2024 NWSL Season: Preview, schedule, and how to watch top women's action from North America
The NWSL season is back, with two more sides joining the mix and some of the world's biggest stars return to our screens. Here are the key things to know ahead of another big season.
Football
The National Women’s Soccer League returns to screens this weekend as the 2024 campaign begins.
Plenty of the United States Women's National Team (USWNT) stars will be in action, fresh from the USA's CONCACAF W Gold Cup success on Sunday (10 March).
Action kicks off with the NWSL Challenge Cup on Friday (15th March) before a weekend of regular season fixtures starts on Saturday (March 16).
While the start of the North American season marks an inaugural campaign for expansion team Bay FC, it will also welcome the return of the Utah Royals who ceased operations in 2020. Reestablished in 2023, they will compete in the NWSL for the first time in four years.
Last year saw one of the league’s most miraculous turnarounds as NJ/NY Gotham won the Championship, just one year after finishing dead last in the 2022 edition with a staggering 17 losses to their name.
Just about securing a spot in the playoffs on goal differential, they went on to beat North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns before besting Seattle Reign in the final.
After finishing their first-ever season in third, the San Diego Wave followed that up by storming to the top of the table where they clinched the NWSL shield.
The West Coast outfit joined Gotham, Courage, Thorns, and Reign in the playoffs, with Angel City also narrowly making it into the top six.
With big transfers and two more teams entering the mix, the 2024 campaign is set to be an unmissable footballing feast when things kick off on Saturday (16 March).
Here’s your guide to the new season.
National Women’s Soccer League 2024: Preview
The NJ/NY Gotham will no doubt be the key team to watch this season, particularly as reigning Champions. But the key question is - given such a dramatic turnaround in the space of just one season, is their success sustainable?
If their transfer window is anything to go by, it might well be. As well as holding on to key players, Gotham has stacked their roster with four USWNT starts. Emily Sonnett and Tierna Davidson come in to bolster the back line, while Rose Lavelle is a key acquisition in the middle of the park. If a front line of Lynn Williams, Esther González, and Midge Purce wasn’t already electric enough, they’ve also added Crystal Dunn to the mix. In terms of a transfer window to add to your championship winning squad, this is up there.
But with all that investment comes pressure.
They’re not the only squad that has invested heavily in their squad in the off-season.
Next up on our teams to watch: the San Diego Wave. Casey Stoney’s side just seems to be getting better and better, and edging closer and closer to that elusive Championship title. In their first season, which was the 2022 campaign, they finished third in the league and reached the semi-finals of the playoffs only to be beaten by eventual winners Portland Thorns. So close, yet so far.
The Wave followed up their inaugural campaign by storm to the NWSL shield, by finishing top of the league. The overall title, however, would evade them once more as they were bested by eventual finalists Seattle Reign. Stoney has tapped into the ideal balance of experience with the likes of Alex Morgan leading the line alongside 19-year-old Jaedyn Shaw. If the club’s trajectory is anything to go by, the Championship title could very well be their next stop in the upcoming season.
Also on our list of teams to watch is Bay FC. The newcomers to the NWSL have shown they mean business when assembling their squad, which includes obliterating the transfer record for a player in women’s football. That player is Racheal Kundananji. The Zambian joins Bay FC from Madrid CFF and is set to compete alongside another statement signing in the form of two-time UEFA Champions League winner and African footballer of the year Asisat Oshoala.
They’ve effectively built their roster from fresh, adding defensive pedigree in Jen Beattie and several names who have honed their craft in the NWSL, which will be crucial when embedding their side among established teams. Ultimately, though, there is real excitement in the signings of Kundananji and Oshoala and, if this duo hit the ground running, fans could be in for a very successful first-ever campaign.
Moving to the sides who finished off the mark last term. The Chicago Red Stars finished last in the NWSL in 2023, seven points adrift of the play-off places. Just ahead of them, within a margin of three points, was KC Current (26), Houston Dash (26), and Racing Louisville (27).
Just missing out on a playoff spot were the Washington Spirit (30) and Orlando Pride (31). Three of these teams finished in a playoff spot at the end of the 2022 campaign (Chicago, KC, Houston), which shows how much the NWSL can chop and change, making it one of the most competitive leagues in the world.
As it welcomes two more teams for 2024, it means there are eight, as opposed to six, playoff spots up for grabs, meaning all is to play for. Each of the sides who finished in the bottom half of the table just needs to tap into the incredible turnaround managed by NJ/NY Gotham last term to be inspired into their own fairytale season.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 11: NJ/NY Gotham FC lift the NWSL Championship trophy following the 2023 NWSL Championship against the OL Reign at Snapdragon Stadium on November 11, 2023 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)
NWSL 2024: Schedule and how to watch
The opening weekend of the NWSL will kick off with the Challenge Cup between Gotham and Wave on the evening of Friday March 15, before the Kansas City Current and the Portland Thorns star in the regular season curtain raiser on March 16.
The league will take a break in July/August while the Paris 2024 Olympic Games take place.
Each team plays 26 regular season games.
The final game of the regular season will take place at the Snapdragon Stadium in California when San Diego Wave hosts Racing Louisville.
Playoff quarter-finals will take place on 9/10 November. Semi-finals are scheduled for 16/17 November, and Championship game taking place on November 23.
You can find the full league schedule - and information on how to buy tickets - by clicking on this link here.
Blockbuster broadcast deals announced after last season mean there more ways than ever to watch the NWSL. Games will be packaged between:
- Prime Video
- ION Network
- CBS
- Paramount+
- ESPN
- NWSL+
NWSL+ is the league’s first-ever streaming platform and is free to fans across the United States.
International viewers can watch games live on the NWSL website.