2026 National Women's Soccer League season

National Women's Soccer League
Season	2026
Dates	March 13 – November 1 (regular season); November 6 – November 21 (playoffs)
Challenge Cup	Gotham FC
Matches	174
Goals	477 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ashley Sanchez; (15 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Ann-Katrin Berger; (10 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	5 goals; North Carolina 5–0 Orlando; (July 31); Houston 5–0 Chicago; (Aug 19); Denver 6–1 Chicago; (Aug 29)
Biggest away win	3 goals; Chicago 0–3 Orlando ; (Mar 25); Seattle 0–3 Utah; (Apr 26); Houston 1–4 Denver; (May 9); Denver 0–3 Kansas City; (July 3); North Carolina 1–4 Utah ; (July 25); Boston 2–5 Angel City; (Aug 31)
Highest scoring	7 goals; Houston 4–3 Louisville; (Apr 3); Washington 3–4 North Carolina; (Aug 8); Boston 3–4 Portland; (Aug 9); Denver 6–1 Chicago; (Aug 29); Boston 2–5 Angel City; (Aug 31)
Longest winning run	5 matches; San Diego; (Mar 22 – Apr 25); Utah; (Mar 28 – May 6); Washington; (Apr 5 – May 10)
Longest unbeaten run	10 matches; Utah; (Mar 25 – May 30); Gotham; (Jul 10 – present)
Longest winless run	7 matches; Chicago; (July 10 – Aug 19)
Longest losing run	5 matches; Boston; (Mar 14 – Apr 25); Louisville; (May 17 – July 10)
Highest attendance	63,004; Denver 0–0 Washington; (Mar 28)
Lowest attendance	1,821; Chicago 0–3 Orlando; (Mar 25)
Total attendance	1,903,915
Average attendance	10,942
	← 2025 2027 → All statistics correct as of August 31, 2026.

The 2026 season is the 14th and current season for the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2009–2011) and the Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003), it is the 20th overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States.

Season2026

DatesMarch 13 – November 1 (regular season)
November 6 – November 21 (playoffs)

Challenge CupGotham FC

Matches174

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The league has 16 teams, with 2 expansion teams Boston Legacy and Denver Summit joining the 14 teams that contested the 2025 NWSL season. All teams are scheduled to play 30 regular-season matches, home and away against every other team.^[1]

The defending NWSL champion is Gotham FC, and the defending NWSL Shield winner is the Kansas City Current.

[1]

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Angel City	BMO Stadium	22,000
Bay FC	PayPal Park	18,000
Boston Legacy	Gillette Stadium^[2]	20,000^[a]
Chicago Stars	Martin Stadium^[3]	12,023
Denver Summit	Centennial Stadium^[4]^[5]	12,000
Gotham FC	Sports Illustrated Stadium	25,000
Houston Dash	Shell Energy Stadium	22,039
Kansas City Current	CPKC Stadium	11,500
North Carolina Courage	First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park	10,000
Orlando Pride	Inter&Co Stadium	25,500
Portland Thorns	Providence Park	25,218
Racing Louisville	Lynn Family Stadium	11,700^[b]
San Diego Wave	Snapdragon Stadium	35,000
Seattle Reign	Lumen Field	10,000^[c]
Utah Royals	America First Field	20,213
Washington Spirit	Audi Field	20,000

Team	Head coach	Captain(s)	Shirt sponsor
Angel City	Leif Gunnar Smerud (interim)	Sarah Gorden	DoorDash
Bay FC	Emma Coates	Abby Dahlkemper Tess Boade	Sutter Health
Boston Legacy	Filipa Patão	Nichelle Prince	TJ Maxx^[9]
Chicago Stars	Karina Báez (interim)	Alyssa Naeher	Wintrust
Denver Summit	Nick Cushing	Janine Sonis Lindsey Heaps
Gotham FC	Juan Carlos Amorós	Tierna Davidson Mandy Freeman	CarMax
Houston Dash	Fabrice Gautrat	Jane Campbell	MD Anderson Cancer Center
Kansas City Current	Chris Armas	Lo'eau LaBonta	United Way of Greater Kansas City
North Carolina Courage	Mak Lind	Natalie Jacobs	Merz Aesthetics
Orlando Pride	Yolanda Thomas (interim)	Marta	Orlando Health
Portland Thorns	Robert Vilahamn	Sam Hiatt	ring
Racing Louisville	Bev Yanez	Arin Wright	GE Appliances
San Diego Wave	Jonas Eidevall	Kenza Dali	Kaiser Permanente
Seattle Reign	Laura Harvey	Jess Fishlock Sofia Huerta	Trupanion
Utah Royals	Jimmy Coenraets	Paige Cronin	America First Credit Union
Washington Spirit	Adrián González	Aubrey Kingsbury	CVS Health

