NWSL’s 2025 schedule footprint: Challenge Cup’s return, summer pause and updated roster rules

The 2025 NWSL season will begin on March 14 and crown a new champion on Nov. 22, according to the league’s schedule footprint released Monday.

Not much is changing from last season with expansion teams not joining the league until 2026, but the NWSL did provide further details on how roster mechanisms will work this year under the new collective bargaining agreement provisions for free agency and trades.

In addition to the CBA-mandated week-long break for the league in June (at the same time as a FIFA international window), the NWSL will again take a summer break for major tournaments. With a stacked calendar that includes the Women’s European Championship, the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Copa América Femenina and Oceania’s Women’s Nations Cup, NWSL has taken the increased presence of international players in the league into consideration and paused play for the entirety of July.

These are the key details from the NWSL schedule footprint…

What does the schedule look like?

While there are still no firm dates for the U.S. women’s national team’s January camp (and Futures camp), the 14 NWSL clubs can start preseason as soon as Jan. 15 and must get them running by Feb. 5, per the CBA.

Before the regular season starts, the one-off Challenge Cup match format will continue in 2025. Because the Orlando Pride pulled off the double of the NWSL shield and championship last season, the league has opted to make the Challenge Cup a rematch of the 2024 championship between the Pride and the Washington Spirit.

The match will be played at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando on Friday, March 7, and streamed on Prime Video.

The regular season begins the following Friday, March 14. The schedule consists of 26 matches, played between the 14 teams across 25 weeks, according to the NWSL’s release. The regular season will conclude the weekend of Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. Due to the broadcast partnerships, there won’t be a single Decision Day for the NWSL again this season.

The CBA-mandated break runs from June 23 to June 29, followed by a break in league action for all of July. However, there are no plans for the NWSL to run its own summer tournament this year compared to 2024’s NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup.

“NWSL clubs will have flexibility to compete in matches against other professional women’s teams, including international opponents, ensuring continued competition for all NWSL players,” The league release reads. “More details will be released by each NWSL club at a later date.”

The NWSL did not provide a date for the full schedule release. (And no, I know nothing. Sorry in advance.) In 2024, the league released the full schedule on Jan. 25 — 50 days ahead of the Challenge Cup on March 15, and 51 days ahead of the start of the regular season.

As of Monday, Jan. 6, the Challenge Cup is 60 days away, and the start of the regular season is 67 days away.

How will roster rules work?

The full text of the new CBA between the NWSL and the players association has yet to be released to the public, but the league has provided some additional guidance and key dates in Monday’s release.

With all player contracts guaranteed now, the waiver wire has been eliminated. Starting Jan. 15, the league’s trade windows will also be eliminated — meaning trades may occur at any point before the set date for the roster freeze. In 2025, that date is Thursday, Oct. 9. As a reminder, all player trades now must be consented to by the players involved.

There will be two transfer windows during the 2025 NWSL season. The primary window opens Jan. 28 and closes March 24; the secondary window opens July 1 and closes Aug. 25.

The 2026 free agency period — when free agents in the league are allowed to begin conversations and negotiations for their next contracts following this season — also begins July 1.

How to watch

Not much has changed from 2024’s broadcast set-up across the league’s four media partners. While the league didn’t provide the exact number of games each broadcast partner has, it appears to be in line with last year with several games still airing on NWSL+, the league’s streaming platform.

Friday night games on Prime Video are back, as are Saturday double-headers on ION. CBS has its own package of games, with a TBD line-up that will span CBS, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network. The same goes for ESPN, with a TBD set-up across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. All ESPN platform games will also be available for streaming on ESPN+ in English and Spanish.

International options have yet to be finalized.

“The NWSL is in ongoing negotiations with distributors outside of the U.S. regarding international packages for the 2025 season,” Monday’s release states. “More details will be available ahead of the start of the season.”

What about the 2025 playoffs?

The NWSL did not make format changes to the playoffs following the 2024 season, which was a successful shift to a full round of quarterfinals with no bye weeks for the top two teams. This season will be the final year that more than half of the league’s table makes the playoffs, with NWSL expanding to 16 teams in 2026.

The 2025 quarterfinals will be played the weekend of Nov. 7 to 9. ESPN/ABC has the rights to air two of the quarterfinal matches, with CBS and Prime Video picking up the other two. The semifinals will happen the next weekend, Nov. 14 to 16. ESPN/ABC and CBS have the rights to one apiece.

The 2025 NWSL Championship is set for Nov. 22 at a yet-to-be-determined host. The final will again air in primetime on CBS (and stream on Paramount+).

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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