2025 NWSL Playoffs Review
The 2025 Playoffs were quite close-run games in most cases, with New Jersey/New York Gotham FC winning their second championship final in three seasons with a 1-0 win over Washington Spirit in front of a sellout crowd of 18,000 in neutral site San Jose, California’s Pay Pal Park, the home of second year side Bay FC and MLS’s San Jose Earthquakes. Gotham General Manager and former U.S. international Yael Averbuch has shown that she is one of the best general managers in the women’s professional game globally as Gotham has established themselves as a juggernaut, winning the first CONCACAF W Champions Cup title for the CONCACAF region and the NWSL title within six months to close 2025.
In the quarterfinals, three of the four matches were decided in extra time, one on penalties. The major shocker was eighth seed Gotham FC dispatching NWSL Shield (regular season champions) and host side Kansas City Current 2-1 in front of 11,500 in Kansas City’s dedicated women’s football stadium—the only one to date in the league. Veteran American forward Katie Stengle scored the winner in the 121st minute with virtually the last kick of the match on an assist from Jaedyn Shaw.
Interestingly, Stengel also scored an extra-time winner in the 2023 semifinal when Gotham won the title in 2024. Gotham controlled the game after Shaw scored from a solo dribble and far post goal in the 68th minute, but U.S. youth international Ellie Wheeler (23) scored in the 96th minute to send the game to overtime. For Kansas City, it was a jarring end to a terrific season (see more in part 1 of our NWSL regular season review, link above), but Gotham was much better than their seeding would indicate and this game had all the drama and emotion of a final. The Current was missing the two-time Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga of Malawi with a hip injury as well as American international forward Michelle Cooper due to a foot injury.
Kansas City coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match that: “If there was even a slight chance for Temwa to play the game, even one minute, she was probably going to be on the field but it was obvious that we’re risking (a) bigger injury (during team training the day before).” Gotham was missing Spain 2023 WWC winner Esther Gonzalez who was struggling with hip issues, but they moved on while the Current will play in the World 7 Finals in Florida in December (which this column will review next week) and get ready for 2026.
Andonovski added: “I’ve been saying this for two years: We’re not here to have one good season and go away. We’re not here to have a couple of good games and go away. We’re here to stay. This club is going to be here, and we’ll make sure that we make a mark every season.”
With everything that the club has done on and off the field over the past few years, Andonovski’s words should send a message of warning to the rest of the teams in the league that this loss to Gotham FC is not an indication of a team that is, in any way, in decline for the years to come.
In the other semifinals, Racing Louisville, in the club’s first ever playoff game, was not intimidated by the 19,125 fans at Washington Spirits’s Audi Field—now known as Rowdy Audi for its loud and fun atmosphere. Louisville settled their nerves and held the Spirit scoreless at the half. Nigerian international Gift Monday, who scored eight goals in the regular season, scored for the Spirit in the 73rd minute but Racing tied it up with a 92nd minute goal by third-year American Kayla Fischer (23). There was no further scoring in the 30 minutes of overtime and then U.S. international goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe was the heroine with two saves in the penalty kick decider as D.C. won 3-1 on penalty kicks. Kingsbury is known as stellar in penalty kicks, having now saved nine times on 24 shootout attempts in NWSL games.
Reigning champions Orlando Pride ended a strong season by the Seattle Reign with a 2-0 quarterfinal win in front of 11,355 fans in Orlando. American midfielder Haley McCutcheon (29), who has been with Orlando since the 2022 season and was capped once by the USWNT in 2018, scored the winner in the 21st minute and Brazilian international Luana (32), who joined the Pride last season, scored the second goal in the 98th minute from the penalty spot.
U.S. youth international Reilyn Turner (23), in her second year in the league, scored in the fourth minute of the first overtime period to give Portland Thorns a 1-0 win over San Diego Wave in front of 19,303 in their Providence Park home.
Jonas Eidevall feels less pressure in San Diego—is that a good thing?
The Wave were entertaining under Swedish head coach Jonas Eidevall this season, particularly with their group of French internationals (see part 1 of our NWSL regular season review, link above).
Eidevall previously coached at Arsenal in the WSL and has said that he is finding the Wave job to involve much less pressure than in London with Arsenal: “This is my first head coach assignment where I haven’t needed to win from day one, like as a must. In Lunds (in Sweden), we had to be promoted from the second division up to the first, and we were successful with that. When I was coaching Malmö (now FC Rosengård) in Sweden, we had to win the championship.
