The NWSL will celebrate its first competitive fixture of the year with the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup on Friday night. This year it will be a rematch of the 2024 NWSL Championship final between reigning title holders Orlando Pride and runners-up Washington Spirit. The first game of the year will be a singular match with a cup title on the line as the NWSL rings in its latest campaign. The 2025 regular season will begin with opening weekend on March 14.
But why does the competitive calendar for NWSL start with this game? Let’s take a look at what to know about the Challenge Cup:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Friday, March 7 | Time: 8 p.m. ET
- Location: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando, Fla.
- Live stream: Amazon Prime Video
- Odds: Orlando Pride +130; Draw +230; Washington Spirit +200
History of the Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup was launched in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The then-month-long tournament was created as a placeholder in lieu of a traditional multi-week season. The original competition took place in Utah, with eight of the then-nine teams participating, as Orlando Pride were forced to withdraw due to a string of multiple positive COVID tests a day before the tournament. Players, coaches, and staff lived and worked in a “bubble” environment ahead of closed-door tournament matches.
Since 2020, the Challenge Cup has evolved into multiple iterations. The following years in 2021 and 2022, the Challenge Cup was a round-robin style tournament with “regional groups” of four teams to account for travel. It was held ahead at the tail end of preseason just ahead of regular season competition. The 2023 version was the same group format but was held concurrently alongside the regular season as other cup competition functions across the globe.
Last year, the league revamped the Challenge Cup once more, and now in its sixth edition as a one-off cup final between two teams. The current version of the event serves as a marquee event between the league’s top teams. Per competition rules, the reigning NWSL Championship (post-season winner) and the NWSL Shield winner (awarded to the team with the best regular season record) square off for the Challenge Cup.
In the event one club is the winner of both titles the prior year, the Challange Cup will be a rematch of the previous NWSL Championship, as is the case this season.
Past Challenge Cup winners
- 2020 — Houston Dash
- 2021 — Portland Thorns FC
- 2022 — North Carolina Courage
- 2023 — North Carolina Courage
- 2024 — San Diego Wave FC
Who is playing?
Orlando Pride had a remarkable 2024 season and won both the NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield while they racked up winning streaks and other individual accolades. They will face the Washington Spirit, the runners-up in both the 2024 NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield race. Orlando are led by leading goal scorer and Zambia international Barbra Banda and Brazil international Marta. The Spirit are led in attack by U.S. women’s national team attacker and 2024 Olympic gold medalist Trinity Rodman and Colombia international Leicy Santos.
What’s at stake?
Along with winning the first trophy of the year in a knockout final, there’s the celebration and bragging rights, but more importantly, there is prize money. NWSL partner UKG will provide prize money for the competition. Last year’s Challenge Cup-winning players earned $3,500 in prize money, while players on the opposing team will each receive $2,200. The Challenge Cup MVP was awarded an additional $2,000.
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