NWSL announces 2024 schedule blueprint and calendar
(image via Houston Dash)
The National Women’s Soccer League has announced the competition framework for the 2024 season. 190 matches will be played and the postseason has been expanded, along with a big change to the NWSL Challenge Cup.
The Houston Dash. and each team in NWSL. will play 26 regular season matches, 13 at home and 13 on the road. Two new expansion teams are joining the league this season in Bay FC and Utah Royals FC. The 26 match schedule will be played over 25 weeks with some breaks in between. The CBA-mandated league break will take place from July 8 to 14. The NWSL will then break from league play from July 15 to August 18 while the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are staged. During that break, the league will organize a tournament with international participants and all 14 clubs, beginning the weekend of July 19-21. More details on that tournament will be announced in the future.
The upcoming season is the beginning of the league’s new four-year domestic media rights agreement. Each regular-seaosn weekend will begin with a Firday night match on Prime Video. The following Saturday night will have a double-header on Scripps’ owned ION Network. A package of regular-season games will also air on CBS Television Network and stream live on Paramount+, with some games on CBS Sports Network. ESPN will also air a package of matches across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes. All NWSL matches on ESPN platforms with stream on ESPN+ in English and Spanish.
“The 2024 season marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the NWSL and one that will set the tone for the future of our sport in the U.S. and globally,” said NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman. “Women’s soccer shined on an international stage in 2023 and as attendance, viewership and investment figures continue to explode, our league has never been better positioned to capitalize on the momentum the game is experiencing. Underscored by the addition of our 13th and 14th franchises, an enhanced match calendar and, critically, groundbreaking media rights agreements that will ensure our games are readily accessible to more fans than ever before, the 2024 campaign represents a new era for the NWSL as we continue our efforts to deliver the best product in professional soccer.”
The NWSL playoffs are also being expanded to eight teams. The playoffs will now have four quarterfinal matches and eliminate two byes to the semifinals. The quarterfinals will be the weekend of November 9-10, the semifinals November 16-17, and the NWSL Championship on November 23.
The NWSL Challenge Cup is also getting a drastic change. Instead of a tournament involving all teams, it will now be a single match, much like England’s Community Shield. The Challenge Cup will now kick off the season as one match between the previous season’s NWSL Shield winner and NWSL Championship winner. If one team won both, it will be a rematch of the previous season’s championship match.
To see the full competition calendar, you can click here.
Before the preseason camps begin, as early as Januart 22 but no later than January 29, the Dash have a busy offseason ahead. They still have a head coach to hire with reports that will be announced soon. The club will then be a part of the NWSL Expansion Draft on December 15 where Bay FC and Utah could take two players from Houston’s roster.
