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Sam Mewis, Lynn Williams want NWSL to change Challenge Cup schedule

Lynn Williams
Omar Vega/Getty Images

The NWSL and national teams have long had a complex relationship, sometimes symbiotic and sometimes at odds, with players having to balance playing for both club and country.

Now, international players are calling on the league to amend the 2022 schedule to honor FIFA windows and improve the NWSL calendar.

Snacks host Lynn Williams recently stopped by The Athletic’s Full Time with Meg Linehan podcast to discuss the Challenge Cup with the Houston Dash’s Rachel Daly and Orlando Pride’s Alex Morgan.

Williams tells Snacks co-host Sam Mewis that the trio talked about how “the NWSL continues to play through FIFA windows and how hard it is for internationals to feel sometimes a part of the NWSL as well a part of the National Team and being pulled in two different directions.”

Williams admits that splitting time between a club and national team can create interesting dynamics in the locker room.

“Sometimes the club team, you get this bad reputation of like, ‘you don’t want to be here, you are always with your National Team.’ In reality you do, it’s just so hard because they continue to play and you’re just pulled all over the place,” says Williams.

Mewis says she’s also felt divided between representing the USWNT and her NWSL team, the North Carolina Courage.

“I think it’s hard to do both when they conflict. Obviously, you can’t be there 100 percent of the time for your club team even though in the rest of the world the schedules are just made in a way that clubs and the leagues respect the FIFA windows so that international players aren’t missing 25 percent of the games in a season.”

“You always hear coaches say ‘you’ll get your shot when the national team players go away,’” Williams adds. “And I feel like they say that trying to make it a positive, but in reality it’s kind of a negative because it’s like, ‘Oh you only value me when they’re gone’ — so, it’s a very interesting dynamic that is so unique to the NWSL.”

Going forward, Williams and Mewis hope the NWSL will shift the schedule — including moving the NWSL Challenge Cup. Mewis points explicitly to next summer when there is a “big FIFA window” for international qualifying tournaments as a potential place for the NWSL Challenge Cup.

“Doing the Challenge Cup during that window, I feel like, makes so much sense. Instead of having a break or just continuing with games, I think it makes sense to put a different kind of competition in that big window and to kind of get used to doing that in the summers when there are these big tournaments.”

This would mean the Challenge Cup would be without international players. But as someone who has experienced both sides of that playing dynamic, Williams says this could be a change that would benefit all NWSL players.

“I’ve been on both sides. I’ve been where I just played in the NWSL and not with the National Team and then having to do both. And I also think it’s not fair [in terms of the regular season] to the players when all the internationals leave because some teams have more internationals, then you’re trying to figure out formations and player personnel while your players are away.”

Williams adds that placing the Challenge Cup during the Summer could provide players who aren’t typically awarded minutes more time on the pitch while allowing international and club players to get back on the same schedule and avoid missing crucial regular season games.

The Challenge Cup was initially played as a replacement tournament for the 2020 NWSL season, with teams competing within a single bubble. This season, the league moved the Challenge Cup to the beginning of the year and used it as a kick-off tournament. The Houston Dash won last year’s tournament in memorable fashion, while the Portland Thorns won this years, claiming their first trophy in a season that’s been full of them.

Listen to the latest episode of Snacks for more on Williams and Mewis’ thoughts on the NWSL schedule.

WSL and WSL2 Clubs Vote in Favor of English League Expansion

Chelsea FC attacker Aggie Beever-Jones celebrates a goal during a 2025 WSL match.
Despite previous proposals, the expanding WSL will not forgo relegation. (Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

The Women's Super League (WSL) is growing, with the UK league's top two flights deciding in a Monday expansion vote to enlarge its top tier from 12 to 14 teams ahead of the 2026/27 season.

The number of matches played each season will also balloon from 22 to 26 games to accommodate the incoming clubs, as will established cup competitions.

Monday also saw the WSL vote down a prior proposal to temporarily suspend the relegation and promotion process to accommodate this expansion, deciding instead to adopt a "two up, one down" model for the second-tier WSL2 next season.

As such, the top two finishers of the 2025/26 WSL2 season will automatically join the higher-tier WSL, while the WSL's last-place team will battle the WSL2's third-place club in "a high-profile, high stakes match" for the final spot in the top flight.

After reaching 14 teams, both leagues will return to relegating the last-place WSL finisher while promoting the WSL2's top team for the following season.

Along with the increased investment in club infrastructure, a 14-team WSL keeps pace with the global women's game — most notably, the NWSL, which will become a 16-team league in 2026.

"Our priority was to find a route that would benefit the whole women's game pyramid, and we believe this next evolution of women's professional football will raise minimum standards, create distinction, and incentivize investment across the board," said WSL Football CEO Nikki Doucet.

