Gotham raised a continental trophy on Saturday, with the NWSL side toppling Liga MX's Tigres UANL 1-0 to claim the first-ever Concacaf W Champions Cup crown.

Powered by a goal from star striker Esther González in the match's 82nd minute, the win punched Gotham's ticket to two additional global tournaments: the inaugural FIFA Champions Cup in 2026 and the 2028 debut edition of the FIFA Women's Club World Cup.

"The other day, we talked about the first-ever champions of competitions like the UEFA Champions League, the Euro, the World Cup, and the Olympics," said Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós following Saturday's victory. "Now, forever, the first team to win the Concacaf W Champions Cup will be Gotham FC."

"These players, with this coaching staff — we are incredibly proud of what they've accomplished."

Gotham wasn't the only NWSL club to claim a Saturday victory at the inaugural confederation tournament. Following a 2-0 loss to the Tigres 2-0 in Wednesday's semifinals, the Portland Thorns bounced back with a 3-0 win over Liga MX side Club América in Saturday's third-place match.

Now with hardware in tow, the Bats will have some ground to make up after the current international break, with Gotham slipping to ninth place in the NWSL standings during their absence from the league last weekend.

The battle for continental soccer glory continues on Wednesday, as the Portland Thorns and Gotham FC land in Mexico for the 2024/25 Concacaf W Champions Cup semifinals.

After advancing past last fall's group-stage play, both NWSL sides now face Liga MX standouts in the knockout rounds with a ticket to Saturday's Champions Cup Final on the line.

The back-to-back semifinals will take place on Wednesday in Nuevo León, Mexico, with live coverage streaming on Paramount+:

It's not just hardware and continental bragging rights on the line, though.

Saturday's 2024/25 Concacaf W Champions Cup victors will also earn automatic qualification into FIFA's 2026 Champions Cup — a six-team tournament between confederation winners — and the first-ever Club World Cup, which will kick off in 2028.

The Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit, and Gotham FC will represent the NWSL in the upcoming 2025/26 Concacaf W Champions Cup, the confederation announced alongside key details of the tournament's second iteration on Monday.

The top three 2024 NWSL finishers will join three clubs from Mexico's Liga MX, as well as one squad each from Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama in the 10-team group stage, which will run from August 19th through October 16th of this year.

Mirroring the expansive schedule of the 2024/25 inaugural event, the second edition will see its four-match semifinal and final rounds taking place over a single weekend in May 2026.

Meanwhile, this year's battle to become North America's top club team is still ongoing, with Gotham FC qualifying for the 2025/26 competition all while advancing to this month's 2024/25 Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals alongside with fellow NWSL club Portland.

Both May 21st semis are NWSL vs. Liga MX affairs, with the Bats facing Club América before the Thorns take on Tigres UANL in Nuevo León, Mexico.

The semifinal victors will battle for the first-ever Concacaf Champions Cup on May 24th, with the winner earning both confederation bragging rights and automatic qualification into FIFA's 2026 Champions Cup and 2028 Club World Cup.

As interest in the women's game grows around the world, FIFA is looking to capitalize on the demand by launching new regional competitions — while also adding to an increasingly crowded schedule for some of its most successful teams.

How to watch the Concacaf W Champions Cup semifinals

Gotham FC will kick off the 2024/25 Champions Cup semis against Club América at 7:30 PM ET on Wednesday, May 21st, with Portland's clash with the Tigres immediately following at 10:30 PM ET.

Both semifinals will stream live on Paramount+.

China PR pulled out of their June 3rd friendly against the USWNT, according to a Friday US Soccer release which announced that Jamaica will replace the 2022 Asian Cup winners at Energizer Park in St. Louis.

As of now, China will still face the USWNT on May 31st in St. Paul, marking the first of the US’s upcoming two-game international break.

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"After initially agreeing to play two matches during the upcoming FIFA window, the Chinese Football Association subsequently informed US Soccer that its Women’s National Team could play only the first match," USSF said in its statement.

The federation did not provide an explanation for China’s cancelation, quickly tapping Jamaica as stand-ins.

Jamaica's Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw battles USWNT defenders Emily Fox and Naomi Girma for the ball during a 2022 Concacaf Championship match.
Star striker Khadija "Bunny" Shaw hopes to lead Jamaica to a first-ever win over the USWNT in June. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

USWNT to contend with Concacaf foes Jamaica

Despite sharing a confederation, the US and Jamaica have only squared off six prior times, with June's match marking the teams' first meeting in three years.

The last clash between the pair occurred at the 2022 Concacaf W Championship, where the US walked away from the pitch with a 5-0 victory over the Reggae Girlz.

Led by Manchester City striker Khadija "Bunny" Shaw, Jamaica earned spots in the last two World Cups, advancing to the Round of 16 for the first time ever in the 2023 edition.

The pair's upcoming seventh meeting will also serve as a celebration of retired USWNT captain and local product Becky Sauerbrunn, with US Soccer calling the decorated defender "the greatest female player in St. Louis soccer history."

The inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup will kick off in February 2024, the federation announced Wednesday.

The U.S. women’s national team became the first team to qualify, courtesy of its Concacaf W Championship victory last summer. The USWNT also will host the international tournament, which will build on the momentum from the 2023 World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand.

The Gold Cup will start Feb. 17, 2024, with a six-team preliminary round, then will move into a 12-team group stage and an eight-team knockout stage. The tournament will conclude with the championship match on March 10.

The group stage will feature eight teams from Concacaf and four from South America’s CONMEBOL as part of a collaboration between the confederations. The CONMEBOL participants (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay) were selected via the 2022 Copa América.

