The NWSL on Monday introduced schedule particulars for its 2025 season, breaking down key dates for trades, roster compliance, the common season, and the playoffs.
(CBA) embrace an finish to the school draft, and require participant consent for trades. These modifications lengthen to the league’s schedule footprint, which features a vary of preseason begin dates, a CBA-mandated week off in June, and a month-long summer season break in July resulting from outstanding nationwide workforce tournaments happening internationally.
The 2025 NWSL common season will start on March 14, with the league’s Problem Cup — a season-opening exhibition match that this 12 months will probably be between the Orlando Satisfaction and Washington Spirit — happening one week earlier in Orlando, Fla. Between from time to time, gamers must report for preseason coaching, and golf equipment should undergo a number of rounds of roster deadlines to be prepared for its thirteenth season.
Here is what to know in regards to the NWSL calendar for 2025:
NWSL:
NWSL calendar 2025: Vital dates for season footprint
Tuesday, Jan. 14: Last day to commerce gamers underneath the phrases of the outdated CBA.
Wednesday, Jan. 15: NWSL commerce home windows now not exist, as mandated by the newest CBA. Trades — which now require participant consent — can occur at any level till the roster freeze deadline.
Wednesday, Jan. 15 to Wednesday, Feb. 5: NWSL golf equipment can start their preseason anyplace inside this window. Groups should submit preseason rosters with a most of 40 gamers to the NWSL league workplace on their chosen begin date by 12 p.m. ET. Golf equipment are required to have a preseason of at the least 5 weeks, and now not than eight weeks.
Tuesday, Jan. 28: The first switch window opens. This is applicable to gamers leaving golf equipment from overseas or the USL Tremendous League to affix an NWSL workforce. The switch window doesn’t affect strikes throughout the NWSL.
Wednesday, February 19: Groups should submit preseason rosters with a most of 32 gamers to the NWSL league workplace by 12 p.m. ET.
Friday, March 7: 2025 NWSL Problem Cup will happen in Orlando.
Wednesday, March 12: Roster compliance deadline. All golf equipment should submit rosters to the league workplace by 12 p.m. ET. Rosters should embrace between 22-26 gamers. This doesn’t embrace gamers with Season-Ending Damage designations, who will be activated later supplied there are roster spots obtainable.
Friday, March 14: Common season begins.
Monday, March 24: Main switch window closes.
Monday, June 23 to Sunday, June 29: CBA-mandated week off for all gamers.
Monday, June 30 to Sunday, July 27: With national-team tournaments like Ladies’s Euro 2025 and the 2025 Copa América Femenina happening in July, NWSL will take a summer season break, with no regular-season play throughout this month. Golf equipment can schedule their very own pleasant video games throughout this era.
Monday, June 30: Deadline to train contract choices for 2026 on gamers whose contracts contain that mechanism. Groups should submit choices to the NWSL league workplace by 12 p.m. ET.
Tuesday, July 1: 2026 Free Company interval begins. This implies golf equipment can start contacting gamers who will probably be free brokers on the finish of the 2025 season over future contracts.
Tuesday, July 1: Secondary switch window opens.
Monday, Aug. 25: Secondary switch window closes. Groups can nonetheless signal free brokers between this date and the roster freeze, or make strikes throughout the NWSL, however no additional club-to-club transfers involving groups exterior the league are potential till 2026.
Thursday, Oct. 9: Roster freeze deadline.
Sunday, Nov. 2: Common season ends.
Friday, Nov. 7: NWSL playoffs start.
Saturday, Nov. 22: 2025 NWSL championship sport.
Tuesday, Dec. 23 to Monday, Dec. 29: League-wide transaction moratorium.
When does NWSL preseason begin?
NWSL has allowed groups to customise when their preseasons start. No golf equipment can require gamers to report earlier than Wednesday, Jan. 15, and all golf equipment should begin preseason by Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Groups are required to carry a preseason of at the least 5 weeks, however can’t lengthen past eight weeks.
NWSL common season schedule: Begin date, particulars
The 2025 NWSL common season will formally kick off on Friday, March 14, and runs by means of Sunday, Nov. 2. Every workforce will play 26 video games, and can play one another NWSL workforce as soon as at dwelling and as soon as away. The schedule will happen throughout a 25-week span, with the league saying that the schedule “has been formatted to keep away from staging NWSL matches throughout FIFA home windows to permit the league’s high gamers to compete for each membership and nation.”
The precise schedule has not been introduced but. The playoffs will run from Nov. 7-22, with the venue for the championship last nonetheless to be decided.
What is occurring with the NWSL Problem Cup in 2025?
After initially starting as a match happening in a Covid-19 pandemic bubble, the NWSL Problem Cup has been in flux. The Problem Cup was a glorified preseason match in 2021 and 2022, earlier than working concurrently with the common season in 2023.
Beginning in 2024, the Problem Cup has been stripped down, and features as a ceremonial curtain-raiser sport, akin to how English soccer holds a Group Defend match between the defending Premier League champions and the winners of the FA Cup (a knockout match involving groups from each degree of English soccer that runs concurrently with league seasons).
Within the case of the NWSL, which means the earlier season’s champions dealing with the highest workforce from the common season. The and likewise claimed the NWSL Defend (which is awarded to the workforce that finishes atop the regular-season standings).
As such, the Satisfaction will host the 2025 Problem Cup, with the Washington Spirit — the runners-up in each final 12 months’s last and within the common season — their opponent. The match will happen on March 7 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando.
Does NWSL have summer season break in 2025?
Sure, the NWSL could have a month-long summer season break. Owing to a world window that the USWNT is extremely prone to schedule video games in coming proper earlier than continental tournaments for nationwide groups in Europe, South America, Africa, and Oceania, the common season will pause from June 23 to July 27.
Groups can schedule pleasant video games from June 30-July 27, however there will probably be no aggressive play on this window throughout the NWSL. Final 12 months, the league joined forces with Mexico’s high flight (Liga MX Femenil) to carry the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer season Cup throughout and after the Olympics, however that match was not talked about in Monday’s announcement.
How one can watch NWSL in 2025: TV channel, reside stream
NWSL video games all through 2025 will probably be proven on the league’s 4 broadcast companions: , the ION Community, CBS/CBS Sports activities Community (together with ), and the ABC/ESPN household of networks (together with ).
Per the league, “greater than 120 matches” will probably be proven on considered one of its broadcast companions. All different video games will probably be proven on , a free direct-to-consumer streaming platform operated by the league.
Video games on ION, CBS, and the ABC/ESPN household of networks will also be streamed on , which is providing a free trial for brand new subscribers.
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