NWSL records and statistics

The following is a compilation of notable records and statistics for teams and players in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The NWSL's inaugural season was kicked off on April 13, 2013 with 8 participating clubs, four of the eight inaugural clubs still exist with their original names.[1][2] For Historical purposes, the league's stats and records include active and defunct clubs.

Statistics for the NWSL Challenge Cup, a competition originally created in place of the 2020 season that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are treated separately from regular season statistics.

Champions and shield winners

By season

Through November 3, 2024 (Regular season and Playoff matches)

Season Playoff final Regular season
Champions Score Runners-up Shield winners Points Runners-up
2013 Portland Thorns FC 2–0
Details
Western New York Flash Western New York Flash 38–38
Standings
FC Kansas City
2014 FC Kansas City 2–1
Details
Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC 54–41
Standings
FC Kansas City
2015 FC Kansas City 1–0
Details
Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC 43–33
Standings
Chicago Red Stars
2016 Western New York Flash 2–2 AET, 3–2 PKs
Details
Washington Spirit Portland Thorns FC 41–39
Standings
Washington Spirit
2017 Portland Thorns FC 1–0
Details
North Carolina Courage North Carolina Courage 49–47
Standings
Portland Thorns FC
2018 North Carolina Courage 3–0
Details
Portland Thorns FC North Carolina Courage 57–42
Standings
Portland Thorns FC
2019 North Carolina Courage 4–0
Details
Chicago Red Stars North Carolina Courage 49–44
Standings
Chicago Red Stars
2021 Washington Spirit 2–1 AET
Details
Chicago Red Stars Portland Thorns FC 44–42
Standings
OL Reign
2022 Portland Thorns FC 2–0
Details
Kansas City Current OL Reign 40–39
Standings
Portland Thorns FC
2023 NJ/NY Gotham FC 2–1
Details
OL Reign San Diego Wave FC 37–35
Standings
Portland Thorns FC
2024 Orlando Pride 1–0
Details
Washington Spirit Orlando Pride 60–56
Standings
Washington Spirit
2025 Gotham FC 1–0
Details
Washington Spirit Kansas City Current 65-44

Standings

Washington Spirit

Total trophies by team

Through May 24, 2025 (2024–25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final)

Green shading indicates record highs. Italics indicates a defunct team.

Team Regular seasons* Domestic International Total
Playoff appearances Championships Shields Challenge Cups Community Shields CONCACAF W Champions Cup
Portland Thorns FC 12 11 3 (2013, 2017, 2022) 2 (2016, 2021) 1 (2021) 1 (2020*) 7
North Carolina Courage 8 6 2 (2018, 2019) 3 (2017, 2018, 2019) 2 (2022, 2023) 7
Seattle Reign FC / OL Reign / Reign FC 12 9 3 (2014, 2015, 2022) 3
Gotham FC / NJ/NY Gotham FC / Sky Blue FC 12 5 2 (2023, 2025) 1 (2024-25) 3
FC Kansas City 5 3 2 (2014, 2015) 2
Western New York Flash 4 2 1 (2016) 1 (2013) 2
Orlando Pride 9 3 1 (2024) 1 (2024) 2
Washington Spirit 12 6 1 (2021) 1 (2025) 2
San Diego Wave FC 4 3 1 (2023) 1 (2024) 2
Houston Dash 11 1 1 (2020*) 1
Chicago Stars 12 8 0
Kansas City Current 5 3 1 (2025) 1
Angel City FC 4 1 0
Bay FC 2 1 0
Utah Royals 4 0 0
Racing Louisville FC 5 1 0
Boston Breakers 5 0 0

*While there was no 2020 regular season (i.e., it is not included in the second column), 2020 did include the inaugural Challenge Cup, which has been played every year since. It also included the 2020 Fall Series, in which the Community Shield (separate from the NWSL Shield) was played.

