The 2025 NWSL season kick-off is here, with all of the league's 14 teams opening their regular-season campaigns this weekend.
The Orlando Pride enters as the reigning NWSL Shield and Championship winners, while Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga will defends her league MVP title this season — but rising contenders are bound to challenge 2024’s titans.
"Everybody’s gonna hunt after us, and we need to deal with this and find a way to keep doing our best to keep making history for this club," Orlando captain Marta told reporters last week.
"It's exciting to know that everybody is gonna look to us and then try to make it difficult for us."
Revamped rosters headline 2025 NWSL kick-off
After an offseason packed with coaching hires and player movement, many clubs will be debuting rosters that look decidedly different from last year — significantly raising the stakes of the 2025 season openers.
While Marta's Pride will begin their title defense against the rebranded Chicago Stars FC on Friday and Chawinga's Current will host the already injury-bitten Portland Thorns on Saturday, three of the weekend's other five matches will put some of the offseason's most dramatic roster shifts to the test.
The first marquee matchup will put Houston's revamped roster squarely in the spotlight.
After finishing 2024 at the bottom of the NWSL table, the Dash raided the league, signing rising stars like USWNT forward Yazmeen Ryan and former Angel City attacker Messiah Bright in an attempt to go from worst to first this season.
Houston's Friday opponent, however, is a tough task. The Dash will host 2024 runners-up Washington, who managed to win last weekend's 2025 Challenge Cup despite being plagued by injuries.
Stealing Saturday's stage are two teams who sat on opposite sides of one of the offseason's biggest trades — Gotham FC and the Seattle Reign.
After helping the NJ/NY club to their first-ever championship in 2023 and the 2024 semifinals, USWNT star Lynn Biyendolo (neé Williams) requested a move to Seattle. The December trade also sent goalkeeper Cassie Miller to the Reign, with Gotham receiving promising young midfielder Jaelin Howell.
Closing out the 2025 NWSL season kick-off on Sunday are the league's SoCal rivals, Angel City and San Diego.
Both teams enter the season as works-in-progress, as Angel City will compete under interim manager Sam Laity until June while the Wave charts its 2025 course with both a new coach and some recent big-name departures.
How to watch the 2025 NWSL season kick-off
The NWSL's 2025 season is full of potential, with 2024's top four teams seeking to solidify their dominance as new contenders look to rise on this year's pitch.
All the action begins at 8 PM ET on Friday, when both Orlando vs. Chicago and Houston vs. Washington will kick off, airing live on Prime and NWSL+, respectively.
Saturday will start with Kansas City vs. Portland at 12:45 PM ET on ABC, before Racing Louisville and the NC Courage kick off at 5 PM ET on NWSL+.
ION will live broadcast Saturday'd nightcaps, with the Utah Royals taking on Bay FC at 7:30 PM ET before Seattle and Gotham face off at 10 PM ET.
Rivals Angel City and San Diego will cap the weekend with Sunday's 6:50 PM ET tilt, airing live on ESPN2.
As the 2025 NWSL season nears, clubs are already racking up serious injuries with both preseason training and the concurrent FIFA international break now underway.
Portland announced a trio of roster losses on Wednesday, naming forward Morgan Weaver, defender Nicole Payne, and defender Marie Müller to the season-ending injury list.
Regional rival Seattle also made a tough announcement, sharing that veteran forward Veronica Latsko suffered a season-ending Achilles tear during the second half of the Reign's 1-0 preseason win over Bay FC at the Coachella Valley Invitational on February 16th.
"We’re absolutely gutted for Veronica," said Reign head coach Laura Harvey in the team's statement. "She has proven over her career to be resilient, diligent and hard working on the pitch, we know how much preparation she had put in for this season."
"While this is a tough setback, we have no doubt she’ll attack her recovery with the same determination and resilience she brings to the pitch every day. Our entire club will be behind her every step of the way."
Research gap persists as athletes continue suffering injuries
Injuries can be difficult to avoid as players ramp up their fitness ahead of the NWSL's March 14th Kickoff weekend, especially as athletes balance heavy workloads with the lack of preventative injury research specific to women.
Payne and Müller both went down with right ACL tears — Payne during the Thorns' 2-1 preseason loss to Angel City on February 16th and Müller while in training camp with Germany on February 19th — an all-too-common occurrence in among women’s footballers.
Weaver also suffered a preseason right knee knock in January, re-injuring the same knee she had surgery on last May.
All in all, while injuries are a part of the game, the sport's growing professionalization has exposed a gap in research and resources — particularly on the women’s pitch. As parity continues to rise worldwide, fending off another injury epidemic continues to be front of mind for both players and staff.
