NWSL season to start earlier than ever in 2027

Field Level Media|published: 08/04/2026, 1:42pm EDT

Sep 28, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; A general view of practice balls prior to a match between the Kansas City Current and NJ/NY Gotham FC at CPKC Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The NWSL will begin its 2027 schedule more than a month earlier than ever before, ESPN confirmed on Tuesday.

The regular season will kick off on Feb. 11 with Angel City FC hosting a match in Los Angeles, three days before the region hosts Super Bowl LXI in Inglewood, Calif.

Until now, the earliest league game was a NWSL Challenge Cup contest on March 7, 2025.

The league is trying to fit in a full 30-game schedule while still taking seven weeks off for the 2027 Women's World Cup, running in Brazil from June 24 to July 25.

"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 who is heavily involved in the league's schedule-making process, told ESPN.

The NWSL will have the shortest offseason in league history following the 2026 championship game, with only six weeks passing before the 2027 preseason begins on Jan. 2.

--Field Level Media