"Everything else was a failure, even if we were playing against other really good teams as well, but that was the direction from the club. It’s the same thing at Arsenal. You need to win, you need to win trophies, otherwise you can’t stay in the job, and that pressure comes from day one.”
At Arsenal, he coached a little over three seasons, resigning in early October 2024. With the Gunners, he won two League Cups in 2023 and 2024, and made their first Champions League semifinal in a decade in 2023. However, with Chelsea racking up league titles across the city, it was never good enough for Arsenal and a UEFA Women’s Champions League penalty shoot-out loss in the first round qualifiers in 2023-24 to surprising Paris FC (4-3 on penalties after a 3-3 tie) was largely viewed as a complete disaster.
Eidevall has had a massive squad turnover in San Diego, with 14 players gone from the start of the 2024 season (when they missed the playoffs), including the retirement of former USWNT star Alex Morgan. Jaedyn Shaw was traded to the North Carolina Courage and USWNT defender Naomi Girma was sold to Chelsea of the WSL. However, Eidevall should not get complacent in terms of realizing that the Wave have to win titles to go with their 2024 league leading attendance of 19,575, which fell to 13,427 for fifth in the league in 2025. Fifth place in the league and in the stands, combined with a quarterfinal defeat, is not good enough for this franchise and they have to be much more consistent next season—in what most people define as the most competitive league in the world.
If Eidevall does not feel pressure, then he is missing something as coaches in this league are constantly on the hot seat, with assistant coaches seemingly always moving up to interim roles and a chance for a permanent role—for a while, until their team makes another coaching change. However, a few weeks after their loss in the NWSL playoffs, the team went to Florida to participate in the second World Sevens Finals this year in Florida and the Wave won the title in the eight team event featuring the Kansas City Current and club teams from the Northern Super League, Liga MX Femenil, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. The Wave took home $2 million dollars in prize money—maybe Eidevall is right about less pressure in the U.S., particularly with bringing home a nice early Christmas present to team management (particularly in the money) and fans. Eidevall seems to be doing just fine right now in San Diego. This column will review this tournament next week.
Rob Gale is fired as Portland Thorns head coach.
In the semifinals, Gift Monday scored the winner in the 27th minute as Washington defeated Portland 2-0 on November 15 at Audi Field, this time in front of 19,365 fans. Portland Thorns head coach Rob Gale, who was born in Zambia and played football in England and Canada, was fired as head coach less than a week after the game. He has been handicapped by injuries this season but was largely seen as tactically lacking; however, a bigger issue might have been that new General Manager and former U.S. international defender Jeff Agoos—who was hired this season—inherited Gale and likely wanted to bring in his own coach.
One of Gale’s assistant coaches, Adam Day, was also let go. Day served as the assistant coach for Wales WNT in 2024-25 and was a technical assistant for Canada when they won the Olympic Gold Medal in 2021 in Japan. Gale joined the Thorns midway through the 2023 season as an assistant coach to then head coach Mike Norris. In April of 2024, Norris moved into the front office and Gale took over as interim head coach before being named in July as the team’s permanent head coach. Across all competitions, Gale had a record of 28-10-21 (W-D-L) record and made the playoffs in both of his seasons in charge.
Another assistant on Gale’s staff, Sarah Lowdon, was named as the Thorn’s interim head coach and has served as an assistant coach with the Thorns since 2023, contributing to player development, match preparation, and technical direction. She previously held coaching roles with the Houston Dash, where she as an assistant and an interim head coach, and with U.S. Youth National Teams; she holds U.S. Soccer coaching licenses.
To be fair to Gale, he did weather a slew of missing players this season, with Sophia Wilson (maternity leave) and Morgan Weaver (injured all season), along with the retirements at the end of 2024 of Canadian international scoring icon Christine Sinclair and USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn. Gale was forced to go with a younger squad, with U.S. international Olivia Moultrie (20) becoming a star with eight goals.
On November 16, Jaedyn Shaw scored in the 97th minute of Gotham’s 1-0 semifinal win in Orlando from a brilliant free kick in front of a Pride franchise record crowd of 15,714.
Rodman’s potential move to Europe and Jaedyn’s Shaw’s “underdog my ass” comments overshadow the league Final.
For the final on November 22 on national television (CBS), there were two main stories going into the match, involving U.S. international forwards Trinity Rodman of D.C. and Jaedyn Shaw of New Jersey/New York. For Rodman, a focus was on how many minutes she would play—she was injured late in the season with a strained MCL during a CONCACAF W Champions Cup match and missed the last two regular season matches and the Racing Louisville quarterfinal—was overshadowed by the question of where she would play next year.
