English soccer club London City earned both a trophy and promotion from the UK's second-tier Women's Championship league this weekend, lifting the Michele Kang-owned Lionesses into the top-flight Women's Super League (WSL) next season.

With a 2-2 draw against second-place Birmingham City in Sunday's 2024/25 season finale, London City sealed the single point they needed to claim the second-flight league title and secure their ticket to the 2025/26 WSL campaign.

Originally affiliated with second-tier Millwall FC, the Lionesses separated from the men's side in 2019, and will become the only independent club in the WSL when they join next season.

London City is 'only going up' thanks to Kang

London City's rise is major success story for owner Michele Kang and her multi-team organization Kynisca — which also owns the NWSL's Washington Spirit and French club Lyon — as the Lionesses reach the UK's top-flight just two seasons after Kang's 2023 purchase of the club.

Next fall, London City will take the WSL spot of last season's promoted team, Crystal Palace, who were relegated from the top-tier league last month and currently hold a dismal 2-15-4 record.

Crystal Palace's struggles to compete after leveling up are nothing new, with many promoted clubs often stumbling into relegation after a single season.

That's a pattern Kang aims to break, with the women's sports mogul planning to see the Lionesses rise up the WSL and, later, into Champions League play.

"We have been building a team to be at a minimum, on day one, mid-tier WSL," Kang told the BBC.

"When I first came here a lot of people were concerned for me," Kang explained. "How can an independent women's team survive if you don't have the male team that can provide the brand and resources? Here we are. We made it."

"This is proof, we are only going up."

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone maintained her 400-meter crown this weekend, completing her second straight 400-meter events sweep at the Grand Slam Track series' Miami meet on Sunday.

One month after completing the sweep at the first Grand Slam meet in Kingston, Jamaica, the 25-year-old US track star won Saturday's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.07 seconds before also taking Sunday's 400-meter flat event in 49.69 seconds — a race that earned McLaughlin-Levrone a $100,000 winner's check.

McLaughlin-Levrone has a veritable stranglehold on the 400-meter hurdles, dominating that race since her last loss at the 2019 World Championships.

In that span, she blasted through six world records across 12 straight victories — lowering the women's 400-meter hurdles world standard from 52.16 seconds to a blistering 50.37-second pace.

With two more Grand Slam meets in Philadelphia and LA in the coming weeks, McLaughlin-Levrone is considering a literal change of pace, temporarily switching to run the 100-meter events — a distance she hasn't competed in since 2018.

Should she take on the shorter sprints, McLaughlin-Levrone could find herself racing against the reigning Olympic champion in the 100-meter hurdles, Masai Russell — who notably posted the second-fastest time in the event's history, not to mention a new US record, by winning in 12.17 seconds on Friday.

How to watch the final two Grand Slam Track meets

McLaughlin-Levrone, Russell, and other track stars will next compete in the third Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia from May 30th through June 1st, before closing out the series in LA between June 27th and June 29th.

All 2025 Grand Slam Track meets stream live on Peacock.

The 2025 PWHL playoffs are officially set, with the Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost punching their postseason tickets in Saturday's final regular-season games to join the first-place Montréal Victoire and second-place Toronto Sceptres in the second-year league's playoff bracket.

While third-place Ottawa secured their postseason spot with a 2-1 overtime victory over Toronto on Saturday, the reigning champion Minnesota Frost staged an improbable late-season surge to claim the fourth and final playoff berth.

Needing two wins in addition to two losses from either the Charge or the Boston Fleet for a chance to defend their 2024 title, Minnesota found another gear in the season's final week.

The Frost first defeated Ottawa 3-0 last Wednesday before handing a crumbling Fleet side an 8-1 Saturday thrashing, leapfrogging Boston to narrowly advance to the playoffs following an up-and-down regular season.

Minnesota's massive momentum grab directly affected this week's 2025 PWHL semifinals pairings.

As first-place finishers, the Victoire had the opportunity to choose their first-round opponent between the third- and fourth-place finishers — with Montréal opting out of facing the Frost to instead open the playoffs against the Charge.

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"This group is hungry, and we're excited for the playoffs," said Victoire captain and the 2024/25 PWHL season's top goal scorer Marie-Philip Poulin. "We're pretty excited to start the playoffs at home, in front of our fans."

Also snagging home-ice advantage is second-place Toronto, who must now overcome Minnesota in their best-of-five semifinal series to earn a spot in the 2025 Walter Cup championship series.

