NEW YORK (January 22, 2025) – The National Women’s Soccer League today unveiled the schedule and broadcast details for the 2025 NWSL regular season. Highlighted by NWSL Rivalry Weekend and the return of Decision Day, the league’s 13th year of play kicks off this March as global women’s football’s biggest stars return to the pitch.

The 2025 season is poised to build on the success of a 2024 campaign that saw continued record-breaking growth across the league, including a 285% increase in broadcast viewership, a 47% increase in match attendance and the first season in league history to welcome over two million fans.

In the second year of the league’s historic four-year domestic media rights agreements with CBS Sports, ESPN, ION and Prime Video, 160 matches will be featured on national platforms throughout the season, including 152 regular season contests, all seven playoff matches and the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup.

Setting the stage for this year’s campaign, the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup will pit the reigning NWSL Champion Orlando Pride against the visiting Washington Spirit on Friday, March 7, for a rematch of last season’s title contest.

Reformatted in 2024 as a single-match competition to open each season, the NWSL Challenge Cup features a meeting between the previous campaign’s winner of the NWSL Shield and the reigning NWSL Champion. Due to the Orlando Pride claiming both the regular season and playoff titles in 2024, the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup will serve as a rematch of the 2024 NWSL Championship, presented by Google Pixel, between the Pride and the Washington Spirit.

Many of the NWSL’s top talents will descend on the City Beautiful for the curtain-raising contest, including standout Brazilian midfielder Marta, who recently signed a two-year extension with the Pride, and rising U.S Women’s National Team star and Spirit striker Trinity Rodman.

The Challenge Cup will stream live on Prime Video at 8 p.m. ET, kicking off the service’s second year of exclusive Friday night coverage of the NWSL.

Tickets for the match are now available here.

2025 NWSL Kickoff begins Friday, March 14 with all 14 clubs in action across the weekend. Friday night coverage of the regular season on Prime Video opens with 2024 NWSL Championship Match MVP Barbra Banda and the Orlando Pride hosting Mallory Swanson and the newly minted Chicago Stars FC. Also on Friday, the Houston Dash, reinforced by several key offseason roster acquisitions, will take on the Spirit at Shell Energy Stadium.

Action continues Saturday on ABC as reigning NWSL MVP and record-breaking goal scorer Temwa Chawinga and the Kansas City Current host 2022 NWSL MVP Sophia Smith and Portland Thorns FC at the iconic CPKC Stadium. Elsewhere, Savannah Demelo and Racing Louisville FC begin their quest for the club’s first regular season playoff berth as they take on the North Carolina Courage and recently acquired midfielder Jaedyn Shaw.

ION’s first Saturday night doubleheader of the season starts with 2024 rookie sensation Ally Sentnor and Utah Royals FC hosting Zambian standout Racheal Kundananji and Bay FC, followed by USWNT veteran Rose Lavelle and Gotham FC traveling to face former teammate and the NWSL’s all-time leading scorer in Seattle Reign FC forward Lynn (Williams) Biyendolo.

The weekend ends on Sunday on ESPN2 with the 12th iteration of the SoCal rivalry as French national team star Delphine Cascarino and San Diego Wave FC travel north to face off against the sensational sibling duo of Alyssa and Gisele Thompson and Angel City FC.

In total, each club will compete in 26 regular season matches, 13 at home and 13 on the road.

Throughout the 2025 campaign, 160 matches will be distributed across the following partner platforms:

• The NWSL will begin each regular season weekend with Friday night matches on Prime Video, with coverage for the 25 regular season matches beginning each week at 8 p.m. ET or 10 p.m. ET.

• Saturday nights that follow will include a double-header onScripps-owned ION network, available on Pay TV, Connected TV FAST platforms and over-the-air in 123 million homes. ION will also air the tripleheader coverage on Saturday, June 14, as Angel City, Chicago and Kansas City host matches from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET. The 2025 season also marks the second year of the network’s weekly studio show covering the NWSL and its players.

• A package of regular season matches will air across CBS Sports platforms, including 11 contests set to air live on the CBS Television Network and stream on Paramount+, with additional matches airing across CBS Sports Network, Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network.

• **ESPN **will air a package of matches, including a trio of regular season contests on ABC, and additional games across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes (Spanish). All NWSL matches on ESPN platforms and on ABC will stream live on ESPN+ in English and Spanish. The package also includes English, Spanish and Portuguese-language rights in Latin America.

The remaining matches will be available on NWSL+, the league’s domestic direct-to-consumer streaming platform. NWSL+ is free to all fans tuning in to matches across the U.S. and is available to download on all iOS/Android devices, as well as streaming TV distributors Apple TV, Fire TV and Roku. In addition to match coverage, highlights, select replays and additional league and club content will also be available for free on the app.

The league will pause play for a CBA-mandated break from June 23-29 and during the month of July while confederation competitions (UEFA Women’s EURO, Copa America Femenina, etc.) are staged.

During this break from the regular season, NWSL clubs will compete in matches against other professional women’s teams, including international opponents, ensuring continued competition for all NWSL players. More details will be released by each NWSL club at a later date.

New this season, NWSL Rivalry Weekend, set for August 8-10, will see the league’s most exciting matchups in action, including the league’s oldest series in the storied Cascadia Rivalry between Portland Thorns FC and Seattle Reign FC. Other contests throughout the weekend include the SoCal Rivalry between Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC and an East Coast battle between two of the league’s veteran clubs in Gotham FC and Washington.

The regular season concludes with the return of NWSL Decision Day, featuring all 14 clubs in action on Sunday, November 2, as teams battle for a spot in the 2025 NWSL Playoffs presented by Google Pixel. ESPN will televise two Decision Day matches while the remaining five contests will be available on NWSL+.

The opening round of the postseason begins the weekend of November 7-9. ESPN/ABC will air two quarterfinal matches, while CBS/Paramount+ and Prime Video will each distribute one of the remaining two quarterfinal contests.

The semifinals, set for the weekend of November 14-16, will air across CBS/Paramount+ and ESPN/ABC, with each partner carrying one contest.

For the fourth-straight year, the 2025 NWSL Championship presented by Google Pixel, set for November 22, will air in primetime on the CBS Television Network and stream on Paramount+.

The NWSL is in ongoing discussions with distributors outside of the U.S. regarding international packages for the 2025 season. More details will be available ahead of the start of the season.

The selection process for the host site of the 2025 NWSL Championship presented by Google Pixel is underway.

Add to your calendar, click here!

All times at ET