NWSL announces 2025 schedule footprint

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Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The National Women’s Soccer League announced the competition framework and schedule footprint for the 2025 season on Monday. The schedule features 190 total matches, including an eight-team playoff structure and a revised format for the summer. Other rule updates were also announced as part of the implementation of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The regular season will kick off on Friday, March 14 and feature no matches during FIFA windows. Each team will play a balanced 26-match schedule, allowing them to face each of the other 13 teams in the league twice.

A CBA-mandated break for all players will take place from June 23-29 and there will be no league matches played in July so that the league’s top players can compete in their confederation competitions — UEFA Women’s EURO, Copa America Femenina, etc. Teams will have flexibility during this month-long period to compete in matches against other professional women’s teams, domestic or international, with those details to be announced by each NWSL club at a later date.

The reformatting of the NWSL Challenge Cup in 2024 saw the competition become a matchup between the previous year’s Shield winner and the reigning NWSL Champion. Because the Orlando Pride claimed both the regular season and playoff titles in 2025, the Challenge Cup will serve as a rematch of the 2024 NWSL Championship match between the Pride and the Washington Spirit.

The regular season will conclude the weekend of Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 with the opening round of the playoffs taking place the next weekend, Nov. 7-9. ESPN/ABC will air two of the quarterfinal matches while CBS/Paramount+ and Prime Video will each distribute one of the remaining two quarterfinal contests. The semifinals will follow, set to be played the weekend of Nov. 14-16 and one each aired on CBS/Paramount+ and ESPN/ABC.

The NWSL Championship will conclude the 2025 campaign on Nov. 22. It will air in primetime on CBS Television Network and stream simultaneously on Paramount+.

In the second year of the league’s four-year domestic media rights agreement, over 120 matches will be distributed similar to last season. Each regular season weekend will begin with a Friday night match on Prime Video and each following Saturday night will feature a double-header on ION. A to-be-determined package of regular season matches will air on CBS Television Network and stream live on Paramount+, with additional matches across CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network. ESPN will air a package of matches across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes that includes English, Spanish and Portuguese-language rights in Latin America. Once again, the remaining regular season matches will be available on NWSL+.

The NWSL is still in ongoing negotiations with international distributors for the 2025 season and will make more details available ahead of the start of the season.

Some important updates taking effect this month, courtesy of the new CBA, include the elimination of the waiver wire, with all player contracts now guaranteed, and the elimination of trade windows. As of January 15, trades may occur at any time prior to the roster freeze date. All trades involving players however require player consent.