In the midst of a tough NWSL Shield race, Washington Spirit have yet another trophy to compete for. Tonight kicks off their first appearance in the Concacaf W Champions Cup, where they’ll face top teams from around the federation and compete for their first international trophy.

Beginning its second year, the Concacaf W Champions Cup will run until May 2026 and involve both group and knockout stages. Teams from Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, and the USA will participate. Only the United States and Mexico have more than one team competing in the tournament, with three berths each. For the US, that meant the top three finishers in the 2024 NWSL Shield Race – Washington Spirit were #2 – received invitations.

The winners of the tournament will qualify for the first editions of two other international competitions: the 2027 FIFA Women’s Champions Cup and the 2028 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup, meaning this could be an important step in the Spirit’s quest to become an internationally-recognized club.

Washington Spirit in the Cup

The Spirit are making their debut in the Concacaf W Champions Cup this year and will face a tough challenge in balancing competition in these matches with their weekly league games. Tonight’s game against Alianza represents perhaps their toughest stretch, with three matches and travel from Washington to El Salvador to the Bay area spread across just nine days.

Luckily, the Spirit are the healthiest they’ve been all season and, for seemingly the first time this year, unable to fit all available players onto their game day roster. The tournament could give players like Chloe Ricketts, Kysha Sylla, and Brittany Ratcliffe – who Spirit have relied on regularly off the bench – a chance to start matches and shine on the international stage.

“I feel that this is a great opportunity to all of us,” Spirit head coach Adrián González said, noting both the opportunity for players to get more minutes and for the team to distinguish itself on the international stage. He also identified some keys to success for his team: “Increasing the availability, making rotations, being very accurate with what we are doing during the training. Being very accurate also with the recovery piece: that’s going to be very key.”

Group B opponents

In the group stage, each team will play one match against each team in their group, with two home matches and two away. The top two teams in each group will then advance to the knockout stage. Here are the teams the Spirit will need to best to move on.

Alianza Women FC

San Salvador’s Alianza are the winningest team in Primera División Femenina de El Salvador, with 10 titles to their name, including all four from 2023 to the present (the league’s seasons are divided into halves called Clausura and Apertura). They lost the preliminary round of last year’s Champions Cup to Vancouver but are in group stage this year and will host the Spirit in this year’s first match. As a top team in a less competitive league, Alianza could pose Washington an interesting puzzle but are unlikely to truly threaten the NWSL team.

C.F. Monterrey Women

The longtime former club of Washington’s Rebeca Bernal, Rayadas, qualified as winners of the 2024 Liga MX Femenil Apertura. They’d also won the previous half-season in the league and, as a consequence, played in the first Champions Cup, finishing third in their group with a record of 2-1-1. Despite the departure of team captain Bernal, Rayadas remain a strong side with a number of goalscorers and have won four of their first six matches in this Apertura.

NJ/NY Gotham FC

The most familiar of Washington’s opponents, Gotham FC, qualified for the Cup as third-place finishers in the 2024 NWSL Shield race. Gotham are the reigning Champions Cup, er, Champions, after winning the inaugural tournament in May. Though they’ve been struggling a bit in the NWSL this season, Gotham seem to have Washington’s number. They beaten the Spirit 3-0 in Washington, DC, and held them to a scoreless draw just over a week ago, despite being down a player. The Spirit will need to take a lot of lessons from those matches (and manage player minutes well) to beat Gotham to the top of Group B.

Vancouver Rise FC Academy

Vancouver Rise FC Academy, formerly known as the Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Academy, are a semi-professional team playing in League 1 British Columbia. In last year’s Cup, Vancouver defeated Alianza to advance to the group stage but only won one match in their group, finishing fourth.

Note that this team should not be confused with Vancouver Rise FC, a professional team in the Northern Super League. With that league’s establishment earlier this year, we might expect to see a change in qualifying standards for Canada’s slot in the 2025-26 Concacaf W Champions Cup.

Match schedule

The Spirit will play four weeknight group stage matches over the next two months. Matches will be available on CBS Sports Network and Paramount+ in English and ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes in Spanish.

¹While Concacaf’s website states this match will be held at Subaru Park, Gotham’s website still states the venue is to be announced. Stay tuned for updates!

Lead image, courtesy of the Washington Spirit, shows Chloe Ricketts and other Spirit players competing the 2025 Challenge Cup