Breaking Down the 2025 NWSL Footprint

Taylor Vincent
Taylor Vincent, Resident NWSL ExpertJanuary 06, 2025
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Today the NWSL released the schedule footprint as well as the competition calendar for the 2025 season. Here’s what you need to know:

Preseason Rosters

Under the new CBA, teams can begin preseason camps as soon as January 15th, and as late as February 5th. By the February 5th deadline, teams must submit their 40-player preseason roster to the league and get any trialist—non-rostered invitees or NRIs—agreements out. 

As far as rosters go by February 19th, teams need to be down to a 32-player roster, and then they need to be at full 22-26 player compliance by March 12th when the rosters are submitted to the league. Players can still be added after the March 12th deadline, but teams will need to remain in compliance on active players and salary cap until the end of 2025 after that point. 

During preseason there is a three-match FIFA Window from February 17th to the 26th, which will slightly disrupt the flow of teams’ preseason chemistry building, but it shouldn’t be as chaotic as the Concacaf W Gold Cup last year which lasted from February 20th to March 10th—less than a week before the regular season started in 2024. 

2025 Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup started in 2020 as the Covid-bubble replacement for a regular season. In 2021 and 2022 it transformed into a fully preseason tournament, and in 2023 it morphed again into a tournament interwoven with the regular season—being played as mid-week games and the summer international window. 

Last year the Challenge Cup went through its (final?) iteration, becoming a single match played ahead of the regular season between the NWSL Shield winner (top of the regular season table), and the NWSL Championship winner. Since last season the Orlando Pride won both the NWSL Shield and the NWSL Championship, this year’s Challenge Cup will be a replay of the 2024 NWSL Championship game as the Orlando Pride take on the Washington Spirit on Friday, March 7th.

Regular Season & Playoffs

The regular season will kick off on Friday March 14th this year, roughly the same time as the regular season started in 2024. The playoffs also aim for similar weekends with the NWSL Quarterfinals being November 7-9, Semifinals November 14-16, and the NWSL Championship November 22nd. 

The NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup does not appear to be making a re-appearance in 2025 following its inaugural run last summer during the time when international players were away preparing for and playing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In its stead the league has decided that NWSL clubs will be able to plan their own friendlies/competitions in the month of July while FIFA regulated competitions are ongoing.

Transfer Windows 

The major change from 2024 is that there are no longer trade windows, so up until the October 9th roster freeze, players can be traded—within the league—at any time as long as the trades have the required player approval. 

For players coming from abroad, the transfer windows are when the NWSL can accept an International Transfer Certificate (ITC). International players (or domestic players abroad) can sign outside of the transfer windows, but they cannot play in a game until the ITC has gone through during an open window. For 2025, the Primary Transfer Window goes from January 28th until March 24th (one week after the regular season starts), and the Secondary Window will open up on July 1st and close on August 25th. 

Another change that comes with the new CBA is that starting July 1st, 2026 free agents will be able to sign with new teams for the 2026 season. 

As a reminder, per the new CBA, there is no more waiver wire and all contracts are guaranteed.


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