After three years out west, the NWSL championship is returning to Audi Field in Washington, D.C., for the second time since 2022.
The 2026 championship game will take place at the home of the Washington Spirit on Nov. 21, according to multiple sources within the league.
The NWSL declined to comment.
The news follows the team’s latest sellout crowd for the Spirit’s 2-1 win over the Seattle Reign on Saturday — 19,365 people attended in the highest-grossing match in club history, according to president of soccer operations Haley Carter.
The Spirit announced the sellout 11 days before kickoff, marking the earliest sellout announcement in club history. The game marked Washington’s third sellout of the season, matching the franchise record set in 2024 and 2025 with more than half of the home schedule remaining.
This is the first repeat championship venue in the last five years. Audi Field hosted the 2022 NWSL Championship, where the Portland Thorns defeated the Kansas City Current 2-0 in front of 17,624 people. The last four championship games have been all sellouts, according to league statistics.
Washington has consistently filled Audi Field since its run to the 2024 NWSL Championship, selling out five of its previous seven matches at the venue, including both home playoff games last season. This season, their fixtures against the Thorns and the Current drew crowds of more than 19,000 fans.
For the NWSL, awarding the championship to Washington is as much a recognition of the city’s passionate fan base as it is a bet on the league’s continued growth. With the Spirit regularly drawing some of the largest crowds in club history and Audi Field emerging as one of the league’s premier atmospheres, the nation’s capital has become one of women’s soccer’s strongest markets heading into the 2026 postseason. The 20,000-seat Audi Field has hosted the Spirit since 2020 and was also one of the venues for the 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup.
With 16 teams, the 2026 season is the NWSL’s biggest one yet. The league has continued to break attendance, sponsorship and media records following its landmark media rights agreement with CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video, Scripps Sports and Victory+. Expansion fees have surged into the hundreds of millions, with the Columbus franchise being sold to the Haslam family last month for over $200 million.
Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang has emerged as one of the most influential investors in global women’s soccer, helping position the club as one of the league’s flagship franchises through significant investment in infrastructure, staffing and player development.
Eight clubs will qualify for the 2026 NWSL Playoffs. The postseason format will include quarterfinal and semifinal rounds leading into the championship match. The final will air in prime time on CBS and stream on Paramount+. Additional playoff scheduling and broadcast information will be announced at a later date.
Championship week festivities in Washington, D.C. are expected to include fan events, community programming and league-wide activations surrounding the title match. Additional details will be announced closer to the event.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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