A number of WSL clubs in England expressed interest in her but NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman, whose contract was recently extended to 2028, was adamant that the league was trying to put together a package to keep her in the league: “We want Trinity in the NWSL and we will fight for her.”
Berman added that her league wanted the top players in the world. Rodman’s contract expired at the end of this season so a European team could pay her a tremendous salary without an accompanying transfer fee to the Spirit. The pros of going to Europe for Rodman include a higher annual salary and playing new clubs with a variety of talented players. Currently, Rodman was earning $281,000 in base salary annually compared to Aitana Bonmati of Barcelona’s north of $1 million a year contract. Rodman is not yet in the Bonmati category, but her upside potential is huge, if she can stay healthy and on the field.
Also, her boyfriend Ben Shelton is a professional tennis player who attends tournaments in many countries around the world. A huge downside for Rodman are that the top clubs in European leagues have many walkover games in league matches, compared to the NWSL offering the most competitive league—top to bottom—in the world.
To complicate the matter, the week of the NWSL final, USL Super League side D.C. Power—which also plays at Audi Field but is averaging 1,642 this season, including a low of 251 for a midweek game this fall when the league average is 2,408, compared to the Spirit’s average of 15,100 this season, which was a sharp increase from their 10,000 average two years ago—came into the picture, saying that their league doesn’t have the salary cap rules that the NWSL does so the Power could pay her more and keep her in the States.
There are many past examples in the U.S. of new sports leagues signing a top player as an attention-getter to help the league grow. This has particularly been a strategy used as new professional leagues competed against a long-established leagues—think Joe Namath of the AFL New York Jets in the 1960’s, Rick Barry and Julius Erving in the American Basketball Association and Wayne Gretzky in the World Hockey Association. All three leagues eventually merged some teams with the more established leagues—National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League, respectively.
In spite of the fact that the Super League is officially a Division 1 league, it is seen by many as a second tier league, particularly due to their teams taking a number of NWSL players on loan at the in its first two seasons, as well as much lower attendance figures. Some in the media saw the USL move as a publicity stunt and/or a negotiation move by her agents and most people do not see it as a realistic consideration for Rodman.
Note: On December 3, the NWSL office said that they would not adjust the salary cap rules to allow Rodman to sign a multi-million dollar contract offer from the Spirit, with the NWSL Player Association quickly filing a complaint on Rodman’s behalf. Reports are that the Spirit proposed a four-year contract, with her annual salary increasing over the final two seasons, with at least an annual average of one million dollars each season, which would be competitive with top European sides. Her previous contract, signed in 2022, was for four years and $1.1 million dollars in total.
The problem with the Spirit’s new offer is the team salary cap rules of the league, which is set with the Players Union, at $3.5 million in 2026 and increasing to $4.9 million in 2029. There is no cap on individual salaries but the clubs need to stay under the salary cap for 25-27 players, so a million dollar contract for one player would greatly reduce the flexibility to compensate the other players well. Keep in mind that the NWSL is a single entity league—which was common with “minor sports” in the U.S. to promote competitive balance and manage expenses—so players sign with the league, rather than individual franchises.
At her end of season media conference, Berman said: “The NWSL has raised the salary cap tremendously in each of the last four seasons that I’ve been here. I believe it’s almost quadrupled in the last four years.” The salary cap can be raised—with NWSLPA approval, but she added: “What goes into the analysis of when and how we raise the cap has a direct relationship to our business,” which means primarily television and streaming revenue growth (see more below).
Major League Soccer, another single entity league, added a Designated Player (DP) Rule—also known as the Beckham Rule—to bring English international superstar David Beckham into the league at a much higher salary than the other league’s players in 2007, which helped to elevate the status of the league domestically and abroad. MLS now allows each team to sign three DP’s every season. Interestingly, the same rule was used to bring in Lionel Messi to Beckham’s Inter Miami club in July of 2023. Note, Inter Miami won the 30th MLS championship on December 6, 2025 with a 3-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps and Messi has extended his deal with the team through the 2028 season. Rodman, if she can stay healthy, has that ability to guide a league but without a Designated Player rule, the league doesn’t have the means, or the vision one could argue—to go that route.
The other young American forward, Jadeyn Shaw, became known for her pithy quote after their quarterfinal victory over Kansas City: “We’re not an eighth-place team. I’m sorry, but underdog, my ass. We are not an underdog.” She was asked about it through the rest of the playoffs, but it was absolutely true and Gotham FC played like a top seed in their three playoff games.
