The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a top-flight professional women's soccer league in the United States. It shares first-division status with the USL Super League. As of 2025 [update] , the league has 14 teams and uses a schedule that runs from spring to fall within a single calendar year. [1] [2] The champion is determined by the NWSL Championship and the playoffs, a postseason knockout tournament for top teams in the regular season similar to those for other North American sports leagues. The team with the best record during the regular season, as determined by the number of points or another tiebreaker, is awarded the NWSL Shield. [3] Several NWSL teams share ownership or their home venues with men's teams in Major League Soccer (MLS) and the USL Championship who play in the same markets. [4] [5] The league had an average attendance of over 11,000 during the 2024 regular season and set a record for total attendance of over 2 million spectators. [6]
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The NWSL was founded in November 2012 under the administration of the United States Soccer Federation with eight teams who would begin play the following year. It was the third professional women's soccer league to be established in the United States, following the Women's United Soccer Association from 2001 to 2003 and Women's Professional Soccer, which folded in early 2012 after three seasons. [7] [8] The inaugural season in 2013 was played over a five-month calendar by the eight charter teams; [7] the championship was won by Portland Thorns FC, while the NWSL Shield was awarded to the Western New York Flash—who were playing in their fourth league in four years. [9] The first NWSL expansion team were the Houston Dash in 2014, who were followed two years later by the Orlando Pride. [10] Two of the league's ten teams ceased operations prior to the 2018 season, while another had relocated a year earlier. [11] [12] NWSL added pairs of expansion teams in 2021, 2022, and 2024, including re-entering markets where teams had folded. [10] The league announced plans to grow to 16 teams by 2026 with a set bidding process and fee similar to older North American sports leagues. [13] [14]
As of the 13th season in 2025, each team plays 26 matches during the regular season in a round-robin home-and-away series against the remaining 13 teams. The regular season runs for 25 weeks from March to November and includes a month-long break in July; [1] previous seasons have used the break for international tournaments, such as the Summer Olympics. [15] The top eight teams qualified for the playoffs, which were played over three rounds in November and culminated in the NWSL Championship. Most of the league's matches are broadcast in the U.S. by national television stations and streaming services. [1] [16] The league champions, runners-up, and NWSL Shield winner also qualify for the CONCACAF W Champions Cup, the continental championship for women's teams in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean since 2024. [17] A preseason super cup match, named the NWSL Challenge Cup, is contested by the reigning champions of the NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield; it was originally conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic to replace the cancelled 2020 season and had all NWSL teams from 2020 to 2023. During the 2024 season, NWSL teams also played in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, an international competition with six Mexican clubs from Liga MX Femenil. [18]
Portland Thorns FC have won three NWSL Championships, the most of any team in the league's history; the team also has two NWSL Shields. [19] Seattle Reign FC hold the record for most NWSL Shields, at three, and have finished as runners-up in three NWSL Championship games. [20] [21] The "double"—an NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield in the same season—has been won three times: by the North Carolina Courage in 2018 and 2019, and by the Orlando Pride in 2024. [20] [22] The Kansas City Current set the league's all-time points record during the 2025 season, with 65 points and a record of 21 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws. [23] The league has several annual awards for individual players and coaches to recognize their accomplishments, including the Most Valuable Player Award for the best player of the year and the Golden Boot for the player who scored the most goals during the regular season. [24] The single-season scoring record of 20 goals was set by Malawian forward Temwa Chawinga of the Kansas City Current during the 2024 season; she also won the Most Valuable Player Award. [25]
