The 2023 NWSL Championship pits OL Reign against Gotham FC. The league is guaranteed to crown a new champion, as neither franchise has ever won the title before.

In honor of this year’s championship match, Just Women’s Sports takes a look back at the nine previous winners.

2022: Portland Thorns FC

The Thorns won their league-leading third championship, fending off the Kansas City Current in the title game.

After finishing second in the league standings with a 10-9-3 record, Portland received a first-round bye as a result, then beat the expansion San Diego Wave in the semifinals. The 2-1 victory included a goal from Rocky Rodriguez and a stoppage-time winner by Crystal Dunn, who had only recently returned from maternity leave.

The 2-0 win over Kansas City in the final included a memorable goal (and celebration) from Sophia Smith as well as an own goal in the 56th minute. Smith – who became the youngest player to win league MVP that year – also was named Finals MVP.

2021: Washington Spirit

The Washington Spirit won their first title after finishing the regular season in third place with an 11-6-7 record. Ashley Hatch won the league’s Golden Boot that year with 10 total goals.

Hatch provided the stoppage-time winner for Washington in its first-round match against the North Carolina Courage. In the semifinals, goals from Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez sent OL Reign packing in a 2-1 win. The Spirit faced the Chicago Red Stars in the championship, with Kelley O’Hara providing the stoppage-time winner.

Note: The NWSL did not hold a regular season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, teams competed in the first iteration of the Challenge Cup tournament, which was won by the Houston Dash.

2019: North Carolina Courage

The Courage won the second of their back-to-back titles after also winning the Shield in both seasons. They finished the regular season with 49 points and a 15-4-5 record while also gathering an astounding +31 goal differential – more than double that of second-place Chicago. Lynn Williams was once again the team’s leading scorer with 12 goals.

The Courage beat the Reign, 4-1, in the semifinals thanks to goals from Heather O’Reilly, Debinha and Crystal Dunn, as well as an own goal from the opposing team. And then they topped the Red Stars, 4-0, in the championship game, with Debinha, Dunn, Jessica McDonald and Sam Mewis all getting in on the scoring.

2018: North Carolina Courage

North Carolina won the title and the Shield after finishing the regular season with a 17-6-1 record, 15 points ahead of the second-place Thorns. Goals from Jessica McDonald and Sam Mewis in the semifinal round propelled the team to a 2-0 win over Chicago.

The Courage went on to beat Portland, 3-0, in the final off a McDonald brace and a goal from Debinha. Lynn Williams finished as the team’s leading scorer with 14 goals, while McDonald ranked first in the league in assists.

2017: Portland Thorns FC

Portland’s second NWSL title came four years after its first. The team was led in goals by Christine Sinclair, who had eight on the season. The Thorns finished second in the league in the regular season with a 14-5-5 record, two points behind the North Carolina Courage.

A 4-1 win over the Orlando Pride in the semifinals set up a clash with the Courage in the championship, which Portland won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Lindsey Horan in the 50th minute.

2016: Western New York Flash

The Western New York Flash won the title in 2016 after finishing the regular season fourth in the NWSL standings and barely sneaking into the playoffs. They beat out the Reign for the final playoff spot by two points, finishing with a 9-5-6 record – winning just one more game than Seattle. Lynn Williams was the leading scorer for the team and the league with 11 goals.

The playoffs that season featured extra time in every single game played, with New York beating Portland in the semifinals, 4-3, thanks to a stoppage-time winning brace from Williams.

The Flash would go on to face the Washington Spirit in the final, which finished in a 2-2 tie after regulation and extra time off goals from Williams and Sam Mewis and Williams for New York and a Crystal Dunn brace for Washington. The Flash took home the title with a 3-2 win in the penalty shootout.

2015: FC Kansas City

For the second year in a row, the Reign won the Shield and FC Kansas City won the NWSL title, with the Seattle club finishing as the runner-up. Kansas City finished third in the regular season with a 9-5-6 record, led by Crystal Dunn who had 15 goals.

They beat Chicago in the semifinal, with a brace from Rocky Rodriguez propelling them to a 3-0 win. Rodriguez would play hero again in the championship game, scoring the game’s lone goal in a 1-0 win for Kansas City. This marked the Reign’s last appearance in the NWSL championship until 2023.