Gotham defeats the Spirit 1-0 to win the title
In the final, Rose Lavelle scored the only goal in the 80th minute following up late on a brilliant pass across the box from Brazilian international Bruninha (23). Bruninha became the youngest player to win two NWSL championships. Spanish 2023 Women’s World Cup champion Esther González, Bruninha, Midge Purce and Katie Stengle won their second championship with the club. Three starters from Washington’s 2021 championship squad were with the Spirit: Aubrey Kingsbury, Tara McKeown and Trinity Rodman (who came on as a substitute in the 2025 match). Gotham won (3-0) and tied against the Spirit in the regular season and had a scoreless tie again in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup match in October.
It was the Spirit’s second consecutive final game defeat and third since the 2016 season, though they did beat Chicago 2-1 in the 2021 final. The always resplendent Spirit owner Michelle Kang was not on the field afterwards—usually when her teams (OL Lyonnes in France, London City in the WSL) win, she becomes the center of attention. She must have been steaming mad with the loss. Prior to the game, I talked to one long-time fan of the league who was rooting for Gotham just simply because it wasn’t Kang’s team. At least people know who the Spirit owner is—at many NWSL clubs, the owner groups have a public perception just below your average everyday Franciscan monk.
Haley Carter moves from the Orlando front office to D.C. for 2026
In other D.C. Spirit news, Haley Carter, who recently resigned as the Orlando Pride’s Vice President of Soccer Operations, joined D.C. as their President of Soccer Operations. In Orlando, she helped build a double winning side last season in Orlando, signing top Brazilian and African talent to mix with Brazil’s Marta and top American players. In D.C., she is expected to have a role in owner Michele Kang’s multi-club group, including OL Lyonnes in France and London City in the WSL. She explained her move to the Spirit: “The reality is, accepting a position with Michele (Kang), especially the president of soccer ops with the Spirit, it’s such an expanded leadership role that allows me to operate at a broader strategic level. Not just building one championship club, but helping shape the future of women’s soccer across multiple clubs, multiple continents, multiple contexts, is really important.”
She played in the NWSL for four seasons with the Dash and was an assistant coach for Afghanistan’s WNT from 2016-18 and a goalkeeper coach with Antigua and Barbuda’s WNT in 2019-21. Interim general manager Nathan Minion was appointed to the role on a permanent basis by the Spirit, taking over from former GM and long-time Florida State University head coach Mark Krikorian in March. According to the Spirit, Carter will oversee “technical, performance and player development functions,” focusing more on long-term vision than the day-to-day roster building and running of the club, which will fall under Minion’s purview.
Carter added what she saw as the key elements of her new position, including: “Figure out what the gaps are. Figure out where we need investment. What are the tweaks we want to make to culture? What does success really look like? We have to define that as a club … not just this season, but three, five years from now. What I’m excited about is being able to answer those questions with the people who are already there, doing the work, not answering it for them.”
Carter also commented on keeping Trinity Rodman with the Spirit: “We all know retaining Trinity is a top priority, not just for me, not just for Michele, but for the entire league. She’s a generational talent. When you think about the last couple of transfer windows and the talent that has gone overseas, it is a legitimate concern.” What she didn’t mention is that Rodman has a positive impact on the Spirit and the league in terms of attracting sponsors, ticket sales to fans and drawing viewers on broadcasts.
Michele Kang talked about the key elements of Rodman’s decision of staying in the U.S. versus moving abroad: “Somebody like Trin, and for that matter, all other players, I think there could be a different model. Yes, money is important and it could potentially be the decision (decisive) criteria, but right now, players think about a lot of different components: competitiveness of the league, the training center, coaches, player care, all that.” Berman added that, for players looking to join the NWSL from other leagues: “When you look at those four C’s, as we call them, competition, compensation, club, and coaching, we believe that we are putting forth a very compelling value proposition to be able to attract, retain and develop top talent.”
Jessica Berman comments on record viewers for the final, next Summer’s men’s World Cup, multi-club ownership and clubs moving locations
Off the field, the 2025 NWSL Final was a huge success, drawing 1,184,000 million viewers to set a new viewing record for the league for any televised league game ever. This was a 22% increase over the 2024 final between Orlando and D.C. A particularly good finding was that viewers aged 18-34 increased by 70% from 2024—which is huge for sponsorship pitches and for future television negotiations with networks and streaming services. Commissioner Jessica Berman said: “Surpassing one million viewers for the 2025 NWSL Championship is an extraordinary achievement and a powerful reflection of the momentum behind our league and our product.”
