The NWSL’s Challenge Cup tournament will run during the regular season for the first time in 2023, the league announced Thursday afternoon.

The tournament began in 2020 in replacement of the regular season, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 and 2022, the tournament took place in the preseason.

During the 2022 Challenge Cup, though, players raised concerns about the packed scheduling and the potential for injuries as a result of the preseason event.

OL Reign star Jess Fishlock called out the NWSL via Twitter in April over her team’s scheduling woes.

As the top seed entering the Challenge Cup knockout stage, OL Reign earned home-field advantage for the semifinals. But instead the fourth-seeded Washington Spirit hosted the match, as the Seattle Sounders had a match already scheduled for Lumen Field on the date in question.

The winners of the semifinal matches — the Spirit and the North Carolina Courage — then played in the championship match three days later, during the first weekend of the regular season. As a result, their regular-season openers were bumped to later in the season.

Fishlock’s OL Reign teammate Bethany Balcer took to Twitter herself to call out the NWSL and CBS for the start time of the final, which was played at 1 p.m. ET.

“If you really cared about women’s sports you would actually put us at prime time,” Balcer tweeted at the NWSL and at CBS, which will televise the championship. “Thanks in advance!”

Balcer also expressed dismay that the Challenge Cup knockout stage overlaps with the regular season, which starts on April 29.

“Where is the COMMON SENSE,” Balcer tweeted. “Now your reward for making the Challenge Cup final is having to play three games in seven days… I cannot sit idly by as the well being of the player’s is put in jeopardy by bogus kickoff times and high physical demand. Let’s be better.”

In addition to the scheduling concerns, injuries hung over the 2022 Challenge Cup throughout its run.

Several high-profile stars, including the Kansas City Current’s Lynn Williams and the Orlando Pride’s Marta, went down with season-ending injuries. During the final, North Carolina’s Kerolin and Washington’s Jordan Baggett exited the game with injuries.

128 days 'til the new @NWSL season!

▪️ March 25 regular season kicks off
▪️ Challenge Cup played in-season
▪️ Limit reg season games amid WC
▪️ NWSL Championship set for Nov. 11

— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) November 17, 2022

The 2023 Challenge Cup will kick off in April, after the start of the regular season on March 25, the NWSL announced Thursday.

The the tournament will take place across six weeks scattered across the regular season from April to September. Three groups of four teams will play double round-robin schedules, for a total of six games per team.

Then four group winners will then face off in the semifinal round on Sept. 6, and the final will take place on Sept. 9.

The 2023 Challenge Cup also stands out for achieving pay equity with the equivalent men’s tournament. As part of a three-year deal, title sponsor UKG will help the NWSL increase the prize pool available to teams, raising the bonuses to equal footing with the men’s U.S. Open Cup.

Women's tennis got a boost on Wednesday, as the WTA announced it would institute rankings pauses for players who step away from competition to undergo fertility protection treatments like egg or embryo freezing.

Players returning from a procedure can opt to receive a Special Entry Ranking, calculated using their 12-week average ranking starting from eight weeks before taking leave.

Players can use that unique ranking to enter up to three tournaments at the WTA 500, 250, or 125 levels before the governing body will again institute traditional calculations.

The protection extends to any player ranked among the world's top 750 who spends more than 10 weeks out of competition.

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These latest rankings protection further secures the careers of tennis pro parents, who first earned special rankings in the 2019 WTA season after Serena Willams and Victoria Azarenka saw their seedings plummet simply from stepping away from competition to give birth.

The move also comes three months after the WTA agreed to grant players paid maternity leave for the very first time.

"I'm incredibly proud of our sport in recognizing the importance of fertility treatments for female athletes," said 2017 US Open champ and longtime reproductive health support advocate Sloane Stephens. "For any woman, the conversation of family life versus a career is nuanced and complex."

"It's truly ground-breaking and will empower this generation, and future generations of players, to continue with the sport they love without having to compromise."

Last week's landmark $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement is back in the headlines, as eight women's college sports athletes filed an appeal on Wednesday claiming that the approved NIL back-payment plan violates Title IX, the federal law banning gender discrimination in schools.

On June 6th, a federal judge approved a settlement between the NCAA and former student-athletes, with the college sports governing body agreeing to have schools directly distribute billions of dollars in back pay to players barred from financially benefitting off their name, image, and likeness since 2016.

Wednesday's appeal to that back-pay plan calls out alleged payment inequities written into the settlement ruling, which could see up to 90% of the $2.8 billion distributed to former NCAA men's sports athletes.

"The calculation of past damages is based on an error that ignores Title IX and deprives female athletes of $1.1 billion," said Ashlyn Hare, one of the lawyers representing the appellants. "Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women's sports."

"If Nike wants to [pay male athletes more], that is their choice. If the school, or a conference acting on the school's behalf tries to do that, they are violating the law," John Clune, another lawyer on the team, clarified.

"They can either pay the athletes proportionately, or they can return all of their federal funds," said Clune. "But they can't do both."

With the USWNT back in action for the next set of summer friendlies later this month, head coach Emma Hayes filled ESPN in on her roster strategy earlier this week.

Hayes will rest all Europe-based US players during the upcoming international window, instead relying on domestic talent following a jam-packed year for the team's European stars.

"We don't necessarily decide the international calendar, but this is one where we think it's in the best interest of the players," Hayes said, noting both past demands and the increasingly busy road to the 2027 World Cup.

With player welfare and recovery top-of-mind, the lone exception to Hayes's European omissions is Chelsea FC defender Naomi Girma, who made her 2025 USWNT debut on May 31st.

The US manager is seeking more minutes for the star center back after Girma spent much of the year recovering from a calf injury.

Hayes also revealed some key updates on other injured players, with fans eager to see midfielder Rose Lavelle and forward Trinity Rodman return to the USWNT fold.

After a lengthy recovery from ankle surgery, Lavelle — who made her first NWSL appearance of 2025 in Gotham FC's 2-1 loss to Kansas City last Saturday — could return to international play this month.

Rodman remains slightly further out from returning to the USWNT roster, with Hayes saying she expects the Spirit forward to begin seeing club minutes sometime next month.

The USWNT core is coming together, with Stateside players looking to seize the chance to prove their worth as club soccer approaches its summer hiatus.

The NWSL is locking in its summer calendar, as teams across the league announce special July friendlies ahead of the regular-season break for major global tournaments.

Without a planned league-wide tournament like 2024's NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, its up to individual clubs to fill their schedules until NWSL play resumes in August.

While there might not be a trophy at the end, the gap does provide an opportunity for some fresh friendly competition beyond the confines of the league.

The North Carolina Courage will welcome Liga MX titans and Concacaf W Champions Cup contenders Tigres UANL back to the States for a one-off exhibition match on July 9th.

Then on July 12th, Kansas City will kick off its Teal Rising Cup, a four-team friendly tournament pitting the NWSL's Current and Chicago Stars against Brazil's Série A1 clubs Corinthians and Palmeiras.

Late July will see both the Seattle Reign and Bay FC square off against Japan's WE League champions the Urawa Red Diamonds, with Bay tacking on an additional July 19th friendly against Angel City.

The USL Super League is also getting in on the summer interleague action, with the NWSL's Angel City facing the Carolina Ascent on July 26th after Racing Louisville hosts crosstown USL squad Lexington SC on July 13th — giving fans a glimpse at how the two US systems stack up against one another.

As teams juggle lineups in the wake of summer international departures, these July friendlies may feature decidedly different rosters than regular-season play — though hungry NWSL fans likely won't mind.