Last year, as the coronavirus pandemic intensified, the Challenge Cup was the league’s primary competition, taking place entirely in the greater Salt Lake City area without fans. (The Houston Dash triumphed.) The NWSL also conducted a small-scale fall series in home markets without spectators.
After playing last fall at Segra Field, the Washington Spirit was planning to return to Leesburg this spring for Challenge Cup games in front of about 1,000 fans. However, people familiar with the situation said, the league has barred matches there until infrastructure upgrades, such as permanent locker rooms, are completed next month.
In the regular season, the Spirit plans to play at least half of 12 home matches at Audi Field and the rest at Segra Field.
Washington’s away cup matches are against the North Carolina Courage on Saturday and the Orlando Pride on April 21.
The other division features Houston, Chicago Red Stars, Portland Thorns, OL Reign (Tacoma, Wash.) and newly organized Kansas City, which replaced the defunct Utah Royals. (K.C. has yet to announce a team name.)
CBS Sports Network will carry the opener Friday between Houston and Chicago as well as three other group matches. CBS will show the final. All other games will appear on Paramount Plus, CBS’s subscription streaming service.
Many players around the league will miss the first one or two matches because of national team commitments. The start of the tournament coincides with a FIFA international window, in which clubs are obligated to release players.
The U.S. national team is overseas to play Sweden on Saturday and France on Tuesday. Canada, the NWSL’s biggest supplier of non-American players, will visit Wales and England.
Washington will play without Kelley O’Hara, Emily Sonnett and Andi Sullivan (United States); Saori Takarada (Japan); and Mariana Speckmaier (Venezuela).