The playoffs concluded the second year of their four year $240 million dollar media rights deal in the U.S. with a number of networks: ESPN, CBS Sports, Amazon Prime Video and Scripps Sports, which owns ION Network, which typically shows a Saturday afternoon/evening doubleheader in a dedicated block. Their previous deal was worth $4.5 million with CBS. Bermann is already looking ahead to 2028, when a new deal will hopefully start: “The next three years are going to be all about growth. We have the right owners around the table. We have the right focus on the right priorities, inclusive of appropriate dedicated training facilities and infrastructure. We have the best players in the world. We have an incredible platform with our media partners and the opportunity to negotiate our next media deal, which will become effective in 2028.”
The attendances at the seven playoff games also was a record, with 114,549 fans in total or an average of 16,364, which was an 11 percent gain over last year’s playoffs.
Berman also believes that the next three years will be crucial to the league, with the 2026 World Cup in the States (and Mexico and Canada), the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil and the 2028 Olympic Games Finals centered on Los Angeles, that football will continue to have high visibility, which can only help the NWSL as these events will, according to Berman: “change the fabric of this country” in terms of how the sport is perceived. With reference to the 2026 men’s World Cup, she added: “We can insert women’s soccer into the cultural relevance of this country in the context of the biggest event in the history of the world.” Nine of the league’s 16 teams (in 2026) share stadiums with MLS sides in Portland, Seattle, Orlando, San Diego, Gotham FC, Houston, Los Angeles, Utah and San Jose.
Berman addressed a few other issues in her pre-championship game media conference, running nearly an hour, including the growth of multi-club ownership in women’s football. NWSL owners are not allowed to have stakes in multiple NWSL teams, but can do so with teams in other countries. She explained: “We know that a lot of our owners are very ambitious. The investments they’re making in the NWSL are in service of their interest in women’s soccer as a thriving professional sports team and business.
So, it is not surprising that many of them are looking for other opportunities globally, knowing that this is a global sport. Thus far, we’ve actually seen it as a benefit.” The league needs to be proactive with this issue however, to prevent the wholesale transfer/loan of players to other clubs within the multi-club ownership entity. Kang raised the issue when Jonathan Giraldez left the Spirit midseason for Lyon, with it being unclear whether it was at Kang’s initiative, Giraldez or some combination (see our column from this summer analyzing the messy move: The Week in Women's Football: Looking at top 7 teams of NWSL - TribalFootball.com).
Berman also touched on the issue of NWSL clubs relocating from a present market to a new city, which has happened a few times in league history: Kansas City FC to Utah and back to Kansas City, though technically under different owners but coaches and players moved en masse in both cases, Seattle to Tacoma and back to Seattle, which technically is the same television and media market of Seattle/Tacoma) and Western New York Flash to North Carolina. Houston and Louisville are frequently mentioned as needing new markets. A team leaving for a new market or even selling to another group is a dodge for the expansion fee which is now north of $150 million.
Berman said: “The league, like most professional sports leagues, has a policy that determines how we think about relocation. It needs to be, and should be, initiated by the owner in the market or the league office. Right now, there are no current markets that are being evaluated for relocation. We think it’s really important that, in the event relocation were ever to be considered, that it is considered as a last resort. We think our clubs are assets of the community, and that the fans and the players depend on our commitment to do everything we can to make a team successful in their market, and there is a trust between a team and a market that is critically important.”
Emma Coates leaves England’s U-23 WNT for Bay FC
On December 4, the Championship game host Bay FC appointed a new head coach, Emma Coates (34), who has coached England’s U-23 WNT and at Doncaster Rovers in 2016-17. She replaced Albertin Montoya (see more in our NWSL Regular Season part 2, link above). Another English women’s coach Gemma Davies (34), who coached at the U-19 level and with Aston Villa of the WSL, is also coming as Coates’ assistant, where she was an assistant coach with the U-23s. Coates said: “From my first conversations with Bay FC, it was clear that the club shares my passion for people, performance, and culture, which I believe are fundamental to sustained success. I’m eager to get back on the grass every day, to work closely with the players and staff, and to meet the fans at PayPal Park.”
Coates was mentioned by the English Football Association as part of their succession plan for three-time EURO champions coach (the last two tournaments with England) if current Dutch head coach Sarina Weigman does not stay on when her current contract expires in 2027.
