NWSL Challenge Cup

Women's soccer competition in the US

Football tournament

NWSL Challenge CupOrganizing body| National Women's Soccer League

|

Founded| May 27, 2020; 5 years ago (2020-05-27)
Region| United States
Current champion(s)| Washington Spirit
(1st title)
Most successful club(s)| North Carolina Courage
(2 titles)
Television broadcasters| Amazon Prime Video[1]
Website| https://www.nwslsoccer.com/
2025 NWSL Challenge Cup

The NWSL Challenge Cup is an annual supercup competition organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), a division 1 women's league in the United States soccer league system. The current (2025) cup holder is the Washington Spirit, who defeated the Orlando Pride 1-1 (4-2 on penalties) on March 7, 2025.

The NWSL Challenge Cup was first announced in 2020 as a one-off, league-wide tournament to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] It was the first top-tier professional sports league in the United States to restart after COVID-19 lockdowns began.[3] Subsequently, the NWSL announced that it would return as an annual league cup tournament.[4] Before the 2024 season, the NWSL announced that the Challenge Cup would change from a tournament to a single-game supercup.[5]

## Format

[edit]

### 2020–2023

[edit]

For the first four years of the tournament, all NWSL teams began a group stage where they played four to six games, usually split geographically. The group stage was then followed by one or more knockout matches to determine the Cup winner. In 2020, all nine teams were to play four games each in a single pool, with eight teams advancing to the knockout stage; however, one team had to drop out due to COVID exposure, and the pool games among the remaining eight teams were used solely for seeding the knockout rounds.[6] In 2021, the ten teams were divided into two divisions of five teams, with the two group winners qualifying for the final match.[7] In 2022 and 2023, the twelve teams split into three groups of four, with the best runner-up joining the three group winners in a two-round knockout tournament.[8] In 2023, the format remained the same but the tournament was moved to run concurrently with the season due to player concerns about injuries.[9]

### 2024 onward

[edit]

In 2024, the NWSL Challenge Cup transitioned to a single pre-season match between the winners of the previous season's NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship, a similar structure to other super cup trophies worldwide such as the FA Community Shield. Should a team win both the Championship and Shield, the Challenge Cup is a rematch of the previous season's championship match.[5]

## Records and statistics

[edit]

### Results by team

[edit]

Team  | Winners  | Runners-up  | Last won

|
|
|

North Carolina Courage | 2  | 0  | 2023
Washington Spirit | 1  | 1  | 2025
Houston Dash | 1  | 0  | 2020
Portland Thorns FC | 1  | 0  | 2021
San Diego Wave FC | 1  | 0  | 2024
NJ/NY Gotham FC | 0  | 2  | –
Chicago Red Stars | 0  | 1  | –
Racing Louisville FC | 0  | 1  | –
Orlando Pride | 0  | 1  | –

### List of finals

[edit]

Season  | Winners  | Score  | Runners-up  | Venue  | Attendance  | Player of the Final  | Tournament MVP

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

2020 | Houston Dash | 2–0 | Chicago Red Stars | Rio Tinto Stadium | 0 (behind closed doors) | Shea Groom (Houston Dash)  | Rachel Daly (Houston Dash)
2021 | Portland Thorns FC | 1–1
6–5 (p) | NJ/NY Gotham FC | Providence Park | 4,000 - 5,000 (estimate)[10] | Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC)  | Debinha (North Carolina Courage)
2022 | North Carolina Courage | 2–1 | Washington Spirit | Sahlen's Stadium | 3,163  | Kerolin (North Carolina Courage)  | Debinha (North Carolina Courage)
2023 | North Carolina Courage | 2–0 | Racing Louisville FC | Sahlen's Stadium | 3,068  | Manaka Matsukubo (North Carolina Courage)  | Kristen Hamilton (Kansas City Current)
2024 | San Diego Wave FC | 1–0 | NJ/NY Gotham FC | Red Bull Arena | 14,241  | Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC)  | Not awarded
2025 | Washington Spirit | 1–1
4–2 (p) | Orlando Pride | Inter&Co Stadium |  | Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit)  | Not awarded

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "How to watch NWSL games live on Prime Video this year".
2. ^ Levine, Matthew (May 27, 2020). "NWSL announces 2020 Challenge Cup presented by P&G and Secret". National Women's Soccer League. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
3. ^ Goff, Stephen (June 25, 2020). "NWSL Challenge Cup opens this weekend, making women's soccer first team sport back". Washington Post. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
4. ^ "NWSL Announces Innovative 2021 Competition Framework". NWSL. November 18, 2020. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
5. ^ a b "National Women's Soccer League Announces 2024 Schedule Footprint, Competition Calendar" (Press release). National Women's Soccer League. December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
6. ^ Levine, Matthew (May 27, 2020). "NWSL announces 2020 Challenge Cup presented by P&G and Secret". www.NWSLSoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
7. ^ "NWSL Announces 2021 Challenge Cup Presented by Secret Opener in Houston". www.NWSLSoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. March 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
8. ^ "National Women's Soccer League announce 2022 Challenge Cup format" (PDF). www.nwslsoccer.com. December 8, 2023.
9. ^ Yanchulis, Kate (November 17, 2022). "NWSL Challenge Cup will take place in-season after scheduling, injury concerns". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
10. ^ Estimated limited attendance provided at 15:50 on YT video: FULL GAME: 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup Final [Portland Thorns FC vs Gotham FC] | CBS Sports HQ

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

NWSL Challenge Cup

League cup era|

| Seasons|

* 2020
* squads
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

|

Championships|

* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

Super cup era|

* 2024
* 2025

* v
* t
* e

National Women's Soccer League

* Records and statistics
* Players Association
* U.S. Soccer
* NWSL Division 2

Current teams|

* Angel City FC
* Bay FC
* Chicago Stars FC
* Gotham FC
* Houston Dash
* Kansas City Current
* North Carolina Courage
* Orlando Pride
* Portland Thorns FC
* Racing Louisville FC
* San Diego Wave FC
* Seattle Reign FC
* Utah Royals
* Washington Spirit

Future teams|

* Boston Legacy FC (2026)
* Denver Summit FC (2026)

Former teams|

* Western New York Flash (2013–16)
* Boston Breakers (2013–17)
* FC Kansas City (2013–17)

Seasons|

* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024
* 2025

Competition|

* NWSL Shield
* NWSL Championship
* Playoffs
* Challenge Cup
* Summer Cup
* Stadiums
* Attendance
* Expansion
* Broadcasters

Personnel|

* Players Association
* Draftees
* Drafts
* Foreign players
* Owners
* Under-18 Entry Mechanism
* Federation players (2013–21)
* Jessica Berman

Awards|

* Most Valuable Player
* Golden Boot
* Midfielder of the Year
* Defender of the Year
* Goalkeeper of the Year
* Rookie of the Year
* Coach of the Year
* Best XI and Second XI
* Player of the Month
* Rookie of the Month
* Team of the Month
* Player of the Week
* Players' awards

Related articles|

* Sexual harassment
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Joint|

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