WNBA Teams Offset Injuries, EuroBasket Departures with Short-Term Contracts

Golden State Valkyries rookie Kaitlyn Chen dribbles the ball up the court during a 2025 WNBA preseason game.
2025 WNBA draftee Kaitlyn Chen returned to the Golden State Valkyries to offset EuroBasket roster departures. (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

With EuroBasket set to tip off on Wednesday and injuries mounting league-wide, WNBA teams are filling out dwindling rosters with more short-term contracts — and calling back some familiar faces along the way.

While some European standouts withdrew from EuroBasket consideration — including Phoenix's Satou Sabally and Seattle's Gabby Williams — others, like New York's Leonie Fiebich and Golden State's Temi Fagbenle, will join their national teams for the regional FIBA tournament through the end of June.

Due to these planned absences, WNBA teams temporarily suspend their EuroBasket players' contracts, allowing squads to add others to their rosters.

Players signed due to temporary absences are technically on rest-of-season deals, though the agreements can end whenever the missing athletes return.

In contrast, the league requires that teams release any hardship signings due to injury once squads tally enough healthy original players to satisfy the WNBA's 10-athlete roster minimum.

Featuring a lineup stacked with international talent, Golden State made the most transactions this week, temporarily suspending four regular contracts as 2025 EuroBasket stars departed for the annual competition.

To bolster their depleted bench, the Valkyries brought back 2025 WNBA Draft Cinderella pick Kaitlyn Chen and recent training camp participant Laeticia Amihere on short-term contracts, in addition to guard Aerial Powers and forward Chloe Bibby.

Elsewhere, after losing forward Maddy Siegrist to injury and temporarily suspending the contracts of centers Teaira McCowan and Luisa Geiselsöder, Dallas acquired center Li Yueru from Seattle — with the Wings possibly needing additional hardship signings in the coming days.

The Storm snagged two future draft picks in the Saturday deal — a second-round selection in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2027.

Ultimately, teams are striving to find a balance between stocking up and maintaining consistency, all while operating under the WNBA's roster constraints — with further league expansion fast approaching.

WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Conference Play Comes Down to the Wire

Seattle Storm forward Ezi Magbegor tries to defend a jump-shot from Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier during a 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup game.
Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx will advance to a second straight WNBA Commissioner's Cup final with a Tuesday win. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

The 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup will wrap up its conference play on Tuesday, as both Eastern and Western teams battle for a ticket to the in-season competition's championship game — and a cut of the $500,000 prize pool.

With 12 of the league's 13 teams facing off across Tuesday's WNBA courts, the results will set the stage by minting the two squads who will battle in the July 1st final showdown.

Reigning Commissioner's Cup champs Minnesota have the West's easiest path, as a win over the Las Vegas Aces will send the Lynx to a second straight final.

Should the Lynx fall to the Aces, however, Seattle can grab the Western Conference berth by beating the Los Angeles Sparks.

Meanwhile in the East, a surging Atlanta could land a trip to the final by topping New York, while the Liberty need both a win over the Dream plus a loss by the Indiana Fever to clinch their own return ticket to the Cup's grand finale.

If New York does take down Atlanta, the Fever could advance to the team's first-ever Commissioner's Cup final by beating the struggling Connecticut Sun.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

All of Tuesday's six WNBA games count toward the 2025 Commissioner's Cup tally.

The action begins with the Atlanta Dream tipping off against the New York Liberty while the Indiana Fever battles the Connecticut Sun at 7 PM ET, live on WNBA League Pass.

Chicago Sky Star Angel Reese Files Trademark for ‘Mebounds’ to Silence Internet Trolls

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese grabs a rebound during a 2024 WNBA game.
Chicago Sky star Angel Reese is trademarking a term often used to criticize her play. (Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese made headlines this week, with the second-year WNBA forward announcing that she has trademarked word "mebounds" — a slang term opposing fans use to describe Reese rebounding her own missed shots.

"Whoever came up with the 'mebounds' thing, y’all ate that up, because mebounds, rebounds, keybounds...anything that comes off that board, it's mine," Reese said in a TikTok video on Saturday.

"And a brand? That's six figures right there," she continued, referencing her trademark application. "The trolling — I love when y'all do it because the ideas be good!"

Currently averaging 11.9 boards per matchup, Reese is leading the WNBA in rebounds for the second straight season.

Her rookie campaign saw Reese average 13.1 boards per game, a rate that set a single-season league record. She also blasted through the WNBA's consecutive double-double record last season, claiming it with 10 straight before extending it to an impressive 15 games.

Along with the average rebounds record, Reese also broke the single-season total rebounds record previously held by retired Minnesota Lynx legend Sylvia Fowles — a mark that was later surpassed by 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson following Reese's season-ending wrist injury.

"Statistically, all the rebounds that I get aren't always just mine," Reese added in her Saturday social media post. "They're the defense's, too, or somebody else on my team."

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