© Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
The NWSL Challenge Cup has come down to three more matches before the competition is put on mothballs for 2024. With two new teams making for an expanded regular season in 2024 plus plans to shutter the league for the Olympic Games, the National Women’s Soccer League will bring down the curtain on the Challenge Cup following Wednesday’s semifinals and Saturday’s championship match. A one-off will be played ahead of next year’s regular season between the winners of the Cup and NWSL Championship.
“It’s pros and cons if I’m honest,” San Diego Wave FC head coach Casey Stoney said following the club’s final Challenge Cup match on Aug. 5.
The Challenge Cup was created in 2020 when the league was shut down with the rest of the world as humanity tried to come to grips with the COVID-19 virus. With no charter travel and little appetite for playing in front of empty stands, a month-long tournament was created inside a bubble organized near Salt Lake City. New television partner CBS…