How to watch the 2025 PWHL Playoffs

The puck drops on the 2025 PWHL Playoffs on Wednesday, when No. 2-seed Toronto and No. 4-seed Minnesota will meet on the ice at 7 PM ET.

Top-seeded Montréal's semifinal series against No. 3-seed Ottawa will begin at 7 PM ET on Thursday.

All games will stream live on the PWHL YouTube channel.

The WNBA tipped off its preseason slate this weekend, as early contenders stole the spotlight behind massive wins, signaling potential success in the 2025 regular-season.

The revamped Indiana Fever walked away as the weekend's big winner, taking down the Washington Mystics in a come-from-behind 79-74 overtime win on Saturday before dominating the Brazil national team 108-44 in front of a sold-out University of Iowa crowd on Sunday.

"I haven't played in, like, 200 days, so I was a little nervous going in," Fever star and Iowa alum Caitlin Clark said after Sunday's game. "The competitive spirit in me — you just want to play really good for these fans."

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LSU grad Angel Reese and former Tigers transfer Hailey Van Lith also shined on the collegiate court, returning to Baton Rouge to help the Chicago Sky defeat Brazil 89-62 on Friday, with Reese noting, "I'm just happy to be back to see all the fans, even down to the security guards, because I know how much was put into this program."

Reese didn't skip a beat in her return from last year's season-ending wrist injury, claiming a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double in Friday's clash.

Meanwhile, rookie Van Lith scored her first professional points in the game, posting seven points, five assists, and three rebounds in her 13 minutes off the bench.

Like Van Lith, 2025's overall No. 1 draftee Paige Bueckers saw her first professional action on Friday, scoring 10 points in her Dallas Wings' 112-78 Friday loss to the Las Vegas Aces.

"It's super surreal in terms of the turnaround from where I was two weeks ago to where I am today, but [I'm] just soaking it up and enjoying every moment," Bueckers told reporters after the game.

Golden State selected Sellers with the No. 17 overall pick in the WNBA Draft. pic.twitter.com/CU5VOdTy6x

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Exhibitions aid roster decisions as cuts loom

While the results don't count, the weekend exhibition allowed coaches and viewers to evaluate fresh talent and new roster combinations ahead of the significant roster cuts that teams must make prior to the 2025 season tip-off on May 16th.

The season's first big-name roster cut came from Golden State on Saturday, when the Valkyries waived guard Shyanne Sellers after taking the standout Maryland alum No. 17 overall in last month's draft.

How to watch this week's WNBA preseason games

The preseason action continues this week with a trio of exhibitions on deck on Tuesday.

First, the Minnesota Lynx will visit the Chicago Sky at 7 PM ET before the LA Sparks square off against new California rival Golden State while the Phoenix Mercury takes on Las Vegas at 10 PM ET.

All games will stream live on WNBA League Pass.

The 2025 NWSL season saw parity take center-pitch over the weekend, flipping the script yet again as the league's top teams hunted redemption — but came away winless.

Despite still sitting at No. 1 in the NWSL standings, the Kansas City Current find themselves on a two-game losing streak after falling to No. 7 Seattle on Friday, suffering the 1-0 stumble thanks to star Lynn Biyendolo's first goal in a Reign shirt.

More upsets followed, with the now-No. 6 Washington Spirit falling 4-3 to No. 8 Angel City on Friday before No. 5 Portland handed No. 2 Orlando a 1-0 Saturday loss.

The lone Top 4 team entering the weekend to escape without a loss was No. 4 Gotham, who eked out a single point after playing the struggling last-place Chicago Stars to a 0-0 stalemate on Sunday.

As squads compete for a foothold in a league where any team can win any match, two California clubs are continuing to carve out their own 2025 success stories.

Under new head coach Jonas Eidevall, San Diego has rocketed up the NWSL table to No. 3 behind Sunday's 2-1 victory over No. 10 Bay FC — putting the Wave on a three-game winning streak.

Similarly, Angel City managed to snap a two-game losing streak with their Friday win over a skidding Washington — a match that saw USWNT vet Christen Press earn her first assist of the season while Gisele and Alyssa Thompson made NWSL history with the league's first-ever sister-to-sister goal.

Overall, the seventh matchday delivered on parity, with the 2025 NWSL season swapping the dominance of the few for week-to-week chaos — challenging every club to stay on their toes.