Team records

Wins

Losses

Points

Attendance by season

Season Regular season Playoffs
Matches Overall Highest Lowest Mean
Total Mean Median Club Mean Club Mean
2013 88 375,743 4,270 3,007 Portland Thorns FC 13,320 Sky Blue FC 1,664 6,820
2014 108 446,311 4,133 3,014 Portland Thorns FC 13,362 Sky Blue FC 1,639 3,763
2015 90 454,100 5,046 3,367 Portland Thorns FC 15,639 Sky Blue FC 2,268 6,766
2016 100 555,775 5,558 3,997 Portland Thorns FC 16,945 Sky Blue FC 2,162 10,863
2017 120 609,960 5,083 3,576 Portland Thorns FC 17,653 FC Kansas City 1,788 12,111
2018 108 650,562 6,024 4,025 Portland Thorns FC 16,959 Sky Blue FC 2,531 13,323[a]
2019 108 792,409 7,337 5,565 Portland Thorns FC 20,098 Sky Blue FC 3,338 8,956
2021[b] 120 567,072 5,155 Portland Thorns FC 14,391 Chicago Red Stars 3,222 8,774
2022 132 1,042,063 7,917 Angel City FC 19,105 Orlando Pride 4,385 21,730
2023 132 1,366,581 10,869 San Diego Wave FC 20,718 North Carolina Courage 5,384 19,581
2024 182 2,040,348 11,211 San Diego Wave FC 19,575[c] Houston Dash 6,194 14,734
2025 182 1,917,401 10,535 Portland Thorns FC 18,173 Racing Louisville FC 5,521
  1. ^ A semifinal that would have been played in North Carolina was moved to Portland due to Hurricane Florence.
  2. ^ Due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, many teams had reduced capacities for part or all of the season, including some games with zero fans.
  3. ^ Due to a match being relocated to Louisville, San Diego played only 12 home matches in the 2024 season.

Goals

Regular season records

Through 2025 season (regular season games only)[3][7]

Pts rank
(prev.
season)
PPG rank
(prev.
season)
Club Seasons[a] GP W D L GF GA GD Pts PPG 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Finishing positions
1 (1) 2 (2) Portland Thorns FC 12 (2013–) 278 130 69 79 447 324 123 459 1.651 2 4 4
2 (2) 4 (3) Seattle Reign FC[b] 12 (2013–) 278 121 71 86 396 321 75 434 1.561 3 1 1 1
3 (3) 8 (6) Chicago Red Stars 12 (2013–) 278 108 74 96 384 388 -4 376 1.353 2 1 3
4 (4) 10 (11) Washington Spirit 12 (2013–) 278 100 70 108 359 388 -29 370 1.331 3 1 2
5 (5) 11 (13) Gotham FC[c] 12 (2013–) 278 93 72 113 336 364 -58 351 1.263 1 1
6 (6) 1 (1) North Carolina Courage 8 (2017–) 192 96 39 57 319 207 112 327 1.703 3 1
7 (7) 15 (15) Houston Dash 11 (2014–) 256 78 56 122 281 370 -89 290 1.133 1
8 (8) 9 (9) Orlando Pride 9 (2016–) 212 80 46 86 274 303 -29 286 1.349 1 1 1
9 (10) 3 (5) Kansas City Current[d] 5 (2021–) 120 58 24 38 180 145 35 198 1.650 1 1
10 (9) 5 (4) FC Kansas City 5 (2013–2017) 110 45 27 36 152 125 27 168 1.527 2 1
11 (12) 14 (16) Racing Louisville FC 5 (2021–) 120 33 38 49 137 176 -39 137 1.142
12 (13) 6 (7) San Diego Wave FC 4 (2022–) 96 37 24 35 128 112 16 135 1.406 1 1
13 (11) 7 (8) Western New York Flash 4 (2013–2016) 86 33 22 31 142 118 24 119 1.384 1 1
13 (15) 12 (12) Utah Royals 4 (2018–2019, 2024–) 100 32 23 45 97 130 -33 119 1.190
15 (16) 13 (14) Angel City FC 4 (2022–) 96 30 24 42 114 140 -26 111[e] 1.156[e]
16 (14) 17 (17) Boston Breakers 5 (2013–2017) 110 25 20 65 132 212 -80 95 0.864
17 (17) 16 (10) Bay FC 2 (2024–) 52 15 9 28 57 82 -25 54 1.039

Sort order is points, finishing positions, wins.
Italics denote defunct teams.
Green, red, and gray denote a column's best and worst values.

