NWSL Championship
The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the best record in the preceding regular season.
The NWSL uses a playoff tournament following the regular season to determine its annual league champion, similar to every other major North American sports league. This format differs from most soccer leagues around the world, which consider the club with the most points at the end of the season to be the champion; the NWSL honors that achievement with the NWSL Shield. Since 2024, the top eight teams in the regular-season standings earn a berth into the playoff tournament; previously, only the top four or top six teams qualified for the playoffs.
History
The first NWSL Championship was held at Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester, New York, on August 31, 2013. Tobin Heath and Christine Sinclair helped lead Portland Thorns FC to a 2–0 victory over NWSL Shield winners Western New York Flash. Seattle Reign FC won the Shield the following two seasons and appeared in both championship games, losing each time to FC Kansas City. The North Carolina Courage became the first team to win the Shield and Championship in the same season, doing so in both 2018 and 2019.
The 2021 NWSL Championship set an attendance record for the league final with 25,011 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California; in the retirement game of two legends of the sport, Megan Rapinoe's Reign lost 2–1 to Ali Krieger's NJ/NY Gotham FC. The 2024 championship game was the most-watched game in NWSL history, drawing 967,900 viewers on CBS as the Orlando Pride defeated the Washington Spirit 1–0.
Finals
Results by team
As of 2024[update], 10 of the 17 teams that have played in the league have appeared in an NWSL Championship, and 7 have won a championship. Portland Thorns FC has appeared at and won the NWSL Championship the most times, with three championships in four appearances.
Trophy
The first NWSL Championship trophy, used from 2013 to 2022, was a five-sided piece of silver metal that depicted the league's logo—a silhouette of a woman kicking a soccer ball; the golden soccer ball was cutout from the silver shape. The trophy was described as "spatula-like". It was replaced in 2023 by a new trophy designed by Tiffany & Co. for the league as part of a sponsorship agreement. The second trophy, made of 24-karat gold and sterling silver, depicts a soccer ball atop a vertical base between two curved handles, similar to the FIFA Women's World Cup trophy.