2014: FC Kansas City

FC Kansas City won the first of their two NWSL titles in 2014, finishing the season second in league standings with 41 points and a 12-5-7 record. The Reign were far and away the best team of the regular season with 54 points and a +30 goal differential.

Kansas City beat Portland, 2-0, in the semifinal round, setting up a championship showdown between the two best teams of the regular season. Rocky Rodriguez netted a brace to give Kansas City the 2-1 win.

2013: Portland Thorns FC

Portland’s winning history in the NWSL dates back to the first-ever league championship, with star players including Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath gracing the field for the club.

The Thorns beat FC Kansas City in the semifinal round and then Shield winners Western New York Flash, 2-0, in the championship match to take home the title off goals from Heath and Sinclair.

The Chicago Sky showed up in a big way on Tuesday night, taking down 2023 WNBA Finals runners-up New York Liberty by an impressively wide margin. 

The Sky walked away with a 101-53 win, boasting a 48 point swing that still looms large despite the fact that it's only preseason. Perhaps the team felt extra pressure to perform — not only did WNBA League Pass follow through on their promise to stream the game for free, but Chicago Bears rookies Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze also happened to be watching on from the stands.

“I’m gonna just say — it’s about time," said Sky guard Dana Evans in response to the star-studded turnout at Wintrust Arena. "Everybody wants to watch women’s basketball. I feel like we’ve been doing a really good job of doing stuff on the court and off the court. So just having them support us is great — but keep bringing them out."

Chicago's Marina Mabrey was lights out with four threes and 20 points on the night, while training camp addition Chennedy Carter racked up 11 points and two steals. 

Sky rookie Angel Reese proved that she can do it all, putting up 13 points, five rebounds, and two steals in 19 minutes — all less than 24 hours after she walked the Met Gala red carpet in New York. The 6-foot-3 top draft pick out of LSU even knocked down a layup over 2023 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart in one of the night's many highlights.

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"So now yall can delete them drafts & tweets saying i shouldn’t have gone to the met gala & i can’t do both," she later wrote on social media. 

While some may chalk it up to preseason coaching choices and the fact that it was the Liberty’s first real game outside of training camp scrimmages, New York head coach Sandy Brondello still voiced disappointed in her team’s result.

"We just got our butts kicked, everywhere. I mean everything. It’s an embarrassing effort, I don’t care that it’s preseason," she said in a postgame press conference. "Our starters didn't get us off to a good start. We missed a lot of layups early, but they just took us out of everything."

On a lighter note, the third-year Liberty coach had some kind words for undrafted rookie Jaylyn Sherrod, who showed real effort on defense.

"She has speed," remarked Brondello. "She could guard Dana Evans. No one else could."

As the WNBA plans to implement league-wide charter flights, the NWSL is struggling with some travel issues of its own. 

Missed flights, inclement weather, and a stretch of midweek games have spurred workload and logistical concerns for a number of NWSL teams. Last week, three games were played Wednesday night, while another three games are set to be played tonight. 

"You can't play your best XI right now because of the amount of games you have," said Red Stars head coach Lorne Donaldson after last Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Washington. Donaldson emphasized the importance of rotating through the team’s depth so as to avoid injury.

"You have to get to about 16 deep where you can," he continued. "Or else your best XI is going to be injured or walk off the field and they can’t finish the season."

Kansas City has faced some of the league's most extreme turnaround times this season. On Sunday, the Current missed an evening flight to Seattle due to a multi-hour rain delay in Houston, throwing off their training schedule ahead of their midweek match against the Reign. The NWSL eventually gave them the green light to charter a plane, but not before frustration spread throughout the team.

"We lost the whole day of the opportunity to recover," said Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski after the Current's weekend draw against the Dash. "So the schedule, it's already challenging to begin with. We have by far the worst schedule in the league, and this just made it even worse.

"We don't have a hotel, we got to figure out a hotel. We don't have flights for tomorrow, we got to figure out flights. We had trainings for some players that we believe needed training time to be able to perform on Wednesday.”

While the team was given permission to charter a plane, navigating such approvals has proven difficult in the past. This past July, the NWSL fined Kansas City $55,000 over the unauthorized use of a charter flight.

Recently retired WNBA superstar Candace Parker has her next gig lined up: president of women’s basketball at Adidas.