  1. ^ No regular season in 2020.
  2. ^ Known as Seattle Reign FC from 2013–2018, Reign FC in 2019, and OL Reign from 2020–2023.
  3. ^ Known as Sky Blue FC from 2013–2020.
  4. ^ Known as Kansas City NWSL in 2021.
  5. ^ a b The NWSL docked Angel City FC three points during the 2024 season for violating player compensation rules.[8]

Playoff records

Through 2024 playoffs

Rank Club Championships Runners-up Seasons
qualified
GP W L D[a] Penalty
wins[a]
PPG GF GA GD
1 Portland Thorns FC 3 1 9/10 13 7 6 0 0 1.615 19 18 +1
2 North Carolina Courage 2 1 5/6 8 5 3 0 0 1.875 14 5 +9
3 FC Kansas City 2 0 3/5 5 4 1 0 0 2.400 10 4 +6
4 Washington Spirit 1 2 4/10 7 4 2 1 0 1.857 10 10 0
5 Western New York Flash 1 1 2/4 4 2 1 1 1 1.750 8 7 +1
6 NJ/NY Gotham FC 1 0 3/10 5 3 2 0 0 1.800 5 4 +1
7 Seattle Reign FC 0 3 7/10 10 3 7 0 0 0.900 10 15 −5
8 Chicago Red Stars 0 2 7/10 10 3 7 0 0 0.900 7 16 −9
9 Kansas City Current 0 1 1/3 3 2 1 0 0 2.000 4 3 +1
10 San Diego Wave FC 0 0 2/2 3 1 2 0 0 1.000 3 4 -1
11 Angel City FC 0 0 1/2 1 0 1 0 0 0.000 0 1 -1
12 Orlando Pride 1 0 1/7 1 0 1 0 0 0.000 1 4 −3
13 Houston Dash 0 0 1/9 1 0 1 0 0 0.000 1 2 -1
14 Bay FC 0 0 1/1 1 0 1 0 0 0.000 1 2 -1
15 Racing Louisville FC 0 0 0/3 Have not qualified
16 Utah Royals 0 0 0/2
17 Boston Breakers 0 0 0/5

Sort order is championships, runners-up, PPG, fraction of seasons qualified.
Italics denotes defunct teams.
Green, red, and gray denote a column's best and worst values.

  1. ^ a b Draws after 120 minutes are decided by penalties.

Player records

Boldface indicates players currently active in the league.

Most minutes played

Most minutes played in NWSL
(Regular season only; as of December 31, 2024)[9]
Rank Player Minutes played Games
1 Lauren Barnes 21,104 232
2 Alyssa Naeher 18,781 195
3 Jess Fishlock 17,509 187
4 Abby Erceg 17,261 198
5 Sofia Huerta 17,166 217
6 Emily Menges 16,394 189
7 McCall Zerboni 16,296 186
8 Becky Sauerbrunn 16,217 188
9 Danielle Colaprico 16,179 200
10 Caprice Dydasco 16,097 176
11 Arin Wright 16,042 189
12 Vanessa DiBernardo 15,859 188
13 Christine Sinclair 15,677 172
14 Aubrey Kingsbury 15,160 196
15 Ali Krieger 15,016 174
16 Jane Campbell 15,004 171
17 Kailen Sheridan 14,909 170
18 Allie Long 14,753 150
19 Denise O'Sullivan 14,720 168
20 Emily Sonnett 14,624 155

Most appearances, regular season only

2013–2023 regular seasons, a total of 226 matches for each team that has been active since the start of the NWSL.[10]

Most NWSL appearances
(Regular season only; as of December 31, 2023)
Rank Player Games
1 Lauren Barnes 211
2 McCall Zerboni 204
3 Merritt Mathias 183
4 Jessica McDonald 182
5 Jess Fishlock 180
6 Christine Sinclair 176
Ali Krieger 176
8 Allie Long 172
Jasmyne Spencer 172
10 Kristie Mewis 171
11 Erika Tymrak 168
12 Vanessa DiBernardo 166
Abby Erceg 166
14 Danielle Colaprico 165
15 Becky Sauerbrunn 164
16 Amber Brooks 163
Alyssa Naeher 163
18 Sofia Huerta 161
19 Emily Menges 160
20 Tori Huster 159

