{"id":256350,"date":"2026-08-05T14:32:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/05\/nwsl-announces-2027-schedule-footprint-will-kick-off-super-bowl-week-equalizer-soccer\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:32:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:32:38","slug":"nwsl-announces-2027-schedule-footprint-will-kick-off-super-bowl-week-equalizer-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/05\/nwsl-announces-2027-schedule-footprint-will-kick-off-super-bowl-week-equalizer-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"NWSL announces 2027 schedule footprint; will kick off Super Bowl week \u2013 Equalizer Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUSA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/span><\/p>\n

The National Women\u2019s Soccer League<\/a><\/strong> is gearing up for its 15th season.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the league announced the footprint for the 2027 season. There are some notable changes \u2014 including the league\u2019s kickoff being pushed up. <\/p>\n

In previous years, the regular season began in mid-March. In 2027, the NWSL regular-season will begin on February 11, in Los Angeles, California. As the league noted in a press release, the February 11 date was chosen strategically to \u201ccoincide with Super Bowl weekend and maximize the league\u2019s visibility during one of the biggest moments on the American sports calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week before the league\u2019s kickoff, the NWSL Challenge Cup will be held, which will feature the 2026 NWSL Shield winner against the eventual 2026 NWSL Championship winner. The match will be held at a neutral site, which will be decided in the future. As previously decided, \u201cshould one club capture both the Championship and NWSL Shield, presented by CarMax, the Challenge Cup will feature a rematch of the previous season\u2019s NWSL Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar to this season, each club will play a 30-match schedule during the regular season, one home and one away against each opponent. The NWSL announced that a \u201cleague-wide pause\u201d will occur during the 2027 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup, which will be held in Brazil. In addition, the NWSL and NWSL Players Association agreed to a week off, which will occur on June 7-13.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe schedule footprint has been formatted to avoid staging contests during FIFA windows, reducing conflicts with international duty and allowing clubs to compete with their full rosters,\u201d the NWSL stated in a press release. \u201cThe league remains committed to balancing international competition with the demands of the domestic calendar while maintaining a schedule that supports player health, competitive fairness and the continued growth of the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final day of the NWSL\u2019s regular-season will be October 31, 2027, which will serve as \u2018Decision Day.\u2019 The first round of the NWSL Playoffs will be held on November 5-7, with the semifinals occurring on November 13-14.<\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s NWSL Championship \u2014 the venue has not been decided yet \u2014 will be held on Saturday, November 20. <\/p>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect The National Women\u2019s Soccer League is gearing up for its 15th season. On Wednesday, the league announced the footprint for the 2027 season. There are some notable changes \u2014 including the league\u2019s kickoff being pushed up. In previous years, the regular season began in mid-March. In 2027, the NWSL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-256350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}