Cat Macario’s future & what will the UWCL knockout rounds bring?
Full Time: A show about women's soccer
The Athletic
4.8 • 807 Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Cat Macario has been left off Chelsea’s squad list for the UEFA Women’s Champions League knockout rounds. So, what does this say about the future of the U.S. women’s national team forward and her Chelsea contract that will expire in the summer?
On this episode of Full Time, hosts Jillian Sakovits and Tamerra Griffin break down Macario’s ongoing absence from the Chelsea squad and what it means for head coach Sonia Bompastor to get a new contract through June 2030. Alongside Producer Theo, the trio also get into Arsenal snapping Manchester City’s 13-match winning run and a surprise appearance by pop music legend Madonna at Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea.
After that, it’s time to talk European continental club soccer as the UEFA Women’s Champions League returns this week with the first-ever playoff knockout rounds. Who are the players to watch, and what excites us most about the tournament’s return?
_______________
HOSTS: Jillian Sakovits, Tamerra Griffin
PRODUCER: Theo Lloyd-Hughes
VIDEO PRODUCER: Lia Griffin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Olsen
_______________
Referenced on the show:
Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor agrees contract extension to 2030
Arsenal’s Olivia Smith and the surprise new role that helped beat WSL leaders Man City
Wasteful, disjointed, beatable: What’s to blame for Chelsea’s back-to-back defeats?
How far away are Tottenham from catching up with the WSL’s elite?
Chelsea part ways with head of women’s football Paul Green
Madonna, soccer mom: Why the Queen of Pop was watching Tottenham’s Under-14 girls’ team
_______________
Get in touch: fulltime@theathletic.com
Follow on Instagram and TikTok: @tafulltime
Subscribe to our Youtube channel: here
Subscribe to the Full Time newsletter here
Visit the Yahoo Women's Sports hub here
Take The Athletic's 2026 Listener Survey here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Everyone has something to prove, whether it's give us some more respect in our domestic league or definitely give us some more respect in Champions League. |
| 0:10.6 | I think each of these games, except maybe OH-H-Luven and Arsenal is going to be super tight. |
| 0:17.0 | I love that we're sort of returning to the home and away leg to sort of increase the tension between those two things. |
| 0:22.8 | So I think I'm excited about and wanting to will high levels of drama for each of these fixtures. |
| 0:34.2 | Hello and welcome to full time. |
| 0:39.6 | The UEFA Women's Champions League is back this week, so we're going to be getting into all that, the biggest questions, the top players, and the narratives as the first knockout round gets underway. |
| 0:49.8 | But that's not it on today's show. |
| 0:51.8 | We'll also be discussing the latest on Kat Macario's future at Chelsea, Sonia Bonepastor's new contract. That's not it on today's show. We'll also be discussing the latest on Kat Mikario's future at Chelsea, |
| 0:55.8 | Sonia Bonepastor's new contract. |
| 0:58.1 | That's right, with the Blues. |
| 0:59.4 | And what does it mean for Arsenal to beat the WSL Champions elect Manchester City? |
| 1:04.8 | We'll be getting into that and so much more alongside my girl, Tamara Griffin. |
| 1:08.9 | But the most important thing, I'm not bearing the lead here, |
| 1:12.3 | is it is Super Bowl Monday, aka Bad Bunny Monday. How are we feeling? Jill, I feel like I'm still |
| 1:19.8 | floating a bit. And it's so funny because above the sugar canes. Above the sugar canes. Yes. |
| 1:26.2 | Like being from the Bay Area, growing up in Northern California, having lived in New York, having visited Puerto Rico, I was actually in Puerto Rico when Bad Bunny's album came out, which also felt really special. And it obviously, given where we are right now as a country, there was, |
| 1:45.4 | it was such a bomb, a bad bunny bomb, that concert. And I have not been logged in at all to the |
| 1:54.2 | NFL this season. When I saw the two teams that were playing, I was just like, good for y'all. |
| 1:58.2 | I have no idea how you got here, but love it for you. And so I was all in on the concert, and it just delivered. I, like, the sets, the choreography, the costume design, the cameos, the Easter eggs, which people are still unpacking. I feel like now we're in this age where there's, like, the Super Bowl halftime show on the Sunday. And then from Sunday night, like through |
| 2:17.8 | Monday at least, it's just like, oh, did you catch this reference? Did you see this symbolism? Did you notice that theme? Which is like the space that I'm in right now. And I'm just, I'm just loving it. How was it for you? Because you've already watched it since the original live show. So like logging on to record this episode, I rewatched it on YouTube because I was like, okay, I got to, you know, I got to be prepared. |
| 2:37.1 | I think when you're watching it, you're so, well, one, this was like a moving set the entire time. So that in its own way is highly overstimulating. And I mean that in like the best way. So I was just like, in trance with like, what is happening? Where is he now? Oh, cool, a bodega. Oh my gosh, colors. Yes. Oh, are those, is that really a wedding? Oh, my God. They seem kind of like they're really getting married. Yeah. So I was just like, blah, blah, blah. So by the, so today when I woke up, I rewatched it. And I have to say, it makes you like a little bit emotional because it's |
| 3:07.5 | just so well done and it's so happy and it's so vibrant. And who doesn't want to watch that |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Athletic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Athletic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