Goals

Top scorers

Goals, regular season only

NWSL all-time leading goalscorers
(Regular season only; as of October 13, 2024)[22]
Rank Player Goals
1 Lynn Biyendolo 80
2 Sam Kerr 77
3 Christine Sinclair 64
4 Alex Morgan 60
5 Ashley Hatch 56
6 Jessica McDonald 54
7 Megan Rapinoe 51
8 Christen Press 48
9 Debinha 44
10 Carli Lloyd 43
11 Jess Fishlock 42
12 Sydney Leroux 41
13 Amy Rodriguez 39
14 Crystal Dunn 38
Nadia Nadim
16 Rachel Daly 37
17 Allie Long 36
18 Sofia Huerta 35
19 Kealia Watt 33
20 Kim Little 32
Sophia Wilson
Jodie Taylor

Leading goalscorers in playoffs

NWSL all-time playoff leading goalscorers
Last updated after 2023 season.
Rank Player Goals
1 Amy Rodriguez 6
2 Crystal Dunn 5
3 Jessica McDonald 4
Samantha Mewis
Lynn Biyendolo
5 Debinha 3
Tobin Heath
Lindsey Heaps
Megan Rapinoe
Christine Sinclair

NWSL top goal scorers by regular season

Top regular-season goal scorers
Last updated after 2024 season.[23]
Year Player Team Goals Games GPG
2013 Lauren Holiday FC Kansas City 12 18 .666
2014 Kim Little Seattle Reign FC 16 23 .695
2015 Crystal Dunn Washington Spirit 15 20 .750
2016 Lynn Biyendolo Western New York Flash 11 19 .579
2017 Sam Kerr Sky Blue FC 17 22 .773
2018 Sam Kerr Chicago Red Stars 16 19 .842
2019 Sam Kerr Chicago Red Stars 18 21 .857
2021 Ashley Hatch Washington Spirit 10 20 .500
2022 Alex Morgan San Diego Wave FC 15 17 .882
2023 Sophia Wilson Portland Thorns FC 11 18 .611
2024 Temwa Chawinga Kansas City Current 21 26 .808
2025 Temwa Chawinga Kansas City Current 15 23 .652

*GPG = goals ger game played

Assists

Most assists

Most assists (career)
(Regular season only; as of January 1, 2024)[27]
Rank Player Assists
1 Sofia Huerta 31
Jessica McDonald
3 Lynn Biyendolo 28
4 Alex Morgan 27
5 Nahomi Kawasumi 26
Megan Rapinoe
7 Jess Fishlock 25
8 Vanessa DiBernardo 24
Crystal Dunn
Tobin Heath
Sam Kerr
Yūki Nagasato

Assist leaders by season

Most assists per regular season
Last updated after 2025 season.[23]
Year Player Assists Apps Assists/App
2013 Lauren Holiday 9 18 0.50
2014 Jessica Fishlock 8 22 0.37
2015 Kim Little 7 20 0.35
2016 Tobin Heath 10 15 0.67
2017 Nahomi Kawasumi 9 24 0.38
2018 Jessica McDonald 8 23 0.35
2019 Yūki Nagasato 8 24 0.33
2021 Trinity Rodman 6 22 0.27
Sofia Huerta 23 0.26
2022 Carson Pickett 6 20 0.30
Mallory Swanson 16 0.38
2023 Sam Coffey 8 22 0.37
2024 Croix Bethune 10 17 0.59
2025 Delphine Cascarino 6 24 0.25
Izzy Rodriguez 26 0.23

Goalkeepers

Clean sheets

Most shutouts (career)
(Regular season only; as of December 31, 2023)[27]
# Player Shutouts Apps Shutout %
1 Nicole Barnhart 52 144 36.1%
2 Alyssa Naeher 43 163 26.4%
3 Adrianna Franch 42 127 33.1%
4 Casey Murphy 32 80 40.0%
5 Kailen Sheridan 31 117 26.5%
6 Jane Campbell 30 103 29.1%
Aubrey Kingsbury 119 25.2%
8 Bella Bixby 24 57 42.1%
9 Ashlyn Harris 22 135 16.3%
10 Katelyn Rowland 20 60 33.3%