Gotham FC and USWNT forward Lynn Williams is being traded to the Seattle Reign, according to multiple reports late Wednesday.
Sports Illustrated reports that Williams and goalkeeper Cassie Miller will join the Reign in exchange for midfielder Jaelin Howell and an undisclosed transfer fee.
Though still unconfirmed, the move reportedly comes at Williams’s request, with the 31-year-old Olympic gold medalist hoping to close out her club career on the West Coast, closer to her California home.
In her two seasons at Gotham, Williams scored 11 goals and tallied four assists en route to back-to-back NWSL Playoff runs.
Williams is a major score for Seattle
The addition of Williams — the NWSL’s all-time leading scorer and third on the career assists list — would be a massive win for the Reign, who are in desperate need of firepower after posting the league’s fourth-worst goal count and finishing in 13th place last season.
Plus, Williams knows how to win, arguably more than nearly any other player in the league.
Since entering the NWSL in 2015, Williams has lifted trophies with all three of her clubs, earning championships with the Western New York Flash (2016), the NC Courage (2018, 2019), and Gotham FC (2023). Those four titles surpass every other NWSL athlete except McCall Zerboni, who coincidentally was Williams's teammate for all of those championships.
That title-winning aptitude would be clutch for Seattle, who are still hunting a franchise-first NWSL championship despite competing in three league finals.
Howell, Miller on the move again
Both Howell and Miller will exit their respective clubs after short tenures.
Miller joined Gotham from Kansas City in January as a replacement for starting goalkeeper Abby Smith, who suffered a season-ending injury in August 2023. In April, however, the NJ/NY club snagged German international Ann-Katrin Berger — one of the best keepers in the world and the NWSL's 2024 Goalkeeper of the Year — leaving Miller in a backup role.
Logging an even shorter time at Seattle than Miller's 11-month Gotham stretch is Howell, who will join her third club in five months with this trade. The midfielder began her NWSL career with Racing Louisville in 2022, but was sent to Seattle in August in exchange for striker Bethany Balcer and $50,000.
The 25-year-old, who captained her Louisville team, has struggled to stay in form. That said, if Gotham can help Howell unlock consistency in her top-level play, her on-pitch potential and off-pitch leadership could be a boon for the NJ/NY side.
Ultimately, trading Williams for a player with more potential than top form reads as a possible rebuild for a club who entered a so-called superteam era just one year ago — particularly in light of Gotham's flood of defectors this offseason, which includes star midfielder Delanie Sheehan.
On Monday, Gotham FC beat Seattle 2-0, snapping the Reign's seven-game NWSL unbeaten streak behind goals from midfielder Delanie Sheehan and striker Esther González.
The road win saw Gotham leapfrog Kansas City to claim third place in the standings — prime positioning as NY/NJ stares down a second-straight NWSL championship.
Seattle, on the other hand, sits in 11th place with only six matches left. The Reign will need to rack up as many wins as possible to keep their postseason dreams alive.
Rodman ups the celly game in the NWSL
In lighter NWSL news, Washington star Trinity Rodman hit her second NBA-inspired celly of the season on Sunday.
After launching a rocket to secure the Spirit's 3-0 win over Houston, Rodman dropped to the pitch, curled up, closed her eyes, and laid her head on her hands in a nod to Steph Curry's signature "night, night" action.
The move followed last week's slam dunk celly. After netting an equalizer, Rodman leapt into the air while sprinting toward new Spirit investor and NBA legend, Magic Johnson.
LaBonta's NWSL cellies give Rodman stiff competition
While iconic celebrations have become part of the NWSL's DNA, Rodman’s main competitor in this season's top celly race is Kansas City’s Lo’eau LaBonta.
The midfielder’s 2024 highlights include mirroring gymnast Simone Biles’s Olympic floor routine, using the ball as a baby bump, and recreating the signature lift from Dirty Dancing.
On Tuesday, 25 Seattle-based sports and business professionals announced their investment in a new USL W League team operated by popular semi-pro USL League Two men’s side Ballard FC.
Headlined by Lauren Barnes (Seattle Reign), Jess Fishlock (Seattle Reign), Olivia Van der Jagt (Seattle Reign), and Sam Hiatt (Gotham FC), alongside Seattle Storm co-owner Ginny Glider and Jen Barnes, owner of the women's sports-focused Rough & Tumble Pub, the yet-to-be-named Ballard squad will enter the pre-professional league next May.
