As the National Women’s Soccer League embarks on its 11th season, it’ll hardly be business as usual.
With the abuse allegations and fallout now in the rearview, the league is ready to move on, and part of that will be showing that the problems of the past are being addressed and the league’s culture has evolved to be safer for players. But the other part of moving on is being able to focus primarily on the soccer.
To that end, the stakes have been raised in 2023 for the topflight women’s league in the U.S., with the debut of VAR, a Women’s World Cup happening in midseason, new coaches and the potential for new dominant teams raising the stakes on the soccer side for the NWSL in 2023. There are no new expansion teams this year — two teams are expected to be added next season — but there’s been enough shuffling of players and a dizzying coach carousel to make many teams feel new.
The NWSL’s 2023 season opens Saturday, March 25, when the North Carolina Courage host the Kansas City Current, and all of the league’s 12 teams will be in action this weekend. Here are the key talking points ahead of the new season.
