that, you lose or you drop points.

‘Our job is to reflect and to make sure we make the right decisions for the future.’