From Concacaf, the winner of the Concacaf Olympic play-in matches between Canada and Jamaica will earn a berth, joining the USWNT. So will three teams from the qualifying competition, which will begin in September. The final three teams in the group stage will be decided in the preliminary round.

“This new Concacaf W Gold Cup will be the flagship event for women’s national team football in our region and will showcase some of the very best women’s football in Concacaf and the world,” Concacaf president Victor Montagliani said.

Schedule

Qualification

  • Dates: FIFA international windows in September, October and November
  • Format: Thirty-three teams from Concacaf, not including the two teams who already have qualified (USWNT and Canada or Jamaica), will be split into three leagues according to their confederation rankings, and then those leagues will be split into three groups. The top three finishers from the three groups in the top league (League A) will advance to the group stage.

Prelims

  • Date: Feb. 17
  • Format: The three runners-up from League A’s groups and the three winners from League B’s groups will participate in the preliminary competition. The six teams will be seeded according to their confederation rankings. Each will play one of the other teams in a single-elimination match, with the three winners advancing to the group stage.

Group stage

  • Dates: Feb. 20-28
  • Format: The 12 teams will be split into three groups of four for round-robin play, with three matches per team. The three group winners, three group runners-up and two best third place finishers will advance.

Knockout stage

  • Dates: March 2-10
  • Format: The eight teams will participate in a single-elimination format tournament, with the quarterfinals on March 2-3, semifinals on March 6 and final on March 10.

The last time Alex Morgan took the field against Canada, her two teammates on the front line were much different, and much older.

In that Olympic semifinal last August, Morgan exited early as the U.S. women’s national team’s offense failed to produce. It ended in a one-goal loss, the first time the United States had lost to Canada in over 20 years.

Back then, Tobin Heath (33 at the time) and Lynn Williams (28) joined the 33-year-old Morgan on the attack. This time, in the USWNT’s Concacaf title-clinching 1-0 win over Canada on Monday night, she was the oldest forward by nine years, with 24-year-old Mallory Pugh and 21-year-old Sophia Smith playing beside her, and Trinity Rodman (20) and Midge Purce (26) eventually subbing in with a few minutes to play.

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Alex Morgan shoots her game-winning penalty kick against Canada in the Concacaf final. (Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images)

This time, Morgan did not exit early, though the team struggled to produce in the first half.

This time, she was the hero, and her young teammates got to see exactly what it takes to win at the international level.

“She’s a winner,” USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “She knows how to win big games. She knows how to perform in big games. She’s won World Cups, she’s won Olympics, she’s won big tournaments. That doesn’t come overnight. So for her to be on the field to showcase that, and to have Mal and Soph next to her, that is a big win for us. That’s a big win for this team and for this country.

“Those two are going to have to take it over, and what better way to learn than from one of the best?”

The opening 45 minutes were full of “what ifs” and Herculean saves from Canadian goalie Kailen Sheridan. Perhaps the best chance of the match came with a few minutes left in the first half, when a perfect cross from Sofia Huerta found Smith in front of the net. The pass was so perfectly placed, curving around the Canadian defenders, that Smith seemed surprised when it reached her. Her touch was too strong, and Sheridan ended up meeting her at the goal line. There was a bit of a commotion as Smith fell forward over Sheridan. Her body went over the goal line, but Sheridan and the ball stayed outside, preserving the scoreless tie.

Pugh has played in 77 matches for the USWNT, recording 24 goals and 26 assists in that span, while Smith has played in 20 with eight goals and three assists.

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The USWNT celebrate with the Concacaf W Championship trophy Monday night in Mexico. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Still, the two don’t have nearly as much experience as players like Morgan at the international level. Since the Olympics last year, USWNT fans have questioned Andonovski’s roster decisions, especially when it comes to opting for veterans over younger talent. But Morgan has the experience, and just over two years removed from giving birth to daughter Charlie, she still looks to be in her prime.

“She doesn’t want to stop growing, she doesn’t want to stop developing,” Andonovski said. “She wants to expand her game in any way possible, and she has been doing that day in and day out.”

With 118 goals in 196 matches for the United States, the forward is forever etched into soccer lore. And when Rose Lavelle was fouled in the box with 14 minutes left in regular time, she had a chance to add another line to her legendary list of accomplishments.

“I could tell (she was locked in),” Andonovski said. “That’s why she played almost 90 minutes. If I didn’t feel like she was performing, she was probably going to come out early. I thought she was tremendous.”

Morgan had always been tabbed to take the penalty kick, Vlatko said, if the opportunity arose when she was on the field.

They stuck with the decision, despite the presence of Sheridan — Morgan’s teammate in San Diego — in the net. The Canadian goalie is familiar with Morgan’s tendencies, but when the ball sailed into the right corner of the net, Sheridan went left.

“Before the final, I did speak to Alex about how she feels about taking the penalty, because obviously she was going against her club teammate,” Andonovski said. “But she wanted to take it, and her answer was with confidence, which gave me confidence as well.”

As the ball hit nylon, the cheers erupted from the stands, and Morgan celebrated with her youthful counterparts.

The veteran saved the day after her squad missed several quality chances throughout the contest. But after the match, Andonovski didn’t dwell on the ones that didn’t go in, instead choosing to focus on the opportunities they did generate. At times, the front line looked faster and more skilled than Canada, which ran out virtually the same lineup the United States saw during the Olympics.

The way players like Smith and Pugh performed impressed Andonovski, who praised their improvement from the Concacaf opener to the final victory.

“I am very happy with the gradual improvements that we had,” he said. “It is very obvious that our team is significantly younger than the previous time we played Canada. We changed our lineup, five players in that starting lineup. Those players are going to be here for at least three, maybe four World Cups, so get used to it.”

Morgan is closer to the end of her USWNT career at this point, but she’s leaving the squad with plenty to remember her by.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.