NWSL

The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Challenge Cup final kicks off on Sunday between the upstart Houston Dash and Chicago Red Stars a month after the league returned from the COVID-19 hiatus, the first in North America to do so.

A year since the U.S. national team won a fourth World Cup, Commissioner Lisa Baird said the goal was simple — to build on the momentum for the women's sport on a tight timeline and show live sport can happen in the novel coronavirus era.

The moment we have all been waiting for over the past month is here: the NWSL Challenge Cup final. These extraordinary females have put their bodies through hell between a rushed preseason, playing four-to-six games with minimal recovery and playing in the Utah heat on turf.

The NWSL Challenge Cup is coming to a close with the final set between the Houston Dash and Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, July 26 at 12:30 p.m. EST, which raises the question: What next for NWSL players?

The NWSL board is in discussion as to whether or not more games will be added to the 2020 season.

June 3, 2020: Megan Rapinoe is sitting out the NWSL Challenge Cup? That’s OK, that’ll give rising stars a chance to shine!

July 22, 2020: I would sell my soul to see Rapinoe cross the ball.

Before this year, the Houston Dash had never made it into the NWSL playoffs. Thanks to the Orlando Pride pulling out of the 2020 campaign, that kinda changed as all eight clubs reached the knockout stage of the NWSL Challenge Cup. Now they have a chance to win a league title.

The NWSL LA team is finally official. And it’s as star-studded as you’d hope for the league’s first foray into Hollywood.

The National Women’s Soccer League announced on Tuesday its next expansion team will be in Los Angeles, confirming what we previously suspected, with a club ownership group that includes some of sport’s and Hollywood’s biggest stars.

The semifinals of the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup have been decided, and if they're anything like the quarterfinals, they'll be nail-biters.

As we say goodbye to many in Herriman, Utah, the pressure is on for the four remaining teams. The Portland Thorns, Houston Dash, Sky Blue FC and Chicago Red Stars have qualified for the semis that'll be played on Wednesday, July 22 on CBS All Access.

LOS ANGELES — Members of the U.S. women's national soccer side are using their experience as female entrepreneurs to lend their support to businesses selling everything from coffee to lingerie, as part of the team's mission to try to level the playing field for women.

A project called Stacy's Rise will award 15 female entrepreneurs $10,000 each, as well as advertising services and executive mentorship from successful women, including U.S. soccer World Cup champions Christen Press and Tobin Heath.

The North Carolina Courage have been, by far, the best team in the NWSL. The two-time reigning league champs were the only team to go unbeaten and the only team to finish with a positive goal difference in the four-game preliminary round at the NWSL Challenge Cup.

But when it mattered most in 2020, North Carolina came up short.

Rookie Morgan Weaver scored a 68th-minute winner as Portland Thorns FC stunned the N.C. Courage 1-0 in the opening match of the knockout rounds of the NWSL Challenge Cup on Friday. 

The NWSL Challenge Cup has taken the place of the season that was cancelled due to COVID-19. As the preliminary matches are coming to an end before the knockout rounds begin, many players are being tested to their limit. Even though this was the risk all players and coaches had to come to terms with to just get back to playing, the fatigue these players are experiencing is leaving many injured.