Women’s pro soccer received local spotlight in 2025 through San Diego Wave FC

The National Women’s Soccer League crowned its 2026 champion on Nov. 22 as Gotham FC defeated the Washington Spirit, 1-0, in front of 18,000 fans at PayPal Park in San Jose. It was the second league championship in three years for the New York/New Jersey-based club after defeating the Seattle OL Reign, 2-1, to claim the 2023 title.

Gotham FC completed its upset run to the 2025 championship as the No. 8 seed, eliminating the No. 1-seeded Kansas City Current (quarterfinals) and No. 4-seeded Orlando Pride (semifinals). Gotham FC completed its underdog first championship run in 2023 as the No. 6 seed.

Rose Lavelle scored the game-winning goal late in the second half following a scoreless halftime. Lavelle, named the game’s Most Valuable Player, finished a low cross from teammate Bruninha, who became a two-time NWSL champion. Lavelle became the fourth player in league history to score for two different clubs in the NWSL final.

A total of 14 clubs competed during the 2025 season, the league’s 13th.

The 2025 tournament featured a three-round single-elimination format. Eight teams participated in the eight-team quarterfinals. Tje field was narrowed to four teams in the semifinals.

Top seeds included the Kansas City Current (No. 1 seed), Spirit (No. 2 seed), Portland Thorns (No.3 seed) and Orlando (No. 4 seed). The remainder of the quarterfinal field included the No. 5-seeded Seattle Reign, No. 6-seeded San Diego Wave, No. 7-seeded Racing Louisville and No. 8-seeded Gotham FC.

Quarterfinal winners included Washington (2-1 in extra time over Louisville), Portland (1-0 over San Diego in extra time, Orlando (2-0 over Seattle) and Gotham (2-1 over Kanaas City).

Gotham defeated Orlando, 1-0, in the semifinals while the Spirit eliminated Portland by a score of 2-0.

Kansas City set a league record with 21 wins and 65 points in the regular season.

The NWSL featured 14 teams for the 2025 season. Multiple attendance records were set during the 2025 season. An Aug. 23 match between Bay FC and the Spirit attracted 40,091 fans to Oracle Park, home of the Major League Baseball San Francisco Giants.

The league average of 10,669 in 2025 was down five percent from a record 11,235 in 2024 when the league surpassed the two million mark for the first time. The league attracted 1,926,050 in total attendance this past season. Portland led the league with an average attendance of 18,173.

Orlando won the 2024 NWSL championship. Portland owns the most league playoff titles with three (2013, 2017, 2022).

Making waves
San Diego’s NWSL club saw its 2025 season come to an abrupt end with the extra time loss to the Thorns at Providence Park despite dominating possession 62 to 38 percent. The teams played to a scoreless 90 minutes of regulation, necessitating a full overtime period.

Portland broke through four minutes into extra time as Olivia Moultrie passed to the back post where teammate Reilyn Turner headed the ball into the back of the net for the eventual game-winner.

The Wave had the best chances to score in regulation as Kennedy Wesley boomed a shot off the crossbar from 30 yards out in the 74th minute. Moments later, Kenza Dali again tested Portland goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold from distance, forcing a save to keep the match even.

In a bid to net the equalizer, the Wave created several scoring chances in the final minutes of overtime. Arnold made a face save on a point-blank shot by Trinity Armstrong in the dying stages of the match as the Thorns held on to eliminate the Wave from postseason play.

Fourteen Wave FC players made their NWSL playoff debuts.

Trinity Byars made her professional debut in her return from an ACL injury. The rookies signed nearly a year ago to the day on Nov. 7, 2024, from the University of Texas.

Both teams finished with 19 shots – six shots on target for Portland and four for the Wave. San Diego forced nine corner kicks to five for Portland. Both teams were whistled for 14 fouls. The Wave was charged with two off-sides infractions.

The Wave will prepare for the upcoming 2026 season by participating in the Coachella Valley Invitational Feb. 7-21.

Wave makes history with sevens-on-sevens North American title

From staff reports
The San Diego Wave FC captured the inaugural North American edition of the World Sevens Football tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., by defeating Liga MX Feminil’s Club Tigres 3-0 in the final on Dec. 7 to claim a portion of the $5 million prize money.

The Wave, which cashed in on $2 million, was the only team to go undefeated throughout the competition and secured a shutout in the championship match.

In the final, Adriana Leon scored two goals, while forward Makenzy Robbe added her fourth goal of the tournament, tied for the second-most by any player in the competition. San Diego’s Gia Corley earned the Breakout Player of the Tournament award and goalkeeper DiDi Haracic received the Golden Glove award.

San Diego delivered a dominant tournament run in the eight-team field, finishing first in the group stage and going undefeated across all matches. The Wave advanced to the championship after a commanding 5–1 semifinal victory over Brazil’s Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. Across the tournament, the Wave out-scored opponents 15-3.

The tournament introduced a fast-paced seven-versus-seven play with 15-minute halves on a pitch half the size of a traditional field, utilizing rolling substitutions, quick restarts. and W7F’s signature “no-draws” format that ensures a decisive result in every match.

It produced a high-energy environment where players were encouraged to have fun. Every game had music to match the vibe.

“I thought after Portland that this would not be the end of our season,” Wave coach Jonas Eidevall said. “I thought, ‘It’s impossible it’s going to end this way .And it was because it ends here. We’re the champions. We won, and we won it our way.”

The Wave went 3-0 in three Group 2 matches with 3-1 wins over Colombia’s Deportivo Cali and Uruguay’s Nacional and a 1-0 shootout win following nil-nil draw against Club America.

In the semifinals, Tigres defeated Club America, 2-1, while Club America defeated Flamengo, 1-0, in the third-place match.

MLS Cup TV, social media platforms show unprecedented, record-breaking numbers

The 2025 MLS Cup Final between Eastern Conference champion Inter Miami CF and the Western Conference champion Vancouver Whitecaps on Dec. 6 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. delivered record-breaking numbers — 4.6 million viewers across all platforms and 798 million social media impressions, according to the league.

Fans in more than 100 countries globally tuned into the broadcast that saw Inter Miami snap a 1-1 tie with two second-half goals to claim its first MLS Cup championship with a 3-1 victory. World-class star Lionel Messi was named MVP with two assists.

The social media engagement was unprecedented — a 532 percent increase over last year. The game, played in front of a sellout crowd of 21,550, featured the youngest MLS Cup audience ever with 70 percent of Apple TV viewers under the age of 45. The average viewing time was 70 minutes.

An additional 20,452 fans packed Vancouver’s BC Place for the largest away viewing party in MLS Cup history.
Across 29 playoff matches through the conference finals, MLS averaged 711,000 viewers, up 23 percent from 2024.
Numbers the league has to be very pleased with.

Much of that success has to be attributed to San Diego FC’s maiden MLS campaign as the league’s top expansion team.
San Diego FC advanced to the Western Conference Final against visiting Vancouver after capturing the conference’s top regular season record as the No. 1 playoff seed.

The San Diego expansion franchise set all kinds of performance and attendance records. The team recorded 19 wins and 63 standings points — both new benchmarks — while averaging 28,064 fans. The team posted a Snapdragon Stadium record 34,506 fans for its debut match.

SDFC surpassed LAFC’s previous expansion mark of 57 standings points and St. Louis City’s 17 regular season wins.