UPDATE: The U.S. won the gold medal match against Brazil, 1-0, with the goal coming from NWSL star Mallory Swanson.
Saturday’s women’s soccer gold medal showdown is a dream matchup for the NWSL. The 2024 Olympics final between the U.S. and Brazil will feature 26 NWSL players (counting alternates), including seven from the Brazilian squad.
Friday’s bronze medal match was already a showcase for NWSL talent, as NJ/NY Gotham FC goalie Ann-Katrin Berger saved a penalty kick during stoppage time to seal the 1-0 win for Germany over Spain. Gotham leads all NWSL clubs with six players in the gold medal match. The Orlando Pride are right behind with five, including four Brazilian players.
One of those is 38-year-old women’s soccer legend Marta, who has announced that this Olympics will be her last major international tournament. She got a red card in the group stage and was suspended for the quarterfinals and semifinals but will be back for the final, with a chance for a fairy-tale ending. (Brazil has never won a women's World Cup or an Olympics gold, but has been the runner-up in both.)
On the other side of the pitch, the Americans seek redemption for a disappointing performance in the 2023 FIFA World Cup, when they had their earliest-ever exit in the round of 16. In that tournament, the NWSL had fewer players in the knockout round than any of England’s WSL, Spain’s Liga F and France’s Première Ligue, and that was before 22 of those 36 players were eliminated when the U.S. bowed out.
Paris has been quite the bounce-back for the NWSL. The league boasted 56 players in the Games, more than any other league in the world and accounting for nearly one-quarter of the overall player pool.
Ion, which is slated to broadcast 50 NWSL games this regular season, has taken note of the USWNT’s Olympic run. "Viewership of our NWSL Saturday night franchise continues to grow as well, and we are optimistic that the Paris Summer Olympics will fuel additional enthusiasm for women’s soccer—and viewership and revenue for us," Scripps, which owns Ion, wrote in its Q2 earnings report.
The historic NWSL representation in the Olympics follows two key changes to the league’s rules and regulations for the 2024 season: the number of international roster slots increasing from five to seven and a 40% spike in the salary cap.
As of two months ago, there were players from 36 countries other than the United States on NWSL rosters, up from 23 just six years ago, per AP News.
While the top women’s soccer league in the U.S. increasingly attracts talent from overseas, the Americans’ Olympic success is in part due to their international coach, who hails from England. Emma Hayes, who coached her first USWNT game just over two months ago, is known for her success in the WSL, including five straight championships managing Chelsea. She now hopes to bring the USWNT its first Olympic gold since the London Games in 2012.
The NWSL is building momentum as it continues to battle the WSL as the premier women’s soccer league in the world. The league and its players recently agreed to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, which will keep labor peace in the NWSL through the end of the decade.
Franchise valuations are soaring. Just three years ago, the expansion fee to bring a team to San Diego was $2 million. That club sold earlier this year for $113 million, and the average team was worth $66 million in 2023, according to Sportico’s research.
