29th April 2007. As dawn broke over the South Mimms Premier Inn, the Arsenal Ladies headed down to breakfast, their last meal before the main event.  Over the buttered toast and small-pack cereal, the team tried their best to mentally prepare themselves for the most important 90 minutes of their careers.

‘Little bit nervous, seeing as it’s the biggest game of my career’ conceded Emma Byrne. ‘I’ve been up since half seven this morning just biting my nails, so yeah, nervous but anxious.’

‘I don’t usually get that nervous’ admitted Lianne Sanderson, ‘but I think today is just a different occasion. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.’

Jayne Ludlow, deputising as captain for Faye White, had joined Arsenal from Southampton Saints in 2000, and knew all too well the journey the team had gone on to get to this point, and the mantle of responsibility that now sat upon their shoulders.

‘We’ve been trying to get this far for the last six years. To actually get there now, there’s a big expectation from us. But the girls want to go out there and show people what we can do throughout Europe.’

Soon, the coaches arrived to whisk the team down the A1. Arsenal had offered Vic Akers’ side the opportunity to play the game at the newly opened Emirates Stadium. The offer was rejected. Home comforts, a smaller pitch, with the crowds closer in, Meadow Park was home to the team, where they would be in control. Emirates Stadium was too much of an unknown. Arsenal needed every variable, every marginal gain to go their way, if they were to finish the job and achieve The Impossible Dream. 

And so, whilst Emirates Stadium instead prepared to host the Arsenal Men’s London derby with Fulham, just under 3,500 fans squeezed themselves into Meadow Park. Some of them regulars, some of them new, all excited by the prospect of history being made. With no North Bank or West Stand to house them, fans instead stood en masse behind the goals, pushed against the railings, only inches away from the netting. Flags and banners were draped over the advertising boards, with everyone keen to show their support, hoping to cheer the players to footballing immortality.

As the coaches arrived and the players took the places in the dressing room, Vic Akers, the man who had been there since the start, described what this would mean for the club if they were to lift the UEFA Cup.

‘Girls have been marvellous all season. They deserve this type of credit and to come out here and play a final against the best women’s side in the world. This is the pinnacle, this is the Champions League of the women’s game, and obviously if we win that, we would have won every trophy. That’s a big, big plus for the club, and after 20 years, a great anniversary.’

The time of judgement had come at last. The players took to the field. Arsenal vs Umeå: Round 2. A blow of the referee’s whistle. Arsenal kicked off. The final match had begun.

After their success out in Sweden, Akers had chosen to stick with the same starting XI. For Umeå, manager Andree Jeglertz had made one alteration in attack, dropping Madeleine Edlund for Chinese striker Ma Xiaoxu. Despite their first leg loss, Umeå were still the favourites to turn the tie around and win a third European title. Yet it was Arsenal who could have led within the first 60 seconds, Katie Chapman contriving to head the ball wide after a good short corner routine between Karen Carney and Mary Phillip. Ludlow later had an opportunity of her own after dispossessing Xiaoxu, unleashing a trademark 25-yard strike that cleared the crossbar.

Umeå soon clicked into gear, the muscle memory of finals past getting them into their passing groove. The chance counter began to stack up, as Arsenal found themselves well and truly under the cosh. They were indebted to Ciara Grant’s defensive work, throwing her body on the line to deny Lise Klaveness and Hannah Ljungberg when both looked certain to score. And when it wasn’t Arsenal defenders getting in their way, Umeå were finding Emma Byrne once again in top form. A barnstorming run from Marta sliced through the Arsenal midfield. She laid the ball off to Dahlqvist, whose drive to the near post was well saved by the Irish shot-stopper.

Half time came at the perfect time, a chance for Arsenal to take stock and brace themselves for what was to come next. What was a 90-minute game had just become a 45-minute game. 45 minutes to hang on to their precious aggregate lead.

For Umeå, their hopes of a return to the top of European Football were being thwarted by the first-time finalists from North London. Everything had pointed towards this being their party. Instead, they were 45 minutes away from suffering the biggest upset in the short history of the competition.

As the second half minutes ticked down, Arsenal remained in control. Their intense defensive work had nullified the threat of Marta, and they were starting to pose further questions of the Umeå defence. Fleeting saw a volley fly over the bar, before Carney’s low cross was nearly turned into her own net by Johanna Frisk with Alex Scott waiting to pounce for her second goal of the tie.

But then, the tide turned. With 15 minutes left to play, Jeglertz turned to his bench, and replaced Xiaoxu with 16-year-old Swiss talent, Ramona Bachmann. The momentum of the game lurched violently away from Arsenal, as Umeå suddenly had their clearest chance of the final.

A long ball forward by Marta was flicked on by Bachmann and fellow substitute Edlund, and suddenly, Ljungberg was about to race clear of the defence. Anita Asante, in desperation, tried in vain to claw Ljungberg back, risking a red card in the process. Instead, Bachmann overtook the pair of them to storm into the box and go 1v1 with Emma Byrne. It all came down to this moment, the match, the tie, the hopes of every Arsenal player on the pitch and every fan in the stands. Meadow Park held its breath as Bachmann took the shot to her left. Emma Byrne focussed throughout, read her intentions, and dove to her right, palming the ball to safety.

Byrne may have saved Arsenal then, but Umeå were now running rampant. Marta was pulling the strings in the attack once again, and in Bachmann, Umeå felt they finally had the wrecking ball they needed to demolish the Arsenal wall. As the clock entered the final 10 minutes, a jinking run on the edge of the box from Bachmann opened room for another shot at goal. This time, her curling effort finally defeated Byrne, only for it to crash off the inside off the post, off Byrne’s face, and then miraculously, wide of the goal.

Arsenal were clinging on by their fingertips, their lead in the tie had never looked more fragile. Yet still they did their best to keep Umeå honest. Sanderson tried to end the contest with a strike from range after Carney had laid a free-kick off to her, but her effort whistled fractionally over the crossbar.

Minutes later, Umeå would have a free-kick of their own, and Marta was primed to take it. This was her time, her moment to save the tie. The best player in the world stepped forward and struck the ball. It had pace and venom, it flew over the wall, its trajectory flattened, it had Emma Byrne diving across in vain to reach it. The ball seemed destined for the top corner, but in its final few milliseconds, it refused to dip the required few inches. As Meadow Park held its breath for the second time that day, the ball cannoned off the crossbar, with Rachel Yankey alert to the rebound to volley it away to safety.

Umeå had shot their bolt, their resolve now truly broken. There would be no third title, no grand return. As the game passed 90 minutes, Vic Akers turned to his bench, and captain Faye White, for the final few minutes of this incredible European adventure, was at last able to return to the pitch and help see the story to its conclusion.

The final whistle drew pandemonium, joy, and disbelief to all four corners of Meadow Park. Against all the odds, against all expectations, in spite of the injuries and suspensions, Arsenal had done it. They had at last reached the summit of European Football. In shades of that 1994 Cup Winners Cup Final, the game that had Vic Akers dreaming that one day, his side would also play European Football, it had finished 1-0 to the Arsenal. The podium was laid out, the medals bestowed one by one. And then, the trophy was passed to Jayne Ludlow, who raised it aloft to tears of joy from the team and cheers from the crowd. Singing and dancing reverberated around the ground and long into the night. Arsenal were the Queens of Europe.

29th April 2007UEFA Cup FinalArsenal 0-0 Umeå IK pic.twitter.com/3FHwrHGURm

— The Arsenal Women Archive (@TheAWArchive) April 29, 2025