Slightly over two months in the past, Gotham FC raised the NWSL championship trophy into the crisp Bay Space air.
A number of days later, Gotham took the stage at Metropolis Corridor in Manhattan and vowed the membership was not achieved but.
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“We’re by no means completed,” head coach Juan Carlos Amorós stated. “Our subsequent stage is we need to be the champions of the world in January.”
Gotham returns to motion Wednesday in London for FIFA’s inaugural Girls’s Champions Cup. And whereas they’re the reigning NWSL champions, they’re, in fact, removed from happy.
“Being at Gotham, you need to excel, and we need to be the most effective. And to be the most effective you type of need to play the most effective and meaning taking part in prime competitors across the globe,” proper again Mandy Freeman instructed reporters earlier this month. “Being on this competitors, that permits us to actually play different groups to check our mettle towards… nice groups from different nations and so we’re prepared.”
The previous eight weeks have been a “whirlwind,” Freeman stated. Gotham has had the shortest offseason of any NWSL group, however they don’t essentially view that as a foul factor.
Mandy Freeman holds up the NWSL Championship trophy on the ceremony at New York Metropolis Corridor the place they had been offered the important thing to metropolis by New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams in celebration of the groups 2025 Championship win. Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
Gotham is embracing the fast turnaround. The membership is approaching 2026 as a “continuation” from final season relatively than a brand new starting. It’s the sequel to a possible budding dynasty.
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Amorós stated the group returned to camp at the start of this month able to hit the bottom working. It helps, too, that they returned nearly all of their championship-winning group for 2026.
Rose Lavelle, who netted the game-winning aim within the title match, and defensive anchor Emily Sonnett are again together with Jaedyn Shaw, Bruninha, Tierna Davidson, Esther González, Jaelin Howell and Sarah Schupansky.
Gotham additionally re-signed Midge Purce for an additional season and bought veteran midfielder Savannah McCaskill from San Diego Wave FC.
On Monday, Gotham added Florida State star ahead and two-time NCAA champion Jordynn Dudley.
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The group’s continuity and mix of recent expertise ought to bode nicely as Gotham tries to open their 2026 marketing campaign by capturing a significant worldwide title in London.
“That’s the character of who they’re,” Amorós stated. “[The players are] hungry. They need to win. It’s unbelievable… I believe it comes throughout the nature, like, they win one competitors, they’re already considering on the subsequent one.”
Gotham has been laying down the groundwork to turn out to be a world powerhouse since Amorós arrival in 2022.
Juan Carlos Amoros, Head Coach of NY/NJ Gotham FC, waves throughout a ceremony at Metropolis Corridor after the NWSL 2025 Champions Parade at Metropolis Corridor Park of NJ/NY Gotham FC on November 24, 2025 in New York Metropolis. NJ/NY Gotham FC defeated 1-0 to Washington Spirit on November twenty second. Getty Pictures
Successful the 2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final Could punched Gotham’s ticket to compete among the many six finest groups from every continental confederation within the Girls’s Champions Cup.
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Solely 4 groups – Gotham, England’s Arsenal, Brazil’s Corinthians and Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces Sports activities Affiliation (ASFAR) – stay within the hunt coming into this closing week of motion.
Gotham is scheduled to play Corinthians within the first of two semifinal matches Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. Arsenal-ASFAR follows at 1 p.m.
The winners will meet within the closing Sunday at 1 p.m., with the losers battling for third place beforehand at 9:45 a.m.
Gotham is seen as a favourite to win the Champions Cup, although Arsenal is believed to be New York’s greatest menace to incomes the title because the “world’s finest membership.”
It’s apparent what Gotham is hoping to do.
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“I’m competing to boost one other trophy, and that’s type of the usual right here at Gotham,” Freeman stated. “We need to be not solely the primary to win these prime sorts of competitions, however to proceed that legacy and coming again and preventing for championships.”