The final time donned a Gotham jersey, the workforce was often called Sky Blue FC, and its residence video games have been performed at Yurcak Area on the Rutgers campus.
On Wednesday evening, Kerr made her second Gotham debut, this time at Citi Area within the Queens Basic towards the archrival Washington Spirit. She subbed in within the sixty fourth minute and had 9 touches in with one shot on aim virtually instantly after subbing in.
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Kerr’s entrance introduced on the loudest cheers of the evening from the sellout crowd of 42,175 in Flushing.
“It’s nonetheless as loopy because it was again then,” Kerr mentioned of the NWSL in a post-match interview with ESPN. “It’s go, go, go.”
“I went to her at a nook, and I used to be like, ‘Alright, welcome again, however like, chill,’” Washington star mentioned post-match. “I’ve at all times seemed as much as Sam as a participant. I believe she’s wonderful. She did wonderful whereas she was within the NWSL, too. She’s a legend, and now for her to be coming again, I believe it’s actually cool for the sport.”
Beginning in 2028, Gotham will share a everlasting residence with throughout the road at Etihad Park, marking Gotham’s transfer from New Jersey’s Sports activities Illustrated Stadium to New York Metropolis’s first soccer-specific stadium.
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Gotham has come a great distance since Kerr’s final season right here in 2017, when she gained the NWSL Golden Boot and MVP award. It now boasts two NWSL championships, and Kerr has been to 2 extra World Cups and one Summer season Olympics for Australia since.
Kerr led the NWSL in all-time scoring till 2024. She nonetheless holds the regular-season profession objectives document and stays Australia’s high aim scorer with 73 objectives in worldwide play.
Kerr’s scoring prowess is welcome for a workforce that had scored 15 objectives in 13 video games going into Wednesday’s win. The star striker returns to a workforce on the come-up in one of many largest sports activities markets on this planet and reunites with former teammates , and with an opportunity to reclaim her all-time scoring document.
“I at all times had a want to come back again to the NWSL,” Kerr advised reporters after signing. “I’ve cherished my time right here, I had a lot enjoyable right here. Performed some good soccer right here, so I believe I at all times had a want to come back again, after which with all of the change at Chelsea and me wanting one thing new, I believe it was actually the one league that I noticed myself in.”
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The NWSL has seen unimaginable development the final a number of years. Attendance has skyrocketed. The league set a brand new attendance document within the opening weekend of 2026, drawing 129,202 followers. Whole season attendance cracked 2 million for the primary time in 2024.
Wednesday’s Queens Basic marked the primary NWSL regular-season match held in New York Metropolis.
Sam Kerr is all smiles after Gotham FC’s 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit on July 15, 2026 at Citi Area. Brenden Willsch-Imagn Pictures
“Gotham is rising at a stage that, once I got here right here, I used to be dreaming of…[tonight] was really particular,” head coach Juan Carlos Amoros mentioned.
Kerr’s final residence match with Gotham, on Sept. 24, 2017, drew 2,690 followers to Rutgers, virtually 40,000 fewer than for her first match again Wednesday.
Sam Kerr (proper) takes a shot as a Washington Spirit defender goes for the block throughout Gotham FC’s win. Brenden Willsch-Imagn Pictures
“It seems like a full-circle second to me,” Kerr mentioned earlier this month. “Final time I left Gotham, we have been Sky Blue on the time. We have been taking part in down in entrance of a pair thousand folks, and that is the kind of stuff we have been combating for … to play in entrance of sold-out stadiums with the very best gamers with wages that we deserved.
“There’s so many individuals which have finished so many wonderful issues over the past six years whereas I’ve been gone which have allowed me to come back again and reside out my American dream.”