The 2024 NWSL regular season begins on Saturday but first, the league will have a battle of the best when NJ/NY Gotham FC and San Diego Wave FC square off for the NWSL Challenge Cup on Friday. Gotham FC, the reigning NWSL Champions will host NWSL Shield winners San Diego Wave FC in the latest edition of the Challenge Cup.
It's a one-off match with a title on the line to kick off year 13 in NWSL, so let's take a look at everything you need to know ahead of the game:
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- Date: Friday, March 15 | Time: 8 p.m. ET
- Place: Red Bull Arena -- Harrison, New Jersey
- Stream: Prime Video
- Odds: Gotham: +114 | Draw: +225 | +216 San Diego
What is a Challenge Cup?
The competition is entering its fifth evolution, so who can truly define it at this point in its existence? Originally created in 2020 as a placeholder in place of a traditional season due to the COVID-19 crisis, the month-long tournament took place in Utah. Eight of nine teams participated (Orlando Pride was forced to withdraw due to a string of multiple positive COVID tests a day before the tournament.) with Houston Dash winning the inaugural event.
The Challenge Cup later evolved into a round-robin style tournament divided into two regional groups of five teams in 2021 with Portland Thorns FC as Cup winners, and then three regional groups of four teams in 2022 and 2023 with North Carolina Courage as reigning Cup holders.
The 2021 and 2022 editions were held out of preseason and concluded shortly ahead of the regular season. The 2023 evolution of the Challenge Cup was still a round-robin style tournament, but the league scheduled the event to run concurrent to the regular season to mirror similar Cup competitions across the globe.
Now, the fifth iteration of the event has been simplified. This time there will be just two teams competing for the Cup. It'll be a heavyweight matchup between the NWSL Champion (post-season winner) and the NWSL Shield winner (awarded to the team with the best regular season record). In the future, if one club is the winner of both the NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield, the Challenge Cup will be a rematch of the previous season's NWSL Championship.
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What's at stake?
Now that the Challenge Cup is a singular event, it's an opportunity to win a more exclusive trophy, bragging rights, and some extra bonuses for players. NWSL partner UKG will provide prize money for the competition. Each player from this year's Challenge Cup-winning team will earn $3,500 in prize money, while players on the opposing team will each receive $2,200. The player that wins Challenge Cup MVP will be awarded an additional $2,000.
East coast vs. West coast
NJ/NY Gotham FC: The reigning NWSL Champions had a successful free agency period and signed four major talents in Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle, Tierna Davidson, and Emily Sonnett. While a good chunk of their roster looks different from their 2023 NWSL Championship-winning side, they're still heavy favorites to win more hardware in 2024. Their first game of 2024 will be without some key players as Lavelle and Lynn Williams are on the injury report and unavailable for selection.
San Diego Wave FC: The 2023 NWSL Shield winners have a bit of a chip on their shoulders after achieving so much in their short two-year existence. Two consecutive NWSL semifinal appearances and now a trophy in their case, the Wave are on the hunt for more. The majority of their Shield-winning side is back for another shot at the postseason, including contract extensions for defender Naomi Girma, Jaedyn Shaw, and head coach Casey Stoney. The group has a shorter injury list heading into the match but will be without Kristen McNabb for the Challenge Cup.
Challenge Cup Prediction
A game directly out of the preseason and two teams with solid backlines could mean a narrow scoreline in this one, a deep bench and home field advantage could be significant for Gotham. Pick: Gotham FC 2, San Diego 1.
