Even with the 2025 regular season on a break, the NWSL is staying busy, announcing its 2026 schedule framework on Wednesday as the league eyes its first-ever 16-team season.

With both expansion clubs Denver and Boston Legacy FC hitting the pitch, the NWSL plans to expand the regular season from its current 26 matches to 30 games per team, ensuring each club plays one home and one away match against each of the league's squads across the 2026 season.

The 2026 campaign will kick off on March 13th and run through November 1st, before the eight-team playoff field battles through the postseason, all aiming to lift the NWSL Championship trophy on November 21st.

Like previous seasons, next year's NWSL play will begin with a preseason appetizer, as the 2025 league champion and 2025 Shield-winner will face off in the 2026 Challenge Cup on February 20th.

Notably, the NWSL will pause regular-season play for nearly entire month of June, in part because the North America-hosted 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup will be using league venues across seven NWSL cities.

The league will also fulfill its CBA-mandated summer break, meaning each team's 30-game 2026 season will take place across 27 total weeks of competition.

Including the Challenge Cup and postseason play, the 2026 NWSL season will include 248 matches.

The league will release more scheduling details at a later date.

Big-name NWSL stars could be on the move next season, with the league releasing its list of 2026 free agents on Tuesday.

Two of the USWNT's 2024 Olympic gold medal-winning Triple Espresso frontline — the Washington Spirit's Trinity Rodman and the Portland Thorns' Sophia Wilson — headline the 2026 slate.

Other NWSL standouts like Gotham FC forward Midge Purce, Kansas City Current midfielder Lo'eau LaBonta, and North Carolina Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy are also eligible to negotiate new contracts — and potentially suit up for other clubs next year.

As per the players' most recent CBA with the league, all athletes whose contracts expire at the end of this season are now 2026 free agents, regardless of the number of years they've competed in the NWSL.

The 2026 free agency period officially began on Tuesday, opening the door for both teams and eligible players to initiate contract discussions and term negotiations for next season.

Even more, 2025 clubs face additional competition in the race to sign their most-wished for players, as new NWSL expansion teams Denver and Boston Legacy FC enter the free agency fray ahead of their 2026 season debuts.

Notably, landing on the free agent list doesn't prohibit a player from simply re-signing with their original club, but it does indicate that any previous deal negotiations have extended beyond the NWSL's July 1st contract extension deadline.

Incoming NWSL expansion side Boston Legacy FC announced the hiring of the club's first-ever head coach on Wednesday, tapping Benfica manager Filipa Patão ahead of the team's inaugural 2026 season.

"I'm very excited about going to Boston. I can't wait to get to the city, meet all the people and start working," said Patão, who will join the front office in July to help build the Legacy's roster.

Patão has helmed Benfica since 2020, amassing a 156-28-15 W-L-D record across all competitions, including leading the team to the 2023/24 Champions League quarterfinals — the best finish of any Portuguese club in UWCL history.

"Boston is a club where we want to develop both technical identity and have a clear style of play, but also we want a coach who thinks about more than just winning games," said incoming Boston GM Domè Guasch in a team statement. "Filipa is a coach I believe can help us build a great culture where players understand they will come here to grow and learn."

Patão adds to the Legacy's increasingly European front office, following the likes of Guasch, who joined from FC Barcelona.

"The American league is extremely competitive and that's one of the reasons I accepted this project," Patão said. "I like competition, difficulty, and getting the players to strive for more and better."

Her penchant for developing players as well as her will to win are two reasons that Legacy controlling owner Jennifer Epstein says made Patão a perfect fit for Boston.

"Filipa demonstrates all of the qualities that personify this club and the way we want to play: with passion, grit, and style," said Epstein.

"We can’t wait to watch her build Boston's next championship team."

The NWSL outlined new rules for expansion roster building and intra-league loans on Thursday, as two new franchises prepare to enter the league in 2026 without the benefit of an expansion draft.

"With the introduction of free agency and the elimination of the NWSL Draft and Expansion Draft, it was important for us to establish alternative player acquisition assets that support incoming teams while maintaining competitive balance across the league," said NWSL VP of player affairs Stephanie Lee in a league announcement.

Incoming clubs Boston Legacy FC and NWSL Denver will each have access to over $1 million in allocation funds to spend on players beginning on July 1st through the end of 2027.

Both teams can also sign players without being held to a salary cap until the secondary transfer window in 2025, providing players can be loaned out, put on Season Ending Injury designation, or acquired with allocation money used toward the salary cap.

Once the secondary transfer window opens this year, both Boston and Denver will have a $250,000 cap under which they can ink college athletes or international players not under contract.

In addition, the NWSL declared open season on intra-league loans on Thursday, allowing all teams to add athletes to their rosters from other league entities — provided both the player and the league approve the loan.

Each team can have no more than 12 players either in or out on loan at a time, and clubs can only bring in or send out a maximum of three athletes to/from any other single squad.

