The NWSL Challenge Cup was first announced in 2020 as a one-off, league-wide tournament to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] It was the first top-tier professional sports league in the United States to restart after COVID-19 lockdowns began.[3] Subsequently, the NWSL announced that it would return as an annual league cup tournament.[4] Before the 2024 season, the NWSL announced that the Challenge Cup would change from a tournament to a single-game supercup.[5]
Format
2020–2023
For the first four years of the tournament, all NWSL teams began a group stage where they played four to six games, usually split geographically. The group stage was then followed by one or more knockout matches to determine the Cup winner. In 2020, all nine teams were to play four games each in a single pool, with eight teams advancing to the knockout stage; however, one team had to drop out due to COVID exposure, and the pool games among the remaining eight teams were used solely for seeding the knockout rounds.[6] In 2021, the ten teams were divided into two divisions of five teams, with the two group winners qualifying for the final match.[7] In 2022 and 2023, the twelve teams split into three groups of four, with the best runner-up joining the three group winners in a two-round knockout tournament.[8] In 2023, the format remained the same but the tournament was moved to run concurrently with the season due to player concerns about injuries.[9]
2024 onward
In 2024, the NWSL Challenge Cup transitioned to a single pre-season match between the winners of the previous season's NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship, a similar structure to other super cup trophies worldwide such as the FA Community Shield. Should a team win both the Championship and Shield, the Challenge Cup is a rematch of the previous season's championship match.[5]
^Estimated limited attendance provided at 15:50 on YT video: FULL GAME: 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup Final [Portland Thorns FC vs Gotham FC] | CBS Sports HQ