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment	Ref.
Boston Legacy	Expansion team			Preseason	Filipa Patão	June 25, 2025	^[10]
Denver Summit	Expansion team				Nick Cushing	August 6, 2025	^[11]
Bay FC	Albertin Montoya	Resigned	September 8, 2025		Emma Coates	December 4, 2025	^[12]^[13]
Kansas City Current	Vlatko Andonovski	Promoted to global sporting director	November 14, 2025		Chris Armas	January 7, 2026	^[14]^[15]
Chicago Stars	Anders Jacobson (interim)	End of interim period	November 23, 2025		Martin Sjögren	August 13, 2025	^[16]
North Carolina Courage	Nathan Thackeray (interim)	End of interim period	November 23, 2025		Mak Lind	January 24, 2026	^[17]
Portland Thorns	Rob Gale	Fired	November 25, 2025		Sarah Lowdon (interim)	November 25, 2025	^[18]
Portland Thorns	Sarah Lowdon (interim)	End of interim period	March 4, 2026		Robert Vilahamn	March 4, 2026	^[19]
Angel City FC	Alexander Straus	Fired	June 17, 2026	11th	Leif Gunnar Smerud (interim)	June 17, 2026	^[20]
Chicago Stars FC	Martin Sjögren	Fired	August 12, 2026	16th	Karina Báez (interim)	August 12, 2026	^[21]
Orlando Pride	Seb Hines	Fired	August 31, 2026	12th	Yolanda Thomas (interim)	August 31, 2026	^[22]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Gotham FC	22	13	6	3	27	14	+13	45	Playoffs and CONCACAF W Champions Cup
2	Washington Spirit	22	12	4	6	31	19	+12	40	Playoffs and CONCACAF W Champions Cup
3	Utah Royals	22	12	3	7	39	28	+11	39	Playoffs
4	San Diego Wave FC	22	12	3	7	32	25	+7	39
5	Portland Thorns FC	22	11	5	6	36	30	+6	38
6	North Carolina Courage	22	11	3	8	40	33	+7	36
7	Kansas City Current	22	10	4	8	35	31	+4	34
8	Seattle Reign FC	21	9	4	8	26	26	0	31
9	Angel City FC	21	8	5	8	32	24	+8	29
10	Denver Summit FC	21	7	6	8	31	27	+4	27
11	Houston Dash	22	7	5	10	28	30	−2	26
12	Orlando Pride	22	8	2	12	26	33	−7	26
13	Racing Louisville FC	22	7	2	13	34	43	−9	23
14	Bay FC	21	6	4	11	21	28	−7	22
15	Boston Legacy FC	22	5	5	12	26	39	−13	20
16	Chicago Stars FC	22	5	1	16	13	47	−34	16

