Pro women soccer's Challenge Cup kicks off tonight with $1 million prize pool at stake

Melanie Anzidei, NorthJersey.com
·3 min read

The Challenge Cup begins Wednesday and marks a historic milestone for women’s soccer: the first time there will be a $1 million prize pool in the U.S. women’s league event.

Women’s soccer in the United States has been growing exponentially. From pay equity for the national teams to team valuations exploding, the sport is bursting at the seams. In particular, the Challenge Cup has become an annual National Women's Soccer League event that has pushed the envelope for the sport since its inception in 2020.

The Challenge Cup began as a one-off tournament to mark the league’s return from the COVID-19 pandemic and to replace the regular season that year. It also marked the first professional organized team sport in the United States to return after the global shutdown of sports.

The event has become a permanent fixture in the league and just keeps growing. UKG, a human resources and payroll services company, is in its second year as title sponsor of the event.

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“UKG’s equity-driven sponsorship of the 2023 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup solidifies a historic win for NWSL athletes who have persistently fought to claim a level playing field,” said Jessica Berman, NWSL commissioner, in a statement last week.

National Women's Soccer League Commissioner Jessica Berman speaks during a news conference announcing the return of the Utah Royals, Saturday, March 11, 2023, in Sandy, Utah. The Royals are returning to Utah and the NWSL. The NWSL and Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake announced the second iteration of the Utah Royals on Saturday. The Royals were part of the NWSL for three seasons from 2018 to 2020. (Ryan Sun/The Deseret News via AP)

Berman continued: “Our athletes have long been on equal footing with their male counterparts in terms of skill and ability, and UKG’s partnership is critical to advancing the league’s extensive efforts to raise awareness and rectify the unfair reality that women on and off the field are being short-changed, literally.”

The Challenge Cup kicks off with five games on Wednesday and debuts a new format this year.

The Cup has been set up as preseason tournament. This year, it will run concurrently with the regular season. To accommodate players in the World Cup and limit NWSL regular games, after this week's inaugural matchups the league will only host Challenge Cup games between July 10 and Aug. 17. The top four teams will advance to a single-elimination semifinals round on Sept. 6 and then a final on Sept. 9.

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Having the tournament run concurrently with the regular season is good for the sport. It keeps fans engaged in a refreshing way throughout the year. It evens the playing field for expansion teams who can now use the regular season to try out their young rosters. It prevents overuse injuries that could crop up in the tournament’s old, crunched format. (Though some coaches are calling this year’s packed NWSL schedule “ridiculous” already in the first few weeks of the season.)

There’s also the larger pool of prize money. When UKG took over as the Cup’s title sponsor in 2022, it announced that year’s prize money would increase tenfold that year and then double in 2023. That made the Challenge Cup the first to achieve pay parity with the men’s side. The $1 million prize pot is equitable to the earnings in the 2020 MLS is Back Tournament.

Mar 26, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; New Jersey/New York Gotham FC forward Lynn Williams (10) clears the ball away against Angel City FC midfielder Alyssa Thompson (21) during the first half at BMO Stadium.
Mar 26, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; New Jersey/New York Gotham FC forward Lynn Williams (10) clears the ball away against Angel City FC midfielder Alyssa Thompson (21) during the first half at BMO Stadium.

But this year will be exciting for all of what’s happening on the field too this year in the NWSL.

In New Jersey, Gotham FC will face Washington Spirit at 7:30 p.m. in their Cup opener on Wednesday night. Gotham has a 5-6-6 record in Challenge Cup history, with a 2-3-2 home record and 3-3-4 record on the road. The team got close to lifting the cup twice in recent years.

And later this summer, the women’s World Cup will kick off in Australia and New Zealand in what will sure be an exciting month of great soccer.

All that happening while the game continues to grow.

Women & Sport is a NorthJersey.com column devoted to female athletes from the rec league level to those in college and the pros. If you've got a tip on an athlete from North Jersey who should be noted in the column, no matter how young they are or how old, please drop me a line at anzidei@northjersey.com.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NWSL's Challenge Cup kicks off with $1 million at stake