The 2021 National Women's Soccer League season was the ninth season of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

, the top division of

women's soccer in the United States Women's soccer in the United States has developed quite differently from men's soccer. Until the 1970s, organized women's soccer matches in the U.S. existed only on a limited basis. The U.S. is now regarded as one of the top countries in the wor ...

. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors,

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

(2009–2011) and the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first Women's association football, women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000 in sports, 2000, the league began its first se ...

(2001–2003), it is the 15th overall season of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States. This season was the first in which the NWSL has been fully self-governing. After the 2020 season, the league terminated its management contract with the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

(USSF or U.S. Soccer), which nonetheless continues to provide major financial support to the NWSL. Further financial backing is provided by the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ( ...

. Both national federations pay the league salaries of many of their respective national team members in an effort to nurture talent in those nations and take a major financial burden off of individual clubs. On November 18, 2020, the NWSL announced new competition formats for the 2021 season. The

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

became a league cup competition played before the start of the regular season. The Cup was followed by the 24-match regular season, which began on May 15 and concluded on October 31. The

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

were expanded to include the six teams, with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye. Playoffs started on November 6 and concluded with the

NWSL Championship The National Women's Soccer League Playoffs (or NWSL Playoffs) are a single elimination tournament among six teams in the National Women's Soccer League of the United States, deciding the winner of the NWSL Championship. Since playoff games can ...

on November 20. In the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup,

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

and

NJ/NY Gotham FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 201 ...

won the West and East Divisions, respectively, earning the right to play in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. As Portland had the better record, they hosted the final, which was played on May 8 in

Providence Park Providence Park (formerly Jeld-Wen Field; PGE Park; Civic Stadium; originally Multnomah Stadium; and from 1893 until the stadium was built, Multnomah Field) is an outdoor soccer venue located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. The game was a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes; Portland won the ensuing penalty shootout 6–5 to win the cup. In the regular season, the Portland Thorns won the most points and thus earned the

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

. In the playoffs, the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

and

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

progressed to the final, which was played on Nov. 20, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. The Spirit prevailed 2–1 in overtime, winning the NWSL Championship. The season was also marked by a sexual misconduct controversy that erupted on September 30, when ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

'' published an investigation into

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York F ...

head coach Paul Riley that accused him of a pattern of sexual coercion and abuse, and also alleged numerous inappropriate comments about players' physical appearance and sexuality. More than a dozen players from every team Riley had coached since 2010 spoke to the publication, and two named players went on the record with allegations against him. The Courage fired Riley that day, and U.S. Soccer immediately suspended his coaching license. The next day, the NWSL called off all of its scheduled matches for that weekend, both

and U.S. Soccer announced they were starting their own investigations into Riley, league commissioner Lisa Baird resigned, and league general counsel Lisa Levine was dismissed. Further reporting revealed systemic failure by NWSL leadership to investigate allegations against Riley, including some made in the 2021 season.

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Team names

Before the start of the season, Sky Blue FC

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

with new team insignia, jerseys, and colors. The new Kansas City team, which played the 2021 season under the placeholder name of Kansas City NWSL, announced its permanent identity of

Kansas City Current Kansas City Current is an American professional women's soccer team based in Kansas City, Kansas. It began play as an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2021. History Establishment Kansas City last had an NWSL t ...

at its final home game on October 30.

Stadiums and locations

Capacities listed here are full capacities, and do not reflect

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

restrictions.

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All teams use

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

as their kit manufacturer.

Coaching changes

Regular season

Tiebreakers

The initial determining factor for a team's position in the standings (and hence playoff qualification and seeding) is points earned, with three points earned for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss. If two or more teams are tied in points, the NWSL uses the following tiebreaker criteria in the order listed: # Head-to-head win–loss record, or points per game if more than two teams, between the teams tied in points. # Greatest goal difference (against all teams, not just tied teams). # Greatest total number of goals scored (against all teams, not just tied teams). # Apply #1–3 to games played on the road. # Apply #1–3 to games played at home. #Coin toss or drawing of lots. Note: If two clubs remain tied after another club with the same number of points advances during any step, tiebreaker determination restarts at step 1.

Attendance

NWSL attendance in 2021 was impacted by the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Many early-season matches were closed to the public because of COVID restrictions, and when games were opened, many teams had lower average attendances than the most recent regular season in 2019.

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance. Updated through 2021 season. A total of 2 matches were not reported, mostly resulting from the absence of fans due to

restrictions. Portland Thorns FC were the only club to not report matches (versus Louisville June 5 and Kansas City June 20). Two matches (September 4 Washington at Portland and September 12 OL Reign at Washington) were declared forfeits by Washington due to COVID protocol violations and not played.

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Top assists

Clean sheets

Hat-tricks

Playoffs

Beginning this season, the top six teams from the regular season competed for the NWSL Championship, with the top two teams receiving a first-round bye.

First round

Semi-finals

Championship

Championship MVP:

Aubrey Bledsoe Aubrey Renee Kingsbury (; born November 20, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays for the Washington Spirit in the National Women's Soccer League. Early life Kingsbury was born in Cincinnati to Paul and Char Bledsoe. She atte ...

(

WAS Was or WAS may refer to: * ''Was'', a past-tense form of the English copular verb ''to be'' People * David Was (born c. 1952), the stage name of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter David Weiss * Don Was (born 1952), the stage name of bass guita ...

)

Challenge Cup

The 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup was a tournament-style competition starting on April 9 and ending with a final played on May 8, before the start of the regular NWSL season. The tournament was organized as a group stage with two five-team, geographically chosen groups playing a round-robin, followed by a single-game final featuring the top team from each group.

won the Eastern Division and the Portland Thorns won the Western one. In the final, held at

in Portland, these two teams tied 1-1 after 90 minutes and went straight to a penalty-kick shootout, with Portland prevailing 6–5 in seven rounds of penalties.

East Division

West Division

Championship

Individual awards

Annual awards

Monthly Awards

Player of the Month

Team of the Month

Weekly awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:National Women's Soccer League 2021

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

National Women's Soccer League season