Overall, the NWSL intends these moves to bolster competition for both its current and future clubs.

"The introduction of intra-league loans — available to all teams — adds greater flexibility and opportunity for player development and strategic roster management league-wide," noted Lee.

Boston Legacy FC will make their NWSL debut inside Foxborough's Gillette Stadium, the 2026 expansion club told reporters on Wednesday.

After significant delays impacted the proposed redevelopment of White Stadium, located in Boston's Franklin Park neighborhood, the team will call the NFL venue home for its full inaugural campaign.

With room for 20,000 soccer fans — when not used by up to 64,628 fans for NFL games — suburban Gillette's primary tenants are the New England Patriots.

The stadium is also the current home of pro lacrosse team Boston Cannons and MLS side New England Revolution — as well as the Revolution's third-division counterpart.

With White Stadium originally slated to reopen in March 2026, the Boston Legacy ownership group hit several snags in their plan to renovate the 76-year-old venue.

Following a controversial partnership with the city's public schools, an ongoing lawsuit from an area conservancy organization and community pushback are still causing significant construction delays.

Even so, the NWSL team remains committed to seeing the project through, telling The Athletic that "Boston Legacy FC will play its inaugural season at Gillette Stadium before the club moves into its permanent home at White Stadium in 2027."

"After nearly two years of community process, including more than 70 public meetings, a landmark lease agreement, and a clear victory at trial, White Stadium construction is well underway," the club's statement continued. "But construction will not be finished by March of 2026."

Calling the White Stadium conversion a "profit-driven rush," a local resident told the publication "This news comes as a relief for the communities around Franklin Park."

While sharing Gillette's turf-covered field with several different pro teams isn't an ideal situation, it does allow the NWSL's 15th addition to start off on what appears to be more stable footing — at least for now.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman voiced confidence in the league's ability to execute "ambitious plans" regarding expansion at last week's SheBelieves Summit, telling the crowd that growing to as many as 32 teams is not out of the question.

"Our board believes that we can be the size of the [32-team] NFL," she explained. "There is nothing that stands in the way of us doing that, other than having access to top talent."

"There’s certainly not a problem with the supply, given the size of our country and the level of talent that exists," Berman continued. "We just need to figure out how to develop [those athletes] strategically and intentionally."

Expansion takes backseat as NWSL focuses on 2026 scheduling

With the NWSL's current 14-team field welcoming expansion clubs in Boston and Denver in 2026, the league is still a long ways off from its potential long-term goal of exceeding 30 squads.

Following her remarks at the SheBelieves Summit, Berman told ESPN that while the league is not currently in an expansion round, she is continuing to conduct conversations with interested ownership groups.

Prior to seriously considering continued expansion, however, the league must first contend with some scheduling hurdles affecting the 2026 NWSL season.

Berman noted that while the NWSL expects to play throughout next year’s US-based men’s World Cup, certain anticipated venue conflicts will require creative solutions to do so, with the commissioner noting that "everything’s on the table" when it comes to addressing the overlaps.

Boston’s incoming NWSL club has a new name, with the 2026 expansion side rebranding to Boston Legacy FC on Wednesday in a pivot from last October’s initial controversy-sparking "BOS Nation" rollout.

The NWSL approved Boston’s expansion bid to become its 15th team in September 2023, returning the league to New England after the 2018 folding of the Boston Breakers.

In a press release, the team said it arrived at Boston Legacy FC after "five months of fan listening, research, and consultation," which began by surveying 1,500 fans and brand professionals before whittling the initial list of 500 suggested names down to 14 contenders.

While some cuts were clear due to trademarks or other legal barriers, other names were discarded as they did not align with the club's core values, including "a commitment to fierce competition with the ambition to establish a generational legacy of winning" as well as "the humility to understand that you make history through the grit of day by hardworking day, mile by unrelenting mile."

Other guiding criteria the team adhered to throughout the process included avoiding "colonial, Revolutionary War, and nautical themes" and choosing a timeless name that would not require any explanation.

Ultimately, the team's mission centers around creating "a club where everyone should feel welcome, where we embrace the whole city, where we build something bigger than ourselves."

After the organization's extensive research and consulting process, Boston Legacy FC won out as the "clear winner in every single category by a statistically significant margin."

Rebrand is the first step in Boston's NWSL plan

In addition to Wednesday's name announcement, Boston's NWSL club plans to release more branding, including a team crest, in the coming months.

Calling the new name "just the beginning," Boston Legacy FC majority owner Jennifer Epstein said in a statement that "it's what we build together, through dedication, commitment, and grit, that will give [the club] life."

"I look forward to watching the Boston Legacy build a club for a new generation while honoring those who helped build the game," said USWNT icon, former Boston Breaker attacker, and team brand advisor Kristine Lilly. "It is an exciting time for women’s soccer and I look forward to cheering on the Boston Legacy."