Gotham FC open their title defence against Seattle and Utah Royals make their playoff debut: the NWSL quarterfinals run from Friday to Sunday

The NWSL has reached its decisive stretch. The 2026 playoff quarterfinals are played between Friday, November 6 and Sunday, November 8, with the eight teams that qualified from the regular season and one simple rule: the higher seed hosts. The semifinals follow on the weekend of November 13 and the final is on Saturday, November 21 at Audi Field in Washington.

The four matchups

• San Diego Wave (2) vs. Utah Royals (7): Friday, November 6 at 10 pm ET, at Snapdragon Stadium. On Prime Video.
• Kansas City Current (4) vs. Angel City FC (5): Saturday, November 7 at 12 pm ET, at CPKC Stadium. On CBS.
• Gotham FC (1) vs. Seattle Reign (8): Sunday, November 8 at 12:30 pm ET, at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison. On ABC.
• Washington Spirit (3) vs. Portland Thorns (6): Sunday, November 8 at 3 pm ET, at Audi Field. On ABC.

In the semifinals, the winner of Gotham-Seattle will face the winner of Kansas City-Angel City, and the winner of San Diego-Utah will meet the winner of Washington-Portland.

Gotham, champions and top seeds

Gotham FC arrive as reigning champions and as the best team of the regular season: they finished with 61 points (18 wins, 5 losses and 7 draws) and won the NWSL Shield for the first time in club history after beating Utah Royals 2-0 on Decision Day, with goals from Guro Reiten and Jaedyn Shaw. Their opponents, Seattle Reign, took the last playoff spot that same Sunday with a 1-0 win away to Orlando Pride, a result that eliminated North Carolina Courage and Denver Summit.

Utah, the newcomers of the postseason

The big story of the weekend is Utah Royals, who had never played in the playoffs since returning to the league in 2024. The club finished the regular season with 47 points and, according to its official website, with club records for points and goals. Waiting for them are San Diego Wave, who collected 58 points, finished second after a 1-0 win over Bay FC on the final day and have already beaten Utah twice this year: 2-1 in March and 4-2 in August. According to GOAL's preview, Japanese forward Mina Tanaka, Utah's top scorer with 9 goals, missed the last few matches with a hamstring problem, but the club has not ruled her out of the playoffs.

Rodman against Wilson, and the league's best attack

Washington-Portland pits two United States national team stars against each other: Trinity Rodman, who according to GOAL finished the regular season with 12 goals, and Sophia Wilson, who reached 15 goals and 5 assists. Washington closed out with a 2-0 win over Chicago Stars and Portland with a 2-0 win over Houston Dash.

In the other tie, Kansas City Current, owners of the best attack of the season with 54 goals according to GOAL, host Angel City, who thrashed Boston Legacy 4-1 on the final matchday and arrive on a ten-game unbeaten run, also according to that outlet. Kansas City had secured home advantage with a 2-0 win over Racing Louisville.

Sources: NWSL (official site), The Equalizer, Just Women's Sports, GOAL, Utah Royals FC (official site), CBS Sports.