Home \ Away	BAY	BOS	CHI	DEN	GFC	HOU	KC	LA	LOU	NC	ORL	POR	SD	SEA	UTA	WAS
Bay FC	—	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	Sep 4	1–3	Sep 20	3–0	Sep 27	Oct 18	Nov 1	2–3	0–0	0–2
Boston Legacy FC	2–2	—	2–0	3–2	0–1	Sep 20	1–0	2–5	Oct 16	2–2	2–1	3–4	0–1	1–2	1–2	1–2
Chicago Stars FC	0–0	2–0	—	Oct 4	0–2	Oct 23	2–1	0–2	3–2	Sep 6	0–3	0–2	0–2	Oct 18	3–2	Sep 20
Denver Summit FC	Sep 16	1–1	6–1	—	Sep 6	2–2	0–3	Oct 17	Oct 24	0–2	3–1	2–1	2–3	Sep 19	2–1	0–0
Gotham FC	3–0	1–1	Sep 25	0–2	—	1–0	2–1	Oct 4	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	3–2	Nov 1	1–0
Houston Dash	1–0	3–0	5–0	1–4	0–1	—	1–1	2–1	4–3	0–1	Oct 18	Nov 1	2–2	0–0	Sep 12	Oct 4
Kansas City Current	Oct 3	1–0	3–0	Sep 26	2–1	3–0	—	1–1	5–1	3–2	Sep 11	3–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	Oct 25
Angel City FC	Oct 24	Nov 1	4–0	Sep 11	0–0	2–1	2–1	—	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–2	Sep 16	0–1	1–1
Racing Louisville FC	0–2	4–1	2–1	0–1	Sep 11	1–1	Nov 1	Sep 5	—	1–2	3–2	3–1	Sep 25	2–1	Oct 3	2–2
North Carolina Courage	1–3	2–1	4–0	Nov 1	Sep 19	2–3	1–2	2–0	2–1	—	5–0	2–2	Oct 17	3–1	1–4	0–2
Orlando Pride	3–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	Oct 25	Sep 6	3–0	2–1	1–3	1–0	—	Sep 19	Oct 2	1–2	1–2	2–4
Portland Thorns FC	2–0	Oct 3	Sep 13	1–0	2–2	Sep 26	2–0	0–0	4–0	Oct 23	2–1	—	2–0	2–0	2–2	Sep 6
San Diego Wave FC	0–1	Oct 25	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	Sep 18	0–2	3–2	Sep 12	0–1	3–1	—	0–2	4–2	2–1
Seattle Reign FC	Sep 12	Sep 25	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	3–0	2–2	2–1	Oct 2	Nov 1	2–0	Sep 6	—	0–3	0–1
Utah Royals	3–2	Sep 4	1–0	2–1	1–3	2–0	Oct 17	Sep 20	2–1	Sep 27	1–0	5–1	1–2	Oct 23	—	0–1
Washington Spirit	1–0	Sep 13	Nov 1	1–0	Oct 17	2–1	4–0	Sep 26	1–0	3–4	0–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	—

2026 National Women's Soccer League season

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Expansion teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Coaching changes

Regular season

Standings

Tiebreakers

Format

Results

Attendance

Average home attendances

Highest attendances

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Top assists

Clean sheets

Hat-tricks

Playoffs

Challenge Cup

Individual awards

Weekly awards

Monthly awards

Team of the Month

See also

References

External links

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks

Rank	Team	GP	Attendance	High	Low	Average
1	Portland Thorns FC	10	193,753	22,017	15,683	19,375
2	Denver Summit FC	10	189,386	63,004	11,008	18,939
3	Angel City FC	11	171,085	18,089	11,574	15,553
4	Washington Spirit	11	170,564	19,365	9,349	15,506
5	San Diego Wave FC	12	147,945	15,881	8,428	12,329
6	Bay FC	10	118,129	13,110	10,237	11,813
7	Kansas City Current	11	126,500	11,500	11,500	11,500
8	Gotham FC	12	130,282	42,175	4,738	10,857
9	Boston Legacy FC	13	138,504	30,207	3,804	10,654
10	Utah Royals	10	94,773	19,274	6,243	9,477
11	Orlando Pride	11	88,764	16,320	6,004	8,069
12	North Carolina Courage	12	93,757	10,031	6,217	7,813
13	Seattle Reign FC	10	70,487	14,793	3,023	7,049
14	Houston Dash	11	73,571	10,259	5,168	6,688
15	Racing Louisville FC	10	55,462	7,018	4,728	5,546
16	Chicago Stars FC	10	43,721	6,678	1,821	4,372
	Total	174	1,906,683	63,004	1,821	10,958

