It’s offseason for the National Women’s Soccer League but preseason is just around the corner. The league announced a scheduling framework on Monday with key dates for next season. The 2025 NWSL regular season will begin on March 14, and consist of 190 matches including an eight-team playoff, and every team will have Nov. 22 circled on their calendar for the league’s biggest game of the year — the 2025 NWSL Championship.
For the fourth consecutive year, CBS is the official home of the NWSL Championship and fans can watch select NWSL regular season matches on CBS Television Network and stream live on Paramount+. Additional matches will air across CBS Sports Network, Paramount+, and CBS Sports Golazo Network.
Here’s the full framework for 2025:
NWSL 2025 Schedule framework
- March 7: NWSL Challenge Cup
- March 14: NWSL Opening Weekend
- June 23-29: CBA Mandated Break
- July: Regular Season Break for international tournaments
- Oct. 31-Nov. 2: NWSL Closing Weekend
- Nov. 7-9: NWSL Quarterfinals
- Nov. 14-16: NWSL Semifinals
- Nov. 22: NWSL Championship
Balancing club and country
The 2025 regular season will feature a 26-match schedule and will be played over 25 weeks. It has been formatted to avoid staging NWSL matches during FIFA windows to allow the league’s top players to compete for both club and country. While the upcoming 2025 season doesn’t fall within the cycle of a FIFA Women’s World Cup and Olympic Games, there are major international tournaments in Europe and South America specifically this summer.
These are the breaks
During the 2024 season, the NWSL Players Association and the league ratified a new Collective Bargaining Agreement set to run through 2030. Per the new CBA, to help manage match overload, there will be a mandated break in the season. The league will also take a break in July due to several confederation competitions taking place this summer, including UEFA Women’s EURO and Copa America Femenina, so players can balance both club and international duty.
The Euros are set to run through the entire month of July, with the group stage set to begin July 2 and conclude with the final on July 27. Copa America Femenina will begin July 12 and run through Aug. 2.
That’s an exceptionally long time to not have any regular season fixtures, that’s why during the July break, NWSL clubs will be allowed to schedule competitive matches against other clubs to ensure playing environments for all NWSL players. Multiple NWSL clubs have already held one-off exhibition games in the past, inviting international clubs Chelsea, Arsenal, FC Barcelona, and Tigres Femenil among teams to compete during regular season breaks.
No summer competition dates have been announced by any teams, but details will be released by individual NWSL clubs at a later time.
What’s the Challenge Cup?
The Challenge Cup will start 2025 NWSL competition and is a one-off Cup final between two teams. Originally slated as a tournament in 2020 to compensate for an absent regular season affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Challenge Cup has evolved over the years.
In 2024, the competition changed to a single knockout match final between two of the league’s best clubs. the 2024 competition was held approximately one day before the regular season kicked off, but 2025 will be different, and the Challenge Cup is set to kick off on March 7, a week before the 2025 season begins.
The Challenge Cup is supposed to be a battle between the reigning NWSL Champions and the NWSL Sheild winners, but since the 2024 Orlando Pride had a remarkable season where they won both, the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup will be a rematch of the 2024 NWSL Championship between the current title holders Orlando Pride, and the runners-up Washington Spirit.
Will there be any preseason games?
None officially run by the league, but there are some preseason games scheduled between NWSL clubs already. Six NWSL teams are participating in the 2025 Coachella Valley Invitational. Angel City FC, Bay FC, Houston Dash, Portland Thorns FC, San Diego Wave FC, and Seattle Reign FC will each play games in the preseason event beginning Feb. 16 through Feb. 22.
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