Brazil wins the first ever Women’s World Cup in Philippines
Brazil won the first ever FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup, held in the Philippines from November 21 through December 7, 2025. Iran and Tanzania were debutants at FIFA Women’s Finals, while Tanzania has never made a men’s World Cup or Olympic Games Finals before.
On December 7, Argentina and Spain met in the third and fourth place match, with Spain winning 5-1 in front of 4,898 fans in Pasig. Brazil defeated Portugal 3-0 in the final to win the first ever FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup championship in front of 5,087 fans.
Despite hopes that Asia would do well in the first tournament with a strong history regionally, only Japan made the quarterfinals, with the other teams coming from UEFA (3), CONMEBOL (3) and CAF (1) with Morocco from North Africa.
Brazil’s Emily Micaela and Irene Cordova of Spain led the competition with seven goals each, with Emily capturing the Golden Boot with two assists to Cordoba’s one. Portugal’s Lidia Moreira (30) of Nun’Álvares in Portugal won the Bronze Boot with six goals and three assists. Emily also won the Golden Ball as the tournaments’ best player, with teammate Debora Vanin of Brazil (30) of Signor Prestito CMB in Italy capturing the Silver Ball and Lidia Moreira of Portugal in third to win the Bonze Ball. Goalkeeper Ana Catarina of Portugal and Benfica won the Golden Glove award for the Futsal Women’s World Cup top goalkeeper.
A few teams were quite reliant on players based with teams abroad while four teams (25%) utilized all-home based players: Iran, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand. Teams with only one player abroad included Japan—with one import from Spain—and Italy—with one playing in Spain.
Poland had 12 squad members based at home with two in Italy while Morocco used 12 players at home and one each with clubs in France and Spain. Panama also had 12 players based with teams in the country, with one each playing in Costa Rica and England. Canada supplemented 12 players from clubs in Canada with two playing in colleges in the States.
Portugal brought in three players from Spanish sides to go with 11 at home. New Zealand had five imports—three with clubs in England and one each in Australia and Japan—with nine playing with sides in New Zealand.
Argentina supplemented nine home based players with five based with Spanish clubs. Colombia also had nine of their squad playing at home, with two from Spain and one each from Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay.
Philippines, which has developed its outdoors’ Women’s National Team over the past few years with a heavy dependence on their diaspora, has seen their futsal side utilize the same strategy, with three imports from Australia, one each from Canada, Denmark and the U.S., with eight based with local sides in the Philippines.
Brazil only used three players based at home, with five called-in from Italian clubs, three in Spain, two in Portugal and one in Russia.
Some interesting imports included Canadian-born Jaclyn Sawicki (33) of the Calgary Wild in the Northern Super League (who we interviewed a few months ago, see: The Week in Women's Football: Jackie Sawicki exclusive; Smith's Arsenal move; NSL review - TribalFootball.com) and Katrina Guillou (31), who plays in the USL Super League with the D.C. Power. Guillou was born in Washington D.C. and has also played with clubs in Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. Both players were with the 2023 WWC Finals side in Australia/New Zealand and Philippines has utilized some of their senior outdoor players as a base for their futsal team, which qualified directly for the finals as host. Cathrine Graversen (27) grew up in Denmark and has played for football sides in Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Cyprus, Republic of Ireland and Turkey; she has 14 senior futsal caps but only two for the outdoor football WNT.
Simone Sindy (33) of Brazil joined Cristal St. Petersburg of Russia for the 2025-26 season—she has played for futsal clubs in Brazil and Italy.
Kenia Rangel (30) has ten senior caps for Panama’s football WNT and has played in Israel in the past.
Rangel plays 11-a-side with Alajuelense in Costa Rica and explained the differences in the fitness levels needed for the two forms of football to FIFA.com: “In 11 v 11, you prepare yourself differently when it comes to movement and strength and things like that. But I’ve spent my whole life playing futsal in addition to 11 v 11, so I think I adapt very well to futsal with what I do in 11 v 11. I have more than enough to play futsal, and it works well for me.”
That is a gift as some people have trouble transitioning from the outdoor to the indoor game—it always took me one-to-two months to fully acclimatize between 11-a-side and 6-a-side (played in the States in ice hockey arenas with dasher boards around the rink). She likes football in general but does prefer futsal: “I like both, but I’m more inclined to futsal. I really like futsal because you grow up with it in your neighborhood. When I started to play futsal, there was not a women’s league, so I got used to playing with boys. In our neighborhood they would come to the house looking for me to play, so I grew accustomed to it.”
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey