National Women's Soccer League


The National Women's Soccer League is a women's professional soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. The league comprises 14 teams. It is owned by the teams and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation. The NWSL is headquartered in New York City.
The NWSL was established in 2012 as the successor to Women's Professional Soccer, which was itself the successor to the Women's United Soccer Association. The league began play in 2013 with eight teams, four of which were former members of WPS.
Through the 2024 season, seven teams have been crowned NWSL Champions, awarded to the playoff winner, and six teams have claimed the NWSL Shield, awarded to the team in first place at the end of the regular season. The current NWSL champions are Gotham FC. The current NWSL Shield winners are the Kansas City Current.

Competition format

the NWSL regular season runs from March to November, after which the team with the highest point total is awarded the NWSL Shield. Each team is scheduled for 26 regular-season games, 13 home and 13 away; in 2026 this will become 30 games to accommodate the expanded 16-team league. This is followed by a playoff tournament culminating in the NWSL championship game in late November to crown the league champion. In 2024 a full quarterfinal round was introduced, so that the eight teams with the most points from the regular season qualify for the playoffs.
From 2021 to 2023, the playoffs included six teams, with the top two teams receiving byes to the semi-finals. Prior to 2021, the playoffs included only four teams. The number of regular-season matches also fluctuated between 20 and 24 in past seasons.
The league also plays the NWSL Challenge Cup, which since 2024 is a single-game super cup between the current NWSL Shield holder and current NWSL Champion. The Challenge Cup originated in 2020 as a way for all teams to return to play after the halt from the COVID-19 pandemic. It continued featuring all teams, occurring in 2021 and 2022 as a preseason tournament and in 2023 running concurrently with the season, until 2024.

CONCACAF W Champions Cup & International cups

Since the 2023 season, three teams qualify for the CONCACAF W Champions Cup. These spots are the playoff champions, the Shield winners, and Shield runners-up. Gotham FC won the inaugural 2024–25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup.
In 2024 NWSL teams also competed in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup. Kansas City Current won the tournament.

History

Founding

After Women's Professional Soccer officially folded in April 2012, the United States Soccer Federation announced a roundtable for discussion of the future of women's professional soccer in the United States. The meeting, which included representatives from US Soccer, WPS teams, the W-League, and the Women's Premier Soccer League, was held in June. By November, after much discussion, owners from the Chicago Red Stars, Boston Breakers and US Soccer recruited an additional six teams. Compared to WPS, the teams would intentionally operate at a lower cost structure and manage growth in a sustainable way.
In November 2012, it was announced that there would be eight teams in a new women's professional soccer league that was yet to be named at the time of the announcement, with national team players subsidized by US Soccer, the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican Football Federation. The three federations would pay for the salaries of their national team players to aid the teams in creating world-class rosters while staying under the salary cap. The players would be distributed evenly among the eight teams in an allocation process. The teams would own the league, and the league would contract US Soccer to manage league operations. After the 2020 season, the league terminated its management contract with US Soccer.
On November 29, 2012, it was announced that Cheryl Bailey had been named executive director in the new league. Bailey had previously served as general manager of the United States women's national soccer team from 2007 to 2011, which included leading the support staff for the U.S. team during the 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cups, as well as the 2008 Summer Olympics. During her tenure with the women's national team, she was in charge of all areas of administration including interfacing with clubs, team travel, payroll, and working with FIFA, CONCACAF, and other federations.
The league name was announced in December 2012. Nike, Inc. was selected as league sponsor, providing apparel to all teams as well as the game ball.

Early years

The first NWSL game was held on April 13, 2013, as the Portland Thorns visited FC Kansas City, playing to a 1–1 draw in front of a crowd of 6,784 fans at Shawnee Mission District Stadium. Renae Cuellar scored the first goal in league history. The 2013 season saw regular-season attendance average of 4,270, with a high of 17,619 on August 4 for Kansas City at Portland.
The NWSL became the first U.S. professional women's soccer league to reach nine teams with the addition of Houston Dash, backed by Major League Soccer team Houston Dynamo, in 2014; expansion interest, particularly from MLS and USL teams, has continued. The third season saw a shortened schedule and some early-season roster instability due to the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, but the World Cup also provided exposure to the NWSL, which was credited with boosting attendance numbers across the league.
The league also became the first professional women's league in the US to play more than three seasons when the league kicked off its fourth season in 2016.

Response to COVID-19 pandemic

The 2020 season was initially postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and later canceled. Instead the league played the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, a special competition hosted in the Salt Lake City region with no spectators. The cup began in late June, making the NWSL the first major U.S. team sports league to return to play. The league was the recipient of a federal loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, which it used to compensate players before the competition was able to begin. Later that year the league also played the NWSL Fall Series, a set of 18 games between teams within geographically restricted regions.

Teams

Current teams

The NWSL teams are spread across the United States. Each club is allowed a minimum of 20 players on their roster, with a maximum of 22 players allowed at any time during the season.
Originally, each team's roster included up to three allocated United States national team players, up to two allocated Mexico women's national team players, and up to two allocated Canadian national team players via the NWSL Player Allocation and subsequent trades. In addition, each team had four spots each season available for international players; these spots could be traded to other teams. The remaining roster spots were required to be filled by domestic players from the United States. Teams filled their rosters via a number of drafts and 4–6 discovery player signings. Mexico stopped allocating players to the NWSL, having established its own women's league in 2017, and the numbers of allocated players and international players on each team varied each year due to trades. Effective with the 2022 season, the player allocation system has been fully abolished.
Of the 14 teams contesting the 2025 season, six are affiliated with men's Major League Soccer teams, two are affiliated with men's teams of the United Soccer League, one is part of a global portfolio of women's soccer clubs owned by Michele Kang, and seven are independent.
TeamLocationStadiumFoundedJoinedHead coachMen's affiliate
Angel City FCLos Angeles, CaliforniaBMO Stadium20202022Los Angeles FC
Bay FCSan Jose, CaliforniaPayPal Park20232024
Boston Legacy FCFoxborough, MassachusettsGillette Stadium20232026Filipa Patão
Chicago Stars FCEvanston, IllinoisNorthwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium20062013
Denver Summit FCCentennial, ColoradoCentennial Stadium20252026Nick Cushing
Gotham FCHarrison, New JerseySports Illustrated Stadium20072013
Houston DashHouston, TexasShell Energy Stadium20132014Houston Dynamo FC
Kansas City CurrentKansas City, MissouriCPKC Stadium20202021
North Carolina CourageCary, North CarolinaWakeMed Soccer Park20172017Mak LindNorth Carolina FC
Orlando PrideOrlando, FloridaInter&Co Stadium20152016Orlando City SC
Portland Thorns FCPortland, OregonProvidence Park20122013 Portland Timbers
Racing Louisville FCLouisville, KentuckyLynn Family Stadium20192021Louisville City FC
San Diego Wave FCSan Diego, CaliforniaSnapdragon Stadium20212022
Seattle Reign FCSeattle, WashingtonLumen Field20122013Seattle Sounders FC
Utah RoyalsSandy, UtahAmerica First Field20172024Real Salt Lake
Washington SpiritWashington, D.C.Audi Field20122013