Saves

Most saves (career)
(Regular season only; as of October 2, 2023)[27]
# Player Saves
1 Alyssa Naeher 520
2 Ashlyn Harris 518
3 Nicole Barnhart 468
4 Kailen Sheridan 401
5 Adrianna Franch 395
6 Aubrey Kingsbury 362
7 Michelle Betos 340
8 Jane Campbell 336
9 Erin McLeod 288
10 Haley Kopmeyer 239

Match records

See also

References

  1. ^ "Stats". National Women's Soccer League. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  2. ^ NWSL (March 20, 2024). "Events and Milestones | National Women's Soccer League Official Site". NWSL. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Club Information | National Women's Soccer League Official Site". nwslsoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. March 20, 2024. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c NWSL (November 4, 2025). "Golden Boot, Ironwomen, new records: Looking back at 2025 NWSL season milestones". NWSL. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  5. ^ "Thorns clinch 11th playoff berth in club history with 2-0 victory over Angel City". Portland Thorns. October 19, 2025. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  6. ^ Arnold, Jon (September 29, 2025). "NWSL Power Rankings: Spirit emphatically book postseason berth". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 30, 2025.
  7. ^ "2025 NWSL Stats". FBref.com. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  8. ^ Kassouf, Jeff (October 3, 2024). "Angel City FC docked 3 points, fined for salary cap violation". ESPN. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
  9. ^ Cooper, Jen. "Keeper Notes: NWSL Almanac". Keeper Notes. pp. 9–10. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  10. ^ Cooper, Jen (2024), "Field Player Registry", Keeper Notes NWSL Almanac, pp. 294-362
  11. ^ Sperry, Daniel (June 18, 2023). "Kansas City Current squander late lead, lose to Washington Spirit in NWSL home match". The Kansas City Star.
  12. ^ a b "Sam Kerr finishes NWSL season with bushel of scoring records". Soccer America. October 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  13. ^ a b c Siracusa, Claire (August 20, 2017). "Sam Kerr scores four goals in Sky Blue FC comeback win". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  14. ^ Purdy, Jacqueline (July 5, 2019). "Kristen Hamilton scores four, Courage win 5-2" (Press release). National Women's Soccer League. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "NWSL Friday: Kristen Hamilton packs on four goals for Courage". The Equalizer. July 5, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  16. ^ "National Women's Soccer League Official Site | NWSL". www.nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  17. ^ Togerson, Derek (May 7, 2022). "Alex Morgan Scores 4 Goals in Wave FC Win". www.nbcsandiego.com. KNSD. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  18. ^ "Sophia Smith's hat trick leads Thorns over Spirit in final game before USWNT start World Cup preparation". CBS Sports. June 24, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  19. ^ Kassouf, Jeff (March 16, 2024). "Kansas City Current open 'game-changing' stadium with 5-4 win". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  20. ^ Herrera, Sandra (March 16, 2024). "Alex Pfeiffer becomes youngest NWSL goalscorer at 16 years of age in Kansas City Current's wild win". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  21. ^ Lauletta, Dan (June 20, 2015). "Thorns draw late on goal by keeper Betos". Equalizer Soccer. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  22. ^ Cooper, Jen (2023), Keeper Notes NWSL Almanac, Keeper Notes, p. 8.
  23. ^ a b NWSL. "National Women's Soccer League Official Site". NWSL. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
  24. ^ Braeback, Jeremiah Mitchell (December 13, 2016). "Tobin Heath Named US Soccer Female Player of the Year". Stumptown Footy. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  25. ^ NWSL. "National Women's Soccer League Official Site". NWSL. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  26. ^ Ltd, Simplestream. "Nahomi Kawasumi named Player of the Week". www.nwslsoccer.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  27. ^ a b c "Football Statistics and History". FBref.com. Retrieved May 16, 2025.