Your 2026 NWSL Challenge Cup Cheat Sheet

Last season, Gotham FC ended the Kansas City Current's run for a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) championship. This year, Kansas City gets its shot at payback.

The two clubs meet for the 2026 NWSL Challenge Cup — the first trophy up for grabs in the league’s 14th season — on Friday, June 26. Gotham, based out of New York and New Jersey, returns as the reigning NWSL champ, ready to defend its title. (And the Bats' forward Midge Purce isn’t shy about chasing a repeat.) Kansas City, meanwhile, is coming off a record-breaking 2025 regular season of its own. They won the Shield trophy (given to the team with the best regular-season record) faster than any other club, as well as league records for points and wins. The playoff loss to Gotham in the 2025 quarterfinals sets the perfect stage for revenge.

So, will Gotham’s league-best defense be enough to keep Kansas City’s two-time MVP Temwa Chawinga off the goal when these teams take the field? Or will Chawinga (freshly back from injury and one of the league’s top scorers) break through anyway? Let's get into it.

How the Challenge Cup Came to Be

The game wasn't always a single-match competition. 

In 2020, it debuted as a league-wide, 25-game tournament during the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered the league’s regular season before it even began. All teams headed to a Utah "bubble" and became the first US pro sports league to return to play. The Houston Dash was the cup’s first winner. 

Since then, the tournament has gone through a few changes — and marked a few more milestones:

• Between 2020 and 2023, the Challenge Cup was played as a multiteam tournament. After the Dash took home the first trophy, Portland Thorns FC took it in 2021, then the North Carolina Courage in 2022.

• In 2023, prize money climbed to $1 million for the first time, with payouts shared among the four semifinalist teams. The move marked a major step toward equity in the league.

• In 2024, the format shifted to a single-game championship match between the reigning NWSL champion and the Shield winner. San Diego Wave FC took home the first trophy in this format.

• In 2025, the Washington Spirit won its first Challenge Cup trophy the dramatic way: beating the Orlando Pride in penalties after a 1-1 draw.

How the Challenge Cup Changed for 2026

The Challenge Cup usually kicks off the NWSL season. This year, it lands in the middle of it. The timing for the match was pushed from February to June after Gotham qualified for the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup. The shift gives the Challenge Cup a different role in the season (think: less opening act, more summer reset).

“[The Challenge Cup] was a great way to get the season going. And now, having a break in the summer, I think it’s just going to get people more excited to get back into it,” says Kansas City Current defender Izzy Rodriguez.

There's another change, too: a neutral site. Instead of giving the defending champion home-field advantage, the league picked a neutral pitch in Columbus, Ohio. It’s a nod to where the league is headed next, as the city will welcome its own NWSL team (and the league’s 18th franchise) in 2028.

What Fans Can Expect From This Year’s Matchup

These two teams know each other well. Last season, the eighth-seeded Gotham stunned the top-seeded Current in the quarterfinals, eliminating KC from the race for the league championship.

"That game kind of hurt,” says Rodriguez. “We're ready to pull out a win, and hopefully have some of that hunger from the end of last year as well.” 

Earlier this season, the Current gave Gotham a taste of that with a 2-1 win at home. 

But Gotham's not sweating it. "We'll have to be locked-in, offensively and defensively, and bring our A-game,” says Gotham FC midfielder Jaedyn Shaw. “That's fun for the fans to watch — to see how competitive we are [and] to see multiple goals scored in many different ways," 

Who to Watch on Gotham and the Current

For Gotham FC:

• Rose Lavelle, midfielder: She scored the goal that clinched Gotham's 2025 title and was named US Soccer Female Player of the Year.

• Jaedyn Shaw, midfielder: Joined Gotham in 2025 from the North Carolina Courage. Her signing was the league's biggest-ever intraleague transfer. She signed for $1.25 million — the most the NWSL has ever paid to move a player between teams.

• Esther González, forward: She finished last season with 13 goals. This year, keep your eyes on her as a contender for the NWSL Golden Boot.

For the Kansas City Current:

• Temwa Chawinga, forward: She’s a two-time league MVP and back-to-back Golden Boot winner who returned to the field in April after a hip adductor injury.

• Croix Bethune, midfielder: She was the 2024 Rookie of the Year, who KC poached from the Washington Spirit during the offseason.

• Izzy Rodriguez and Kayla Sharples, defenders: They were both finalists for 2025 Defender of the Year.

As Rodriguez puts it: "Something like [the Challenge Cup] puts a lot on the line...One game takes [it] all."

A Pregame Sneak Peek

Every player has their thing before a big game. While Shaw says she doesn’t have any specific rituals, there are a few things she does: "I always tape my left wrist...eat pasta and red sauce...[and] pray at the same time."

Rodriguez also steers clear of superstitions… for the most part. “I write down a couple of things I want to focus on, maybe a song or two I usually play,” she says. “As a team, we do have one song we always leave the locker room with.” She won’t share what it is (so maybe she is a little superstitious), but she does say: “It's a great hype song. We have a great time with it. [Kansas City Current forward] Michelle Cooper is always the DJ.” 

Either way, that connection — that energy — is the appeal. 

As Rodriguez puts it: "The cool thing about the league is, anything can happen on any given day. That's the fun part.”