National Women's Soccer League
Professional soccer league, highest level of women's soccer in the United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. Headquartered in New York City,[1] it is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federation.[2]
Founded | November 21, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-11-21) |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Confederation | CONCACAF (North America) |
Number of teams | 14 |
Level on pyramid | 1 |
League cup(s) | NWSL Challenge Cup |
Current champions | NJ/NY Gotham FC (1st title) (2023) |
Current NWSL Shield | San Diego Wave FC (1st shield) (2023) |
Most championships | Portland Thorns FC (3 titles) |
Most NWSL Shields | North Carolina Courage Seattle Reign FC (3 shields each) |
Most appearances | Lauren Barnes (200) (as of March 16, 2024) |
Top goalscorer | Sam Kerr (77) (as of October 2, 2022) |
TV partners | CBS Sports ESPN/ABC Prime Video Scripps Sports |
Website | nwslsoccer |
Current: 2024 NWSL season |
The NWSL was established in 2012 as the successor to Women's Professional Soccer (WPS; 2007–2012), which was itself the successor to Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003). The league began play in 2013 with eight teams, four of which were former members of WPS (Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue FC, and Western New York Flash).[3][4][5] As of 2024,[update] there will be 14 teams across the United States.[6][7]
Through the 2023 season, six teams (one now defunct) have been crowned NWSL Champions, awarded to the playoff winner; five teams (one defunct) have claimed the NWSL Shield, awarded to the team in first place at the end of the regular season; and three teams have been champions of the NWSL Challenge Cup, an annual league cup tournament that began in 2020, but was changed ahead of the 2024 season to be a single supercup match between the previous season's NWSL Shield holder and NWSL Champion.[8] The current (2023) NWSL champions are NJ/NY Gotham FC, and the current shield winners (2023) are San Diego Wave FC. The current (2024) Challenge Cup champions are San Diego Wave FC.