Current Ballard FC president Sam Zisette will oversee both the men’s and women’s clubs, while vice president and seasoned athletic trainer Tiffany Mallick will shift her focus on the women's team.
"Our goal is to create better opportunities for young women to develop their skills on and off the field," said Reign captain Lauren Barnes in a team press release. "The path to professional soccer didn’t exist on the same scale while I was growing up, and I’m thrilled to be part of changing that for future players."
"Introducing a USL W League team to Ballard is a monumental step in advancing our organization and soccer community," added Zisette. "Ballard is a special place with an immense sense of pride, passionate spirit, and love for soccer. We can’t wait to see the community embrace this new team!"
What is the USL?
The United Soccer League (USL), which organizes multiple US leagues across all divisions, has recently upped its commitment to the women's game.
In addition to the developmental USL W League — which started in 2022 and now fields 80 teams across four conferences plus three 2025 expansion teams, including Ballard — USL is set to launch the fully professional USL Super League next month.
With eight inaugural clubs (and plans to expand to 20 teams by 2026), the USL Super League will join the NWSL as the only other Division 1 women’s league in the country. But unlike the NWSL, the USL Super League will mirror the European schedule, operating from fall through spring with its official kickoff slated for August 17th.
As with USL W Ballard, the Super League also has some star power behind it. In May, WNBA All-Star rookie Angel Reese joined the ownership group of Washington's forthcoming DC Power FC.
USL W League gears up for postseason action
But before the USL Super League takes the pitch, their pre-professional counterparts will finish up their 2024 postseason run.
On Saturday, the USL W's four conference champions will square off in the league semifinals on Saturday, July 13th, with NC Courage U23 hosting Tennessee SC and the Colorado Storm facing Detroit City FC in Michigan. Winners from those two matches will then battle it out at the USL W League final on July 20th.
All USL W postseason action can be streamed live on SportsEngine Play.
The Seattle Reign have officially been sold, with the OL Groupe selling the club to an ownership group that includes MLS’s Seattle Sounders and private equity firm the Carlyle Group.
The team was sold for a reported $58 million, after being acquired by OL Groupe in 2019 for $3.5 million.
"It's all about the potential going forward," Alex Popov of the Carlyle Groupe told ESPN. "And frankly, our starting point was off. You know, that's what attracted a lot of us to, including ourselves here at Carlyle, to think about investing in women's sport. We have seen the potential."
The valuation is the latest of rising numbers in the NWSL. San Diego Wave FC is in the process of a sale that values the team between $113 and $120 million.
In the sale announcement, chief business officer of the Reign Maya Mendoza-Exstrom said that the team has no plans to move from Lumen Field.
"It feels a little bit like we have the gritty startup mentality of an expansion franchise in this exciting moment, but we have this benefit of having a dedicated fan base that has been dedicated to this club, even though it has moved a ton and changed a ton over the last few years," she told ESPN. "So, I think the opportunity just to root this club in place — Lumen is our home. The club's not moving anywhere."
Seattle Reign FC is back.
On Tuesday, OL Reign announced that it will return to the club’s original name, Seattle Reign FC, as well as the original crest. The move was announced on social media with a video and the Reign account writing that “the restoration has begun.”
The restoration has begun, Seattle. 👑 #ReignReturns pic.twitter.com/TtuOeAq39i
— Seattle Reign FC (@OLReign) January 9, 2024
The updated crest has a color palette differing from the original Seattle Reign logo, with gold replacing the original silver. The new shade of gold will be titled Seattle Reign Gold and symbolizes the club’s three NWSL Shields.
“Today is the start of a new chapter for our unique club, fans and community,” said Seattle Reign CEO Vincent Berthillot. “Bringing back the club’s original name and identity from the 2013 season as the club prepares to enter a new era is our way of honoring the history of this club while respecting the progress and success we’ve experienced firsthand.
“Seattle Reign FC was a founding club in this growing league, and our OGs, our supporters and our community have remained by our side from the very beginning to help pave the way for the future.”
The transformation back to Seattle Reign FC comes as the club inches closer to the completion of its sale. Despite being a popular logo, the Reign became OL Reign when purchased by OL Groupe in 2020.
There have been no updates on when a new owner could be announced, although the MLS’ Seattle Sounders are expected to be part of the new ownership group.
“When considering the opportunity in this moment to link our past to the future, there was no doubt about the connection this mark has to the legacy and identity of this storied club,” said Michelle Haines, who’s vice president of marketing and ticketing for the Reign. “Ultimately, this refreshed look is an embodiment of our roots in Seattle, honors the dedication of our fans, reflects the caliber of our players and aligns with our core values.”