Parker announced her retirement at the end of April, bringing a close to a 16-year professional career spanning three WNBA championship titles with three different teams. And now, she’s stepping into a slightly different role — this time off the court — with longtime sponsor Adidas.

"The brand and I have grown together, and we’ve done some amazing things," she told Fast Company in an exclusive interview published Wednesday morning. "I’m excited about what the future holds on this side of things, because I’m so passionate about growing the game of basketball."

Parker initially signed with Adidas at the end of her first professional season in 2008, going on to spend the vast majority of her illustrious WNBA career linked to the German athletic brand. In 2010, she became the first woman to receive a signature Adidas shoe: the ACE Commander.

Her most recent Adidas collaborations include basketball sneakers Exhibit B (2022) and Exhibit Select (2023) in a variety of different colorways, as well as limited edition off-court apparel.

In 2022, Parker led a mentorship program for the brand’s first class of NIL-sponsored college athletes, a stacked roster that involved the likes of rising star Hailey Van Lith, among others. In her new position, she’ll be "overseeing pretty much everything" when it comes to the brand’s women’s basketball operations.

That "everything" includes weighing in on shoe and clothing design, navigating new and existing athlete partnerships, and taking control of Adidas' grassroots growth strategies. She’ll also help with "how we actually speak to the women’s basketball consumer," Eric Wise, who leads the brand’s global basketball business, told Fast Company.

According to Parker, the decision to accept the offer hinged on her desire to be more than just "the face" of Adidas women’s basketball.

"I said to [Adidas], 'I don’t want to be a mascot,'" Parker said. "'I really want to be in the meetings, and I want to be a part of making decisions.'"

Charter flights are on the horizon for the WNBA, with commissioner Cathy Engelbert saying on Tuesday that the league will provide teams with full-time private travel services beginning as soon as this season. 

The move is set to address years of player safety concerns, among other issues. Engelbert told AP Sports Editors that the league aims to launch the program "as soon as we can logistically get planes in place."

The initiative is projected to cost around $25 million per year over the next two seasons.

The WNBA has previously provided charter flights on a limited basis, including during the postseason and when teams were scheduled to play back-to-back regular season games. Individual owners seeking to independently provide their teams with private travel — such as the New York Liberty’s Joe and Clara Wu Tsai back in 2022 — faced significant fines for using unauthorized charters.

While players and team staff have been calling for league-wide charters even before Caitlin Clark and other high profile rookies joined the league, Engelbert has routinely cited steep year-to-year costs as the reasoning behind sticking to commercial flights. 

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However, the WNBA's surging popularity means increased visibility, and a subsequent uptick in security concerns — especially when it comes to big name newcomers like Clark — has Englebert reconsidering her previous decision. 

WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike called the move "transformational," and credited the WNBPA as well as the league for its implementation. 

"Our league is growing, the demand for women's basketball is growing," Ogwumike told ESPN. "That means more eyes on us, which is what we want, but that means more protection from the organization that we play for, the whole W that we play for.

"Chartering flights not only is a safety measure, the biggest thing, and then obviously what it means to be able to play a game and go home and rest and recover and be the elite athletes that we try to be every single night when we step out onto this court."

Aces coach Becky Hammon called the immediate response to the charter announcement "great" but noted that there are still kinks to be worked out. 

"What it all looks like, we’re still gathering information, we don’t know," she said Tuesday.

Several players emphasized the importance of safety, highlighting how last season the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner was harassed in an airport while traveling commercial.

"All these players and these faces are becoming so popular that it really is about that as much as it as about recovery," Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier said.

"Above everything else, I think it's the safety of our players," Mercury player Natasha Cloud added. "We have a prime example with BG on our team that needs to be safe. At airports, it's like a madhouse. You see Caitlin Clark walking through airports, people following her, people trying to touch her, get pictures with her. It's just a safety measure, through and through. You would never have an NBA team walk through an airport."

Prior to Tuesday's announcement, the league had said it would charter flights for the playoffs and back-to-back games via a program introduced last year. The latest news, however, promises that teams will also be provided charters to and from all regular season games.

"Our safety is being taken seriously now, finally. In no world should our security not be a priority," Griner told ESPN. "If we want to be the league that we want to be and have the respect that we have, it comes with some risks. Sometimes people want to get close to you and it's not people you want, so I'm just glad that we don't have to deal with that anymore."