NWSL set for earliest-ever start next season to accommodate World Cup - ESPN

The National Women's Soccer League plans to begin its 2027 season on Feb. 11 in Los Angeles to coincide with the Super Bowl across town three days later, ESPN has confirmed.

The Feb. 11 start date will be the earliest in NWSL history by over a month as the league tries to fit in a full 30-game schedule while taking seven weeks off for next year's Women's World Cup.

Angel City FC will host a season-opening game at BMO Stadium in L.A. Super Bowl XLI will be played on Sunday, Feb. 14, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California — about 7 miles southwest.

«Given the realities of the match calendar in 2027, we tried to think through if we're playing on Super Bowl weekend, how do we try to be a part of the conversation and not separate the sports world, but just aggregate it more around that area?» Carlin Hudson, the NWSL's vice president of strategy and one of the primary employees in the schedule-making process, told ESPN.

The NWSL has never played an official match as early in the calendar year as February. Previously, the earliest game in the calendar year was a March 7 NWSL Challenge Cup match in 2025, when the Orlando Pride hosted the Washington Spirit.

NWSL teams will begin the preseason between Jan. 2 and Jan. 7 next year — six weeks after the 2026 NWSL Championship, marking the shortest offseason in league history.

The NWSL Challenge Cup, which will put the 2026 NWSL Shield winner against the 2026 NWSL Championship winner, will be played on Feb. 6.

That match will be played at a neutral site that avoids cold weather and the league will look at markets currently outside the NWSL, Hudson said.

This year's Challenge Cup was played in Columbus, Ohio, which was awarded the match before it was officially awarded a 2028 NWSL