The 2025 NWSL playoffs have officially arrived.
Quarterfinal action kicks off Friday with a match between the defending champion Orlando Pride and the Seattle Reign FC, five days after the regular season wrapped up on Decision Day on Nov. 2. It took the final day of the regular season to determine the official postseason seeding and matchups.
Racing Louisville FC is set to make its first playoff appearance, while Gotham FC is making its third consecutive. Both teams will have to go through the Kansas City Current, who has dominated all season long.
Here’s five questions heading into the 2025 NWSL postseason:
2025 NWSL PLAYOFFS: Full bracket, schedule
Can anyone catch the Kansas City Current?
The Kansas City Current have been the runaway favorite this season. The Current set NWSL records for the most wins (21), points scored in a single season (65), clean sheets (16), consecutive wins (9), consecutive shutouts (9) and consecutive shutout minutes (869). Kansas City claimed the NWSL Shield faster than any other team in league history, with five matches left.
The Current are the No. 1 overall seed and earned the right to host their quarterfinal match against No. 8 seed Gotham FC at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, where the Current are undefeated (11-0-2).
If that weren’t enough, the Current are led by back-to-back Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga, who finished the regular season with a league-leading 15 goals. Chawinga is the first player to score at least 15 goals and win the Golden Boot in consecutive seasons since Sam Kerr did it for three straight seasons (2017-19).
A NWSL Shield, however, doesn’t equate to a NWSL Championship. Since the league began play in 2013, only three teams have won the shield and championship in the same season, most recently the Pride in 2024.
Will Trinity Rodman play for the Washington Spirit?
Olympic gold medalist Trinity Rodman was limited matches this season because of injuries, and it remains to be seen if she’ll be ready to go for the playoffs.
Rodman appeared in four games before she was sidelined for four months with a chronic back injury that left her ‘in pain all the time,’ she said. Rodman returned to the lineup on Aug. 3. and her presence was instantly felt — she scored a game-winning goal in stoppage time to defeat the Portland Thorns 2-1 in her first game back. However, Rodman suffered a Grade 1 MCL sprain in her right knee after attempting a tackle during the Spirit’s 4-0 victory over Monterrey in the Concacaf W Champions Cup on Oct. 15. She hasn’t played since.
There’s no timetable for Rodman’s return, but Spirit head coach Adrián González called the diagnosis the ‘best scenario,’ adding her injury is ‘not as bad as it could be.’
Rodman, who led the Spirit to a NWSL championship in 2021, scored five goals this season.
Will Orlando Pride repeat as champions?
The Orlando Pride are looking to become the third team in NWSL history to repeat as champions, joining now-defunct FC Kansas City (2014-15) and the North Carolina Courage (2018-19). The Pride have momentum on their side and enter the postseason on a five-game unbeaten streak, but Orlando will be without their superstar striker Barbra Banda. Banda was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a full thickness avulsion of her right adductor longus tendon in August. Banda was named the NWSL Championship MVP last season and had scored eight goals before her injury this year.
Can Gotham FC recreate 2023 magic?
Gotham FC is in pursuit of their second major title of the season after winning the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup in May. Gotham qualified for the playoffs for the third consecutive season, but slipped to the eighth seed in the postseason following a 3-2 loss to the North Carolina Courage on Decision Day. It’s a position they’ve been in before. In 2023, Gotham similarly held the final playoff position before going on a run to win the franchise’s first NWSL title. Will history repeat itself? Gotham has no shortage of star power, including Esther González (13 goals) and Rose Lavelle (five goals). González is dealing with a hip injury so her availability remains to be seen.
Gotham will have to go through the Kansas City Current for the third consecutive season. It won’t be easy. Gotham lost both matchups against the Current this season.
Racing Louisville makes playoff debut: Can they go on a run?
Racing Louisville FC punched its ticket to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history on Decision Day on Nov. 2, the final day of the regular season, with a 1-0 win over Bay FC following Ella Hase’s first career goal. Louisville may have been the final team to enter the playoffs, but they shouldn’t be counted out. The team went undefeated in October and turned in its best season in franchise history with a record 10 wins and 37 points.
Head coach Bev Yanez said Louisville is embracing history, but won’t ‘let the occasion be bigger than the rhythm we have set here.’ Louisville enters the postseason on a five-game unbeaten streak. Forward Emma Sears leads Louisville with 10 goals this season, the fourth most in the league, and is red-hot after scoring her first career hat trick in USWNT’s exhibition match against New Zealand on Oct. 29.
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