The 2021 National Women's Soccer League season was the ninth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2009–2011) and the Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003), it is the 15th overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States.

This season was the first in which the NWSL has been fully self-governing. After the 2020 season, the league terminated its management contract with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF or U.S. Soccer), which nonetheless continues to provide major financial support to the NWSL.^[1] Further financial backing is provided by the Canadian Soccer Association. Both national federations pay the league salaries of many of their respective national team members in an effort to nurture talent in those nations and take a major financial burden off of individual clubs.

On November 18, 2020, the NWSL announced new competition formats for the 2021 season.^[2] The Challenge Cup became a league cup competition played before the start of the regular season. The Cup was followed by the 24-match regular season, which began on May 15 and concluded on October 31. The playoffs were expanded to include the six teams, with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye. Playoffs started on November 6 and concluded with the NWSL Championship on November 20.^[3]

In the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup, Portland Thorns FC and NJ/NY Gotham FC won the West and East Divisions, respectively, earning the right to play in the final. As Portland had the better record, they hosted the final, which was played on May 8 in Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. The game was a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes; Portland won the ensuing penalty shootout 6–5 to win the cup.^[4]

In the regular season, the Portland Thorns won the most points and thus earned the NWSL Shield.

In the playoffs, the Washington Spirit and Chicago Red Stars progressed to the final, which was played on Nov. 20, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. The Spirit prevailed 2–1 in overtime, winning the NWSL Championship.

The season was also marked by a sexual misconduct controversy that erupted on September 30, when The Athletic published an investigation into North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley that accused him of a pattern of sexual coercion and abuse, and also alleged numerous inappropriate comments about players' physical appearance and sexuality. More than a dozen players from every team Riley had coached since 2010 spoke to the publication, and two named players went on the record with allegations against him. The Courage fired Riley that day, and U.S. Soccer immediately suspended his coaching license.^[5] The next day, the NWSL called off all of its scheduled matches for that weekend, both FIFA and U.S. Soccer announced they were starting their own investigations into Riley, league commissioner Lisa Baird resigned, and league general counsel Lisa Levine was dismissed. Further reporting revealed systemic failure by NWSL leadership to investigate allegations against Riley, including some made in the 2021 season.^[6][7]

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Team names

Before the start of the season, Sky Blue FC rebranded as NJ/NY Gotham FC with new team insignia, jerseys, and colors.^[8]

The new Kansas City team, which played the 2021 season under the placeholder name of Kansas City NWSL, announced its permanent identity of Kansas City Current at its final home game on October 30.^[9]

Stadiums and locations

Capacities listed here are full capacities, and do not reflect COVID-19 restrictions.

Team Stadium Capacity Chicago Red Stars SeatGeek Stadium 20,000 Houston Dash PNC Stadium[a] 7,000[b] Kansas City Legends Field[11] 10,385 NJ/NY Gotham FC Red Bull Arena 25,000 MSU Soccer Park[c] 5,000 North Carolina Courage Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park 10,000 OL Reign Cheney Stadium 6,500 Orlando Pride Exploria Stadium 25,500 Portland Thorns FC Providence Park 25,218 Racing Louisville FC Lynn Family Stadium 11,700[d] Washington Spirit[e] Audi Field 20,000 Segra Field 5,000 ^ This venue was known as BBVA Stadium at the start of the season. It was renamed PNC Stadium after PNC Financial Services completed its purchase of BBVA USA on June 1.[10] ^ The full capacity is 22,039, but the maximum capacity for Dash games is restricted to 7,000. ^ Gotham FC played their Challenge Cup home games at the MSU Soccer Park. ^ Seated capacity; full capacity with standing room is 15,304. ^ The Spirit were scheduled to play seven regular-season games at Audi Field and five at Segra Field.[12] Their scheduled home opener on May 26 at Segra Field became a road game at Houston due to construction delays, and the home date was not made up.[13]

Red Stars Dash Kansas City Gotham Courage Reign Pride Thorns Racing Spirit class=notpageimage| Locations of the National Women's Soccer League teams in 2021.

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All teams use Nike as their kit manufacturer.

Team	Head coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Red Stars	Rory Dames	Julie Ertz
Houston Dash	James Clarkson	Jane Campbell Rachel Daly	MD Anderson Cancer Center
Kansas City	Huw Williams	Rachel Corsie[14]	Palmer Square Capital Management[15]
NJ/NY Gotham FC	Scott Parkinson	McCall Zerboni[16]	Avaya[17]
North Carolina Courage	Sean Nahas (interim)	Abby Erceg	Continental AG
OL Reign	Laura Harvey	Lauren Barnes Megan Rapinoe	Black Future Co-op Fund[18]
Orlando Pride	Becky Burleigh (interim)	Ashlyn Harris	Orlando Health
Portland Thorns FC	Mark Parsons	Christine Sinclair	Providence Health & Services
Racing Louisville FC	Mario Sanchez (interim)	Michelle Betos[19]	GE Appliances[20]
Washington Spirit		Tori Huster[21] Andi Sullivan	IntelliBridge[22]

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment	Ref.
Racing Louisville FC				Preseason	Christy Holly	August 12, 2020	[23]
Kansas City				Preseason	Huw Williams	December 7, 2020	[24]
OL Reign	Farid Benstiti	Resigned	July 2, 2021	9th	Sam Laity (interim)	July 2, 2021	[25]
Orlando Pride	Marc Skinner	Resigned	July 23, 2021	5th	Becky Burleigh (interim)	July 25, 2021	[26][27]
OL Reign	Sam Laity (interim)	End of interim period	August 9, 2021[a]	6th	Laura Harvey	July 15, 2021	[30]
Washington Spirit	Richie Burke	Reassigned[b]	August 10, 2021	7th			[33]
NJ/NY Gotham FC	Freya Coombe	Mutual separation	August 30, 2021	7th	Scott Parkinson	August 31, 2021	[34][35]
Racing Louisville FC	Christy Holly	Terminated for cause	August 31, 2021	9th	Mario Sanchez (interim)	August 31, 2021	[36]
North Carolina Courage	Paul Riley	Terminated	September 30, 2021	3rd	Sean Nahas (interim)	September 30, 2021	[37]

Regular season