Week	Player of the Week		Save of the Week		Ref.
Week	Player	Club	Player	Club	Ref.
1	Ashley Sanchez	North Carolina Courage	Jordyn Bloomer	Racing Louisville FC	^[31]^[32]
2	Sveindís Jónsdóttir	Angel City FC	Abby Smith	Denver Summit FC	^[33]^[34]
3	Lia Godfrey	San Diego Wave FC	Morgan Messner	Portland Thorns FC	^[35]^[36]
4	Kiki Van Zanten	Houston Dash	Kathrin Hendrich	Chicago Stars FC	^[37]^[38]
5	Leicy Santos	Washington Spirit	Katie Atkinson	Chicago Stars FC	^[39]^[40]
6	Trinity Rodman	Washington Spirit	Jordan Silkowitz	Bay FC	^[41]^[42]
7	Temwa Chawinga	Kansas City Current	Jorelyn Carabalí	Boston Legacy FC	^[43]^[44]
8	Janine Sonis	Denver Summit FC	Angelina Anderson	Angel City FC	^[45]^[46]
9	Sophia Wilson	Portland Thorns FC	Malia Berkely	Houston Dash	^[47]^[48]
10	Manaka Matsukubo	North Carolina Courage	Kailen Sheridan	North Carolina Courage	^[49]^[50]
11	Trinity Rodman (2)	Washington Spirit	Jane Campbell	Houston Dash	^[51]^[52]
12	Esther González	Gotham FC	Ann-Katrin Berger	Gotham FC	^[53]^[54]
13	Rose Lavelle	Gotham FC	Kailen Sheridan (2)	North Carolina Courage	^[55]^[56]
14	Maja Lardner	Racing Louisville FC	Katie Atkinson (2)	Chicago Stars FC	^[57]^[58]
15	Evelyn Ijeh	North Carolina Courage	Mandy McGlynn	Utah Royals	^[59]^[60]
16	Pietra Tordin	Portland Thorns FC	Mackenzie Arnold	Portland Thorns FC	^[61]^[62]
17

Month	Rookie of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
Month	Player	Club	Player	Club	Ref.
March	Lia Godfrey	San Diego Wave FC	Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir	Angel City FC	^[95]^[96]
April	Jordynn Dudley	Gotham FC	Ashley Sanchez	North Carolina Courage	^[97]^[98]
May	Kat Rader	Houston Dash	Temwa Chawinga	Kansas City Current	^[99]^[100]
July	Linda Ullmark	Houston Dash	Trinity Rodman	Washington Spirit	^[101]^[102]
August

Month	Coach of the Month		Ref.
Month	Coach	Club	Ref.
March	Alexander Straus	Angel City FC	^[103]
April	Adrián González	Washington Spirit	^[104]
May	Jimmy Coenraets	Utah Royals	^[105]
July	Adrián González (2)	Washington Spirit	^[106]
August

Month	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Ref.
March	Abby Smith, DEN	Jess Carter, GFC Sofia Huerta, SEA Gisele Thompson, LA Kennedy Wesley, SD	Kenza Dali, SD Lia Godfrey, SD Olivia Moultrie, POR	Barbra Banda, ORL Dudinha, SD Sveindís Jónsdóttir, LA	^[107]
April	Sandy MacIver, WAS	Sam Hiatt, POR Esme Morgan, WAS Tara Rudd, WAS Kennedy Wesley, SD (2)	Rose Lavelle, GFC Ashley Sanchez, NC Leicy Santos, WAS	Barbra Banda, ORL (2) Trinity Rodman, WAS Kiki van Zanten, HOU	^[108]
May	Mandy McGlynn, UTA	Janine Sonis, DEN Sam Hiatt, POR (2) Kate Del Fava, UTA Tierna Davidson, GFC	Manaka Matsukubo, NC Kimmi Ascanio, SD Croix Bethune, KC	Temwa Chawinga, KC Barbra Banda, ORL (3) Mina Tanaka, UTA	^[109]
July	Sandy MacIver, WAS (2)	Guro Reiten, GFC Tara Rudd, WAS (2) Kate Del Fava, UTA (2) Janine Sonis, DEN (2)	Jaelin Howell, GFC Croix Bethune, KC (2) Rose Lavelle, GFC (2)	Evelyn Ijeh, NC Esther González, GFC Trinity Rodman, WAS (2)	^[110]
August