The National Women’s Soccer League’s 14th regular season starts on Friday with a rematch of last year’s semi-final between the Portland Thorns and Washington Spirit. From there, 16 teams will compete in a 248-match season, with eight teams qualifying for the playoffs.
We look at four themes that may define the year.
Expansion: In many ways expansion is the defining theme of the era. The entrance of Boston Legacy and Denver Summit takes the NWSL to 16 teams, with eight having joined since the Covid-19 pandemic. After Racing Louisville and Kansas City Current were added in 2021, NWSL introduced Angel City (2022) and San Diego Wave (2022), with Utah Royals returning and Bay FC joining in 2024.
With numerous expansion bids in the mix, Boston and Denver were selected in part because of their commitment to have purpose-built stadiums and/or training facilities – a reflection of the NWSL’s current priorities. Both are waiting for their stadiums to be completed but early signs of fan enthusiasm are there. Notably, Denver Summit’s home opener at Empower Field, against Washington Spirit on 28 March, is poised to break the NWSL attendance record with more than 50,000 tickets sold.
Selling seats and engaging fans will be central to the success of Boston and Denver. But the results have to come too. On a recent episode of The Women’s Game podcast, the NWSL commissioner, Jessica Berman, said on-field competitiveness is the marker for expansion side success this season: “It has to be that the team can field a competitive roster. And so we will be looking to see if they’re able to compete both on a game-over-game basis, each week, and then across the length of the season.”
Led by the former Manchester City Women manager Nick Cushing, Denver have built a youthful roster including the 20-year-old forward Jasmine Aikey, who won the Mac Hermann trophy, for the top collegiate player, last year. They have also signed the World champion and Champions League winner Lindsey Heaps, who will finish the European season with OL Lyonnes before returning to her native Colorado this summer.
Boston, with the former Benfica manager Filipa Patão in charge, enter the league with an interesting mix of international talents, many of whom are new to the NWSL, in addition to a handful of league veterans such as the US goalkeeper Casey Murphy and the Canadian forward Nichelle Prince.
Parity: NWSL has long marketed itself as a uniquely competitive league in a sport that is often dominated by a handful of teams. But myriad recent changes, including the league’s rapid expansion and its decision to get rid of the draft, make the league’s long-term competitiveness worth watching.
The NWSL is the first professional sports league in the US to completely eliminate its draft, opting instead for free agency and increased player autonomy. The uniquely American phenomenon often seemed strange to outside observers, but the draft spread the country’s top collegiate athletes around. This will be the second season without a draft, and the long-term impact on parity is uncertain. Seven of 2025’s All-American Starting XI have signed for professional NWSL teams. Only two joined a team that failed to make the playoffs last season: Kat Rader for the Houston Dash and Elise Evans for Chicago.
The NWSL has had its fair share of dominant teams and struggling sides over the years. But there has been movement in the table from season to season, and rags to riches stories have felt possible. In 2022 Gotham finished last; the next year they won the championship. With no more college draft and rapid expansion, those types of turnarounds are essential to its unique identity.
Star power: The growth of the NWSL isn’t as reliant on the marketability of USWNT stars to move merchandise, attract investment and sell seats as it once was but star power still holds sway.
The race to keep Trinity Rodman stateside was among the biggest stories of the off-season. With the help of the new High Impact Player Rule, Washington Spirit set a league record to keep the forward in the US with a reported $2m (£1.48m) contract, including bonuses. On the west coast the former MVP Sophia Wilson is available for Portland having returned from maternity leave. That leaves only Mallory Swanson waiting in the wings for Chicago to restore all three members of the forward line that scored 10 of the USA’s 12 Olympic goals in Paris. When it comes to viewership, attendance and entertainment value, a healthy “Triple Espresso” – as they became known – could make a big impact this year.
A cadre of core USWNT players have moved abroad in recent years, including Alyssa Thompson, Naomi Girma, Catarina Macario, Lily Yohannes, Emily Fox, Phallon Tullis-Joyce and Sam Coffey but the number of national team players competing in NWSL is robust, and it extends beyond the “Triple Espresso”. Marketing them to the public, and incentivising them to stay, will probably remain relevant through to the 2027 World Cup.
No discussion of NWSL star power would be complete without noting the international players who have made a home (and broken records) in the US. The return of players such as Barbra Banda and Temwa Chawinga, and the introduction of young international players signing for teams such as Boston Legacy, will be key to the league’s success.
Who will win? Washington Spirit. They have been one of the league’s most dominant teams in recent seasons. In 2024 and in 2025 they finished the regular season in second place. Both years, they took their consistent results in the regular season and made compelling playoff runs to the final. After two straight years falling short, this feels as if it could be their year. Rodman is back and fit. They’ve had a few departures, most notably the 2024 NWSL Rookie of the Year, Croix Bethune, who signed for Kansas City, but their squad depth is scary. Their owner, Michele Kang, is unafraid to spend money on players. And they’ve added Haley Carter – an executive with championship-winning accolades – as president of football operations in the off-season.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email moving.goalposts@theguardian.com.
-
This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.
