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NWSL Shield

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NWSL Shield
Awarded forNational Women's Soccer League team with the best record in the regular season
Presented byNational Women's Soccer League
First awarded2013
Currently held byOrlando Pride
(2024) (1st shield)
Most awardsNorth Carolina Courage
OL Reign
(3 shields)
Websitehttp://nwslsoccer.com Edit this on Wikidata

The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a major trophy by the league.

The North Carolina Courage and Seattle Reign FC, each with three NWSL Shields since the league's inception in 2013, are tied as of 2023 for the most shields won by any NWSL team.[1][2][3] The Orlando Pride are the current (2024) winners.

In 2024, CONCACAF announced that the NWSL Shield winner and runner-up qualified by virtue of those accomplishments for the 2024–25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup, the inaugural edition of that competition.[4]

History

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When the NWSL was launched in 2013, the league's format was set up similarly to other contemporary North American leagues. After the regular season, the NWSL playoffs were held, with the top four teams vying for a spot in the postseason championship match. The club with the most regular-season points was awarded the NWSL Shield and earned the top seed in the playoffs.[5]

Point system and tiebreakers

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Since the 2013 inaugural season, the system of awarding points in the NWSL is the same as the international standard: three points for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss.[6]

Since the 2022 season,[7] in the event of an end-of-season tie in total accumulated points, the following tie-breakers are used among all teams with the same number of points:

  1. Greater goal difference across the entire regular season (against all teams, not just tied teams).
  2. Most total wins across the entire regular season (against all teams, not just tied teams).
  3. Most goals scored across the entire regular season (against all teams, not just tied teams).
  4. Head-to-head results (total points) between the tied teams.
  5. Head-to-head most goals scored between the tied teams.
  6. Least disciplinary points accumulated across the entire regular season (against all teams, not just tied teams).
  7. Coin flip (if two teams are tied) or drawing of lots (if three or more teams are tied).

All tiebreakers involving goal counts (goal differential, goals for) include all regular-season games, not just games against tied teams.

Prior to the 2022 season, the first tie-breaker was head-to-head record.[6][8]

Winners

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Season Winner Record Points /
Pts per game 		Playoff result Win #
Games Won Lost Tied
2013 Western New York Flash 22 10 4 8 38 / 1.73 Lost championship (to Portland Thorns FC) 1
2014 Seattle Reign FC 24 16 2 6 54 / 2.25 Lost championship (to FC Kansas City) 1
2015 Seattle Reign FC 20 13 3 4 43 / 2.15 Lost championship (to FC Kansas City) 2
2016 Portland Thorns FC 20 12 3 5 41 / 2.05 Lost semifinal (to Western New York Flash) 1
2017 North Carolina Courage 24 16 7 1 49 / 2.04 Lost championship (to Portland Thorns FC) 1
2018 North Carolina Courage 24 17 1 6 57 / 2.38 Won championship (vs Portland Thorns FC) 2
2019 North Carolina Courage 24 15 5 4 49 / 2.09 Won championship (vs Chicago Red Stars) 3
2020 Regular season canceled due to COVID-19; Fall Series won by Portland Thorns FC
2021 Portland Thorns FC 24 13 6 5 44 / 1.83 Lost semifinal (to Chicago Red Stars) 2
2022 OL Reign 22 11 4 7 40 / 1.82 Lost semifinal (to Kansas City Current)[9] 3
2023 San Diego Wave FC 22 11 7 4 37 / 1.68 Lost semifinal (to OL Reign) 1
2024 Orlando Pride 26 18 2 6 60 / 2.31 Won championship (vs Washington Spirit) 1
   team also won the NWSL Championship

Records

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Shield winners

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Italics indicates a defunct team.

Team Wins Years won
North Carolina Courage 3 2017, 2018, 2019
Seattle Reign FC 2014, 2015, 2022
Portland Thorns FC 2 2016, 2021
Orlando Pride 1 2024
San Diego Wave FC 1 2023
Western New York Flash 1 2013

See also

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References

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  1. ^ NWSL (October 2022). "OL Reign Claims 2022 NWSL Shield, Presented by CarMax". NWSLSoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
  2. ^ "Seattle Reign win NWSL Shield for 2nd straight season". ESPN. August 27, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  3. ^ "NC Courage clinch third straight NWSL Shield after win over Utah". wralSPORTSfan.com. September 21, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  4. ^ "CONCACAF announces qualification criteria for Confederation's 2024/25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup". CONCACAF. April 24, 2024. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  5. ^ Lauletta, Dan (February 26, 2013). "The Lowdown: A look at NWSL rules and tiebreakers". The Equalizer. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "2016 Competition Rules and Regulations". National Women's Soccer League. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  7. ^ "2022 Competition Rules & Regulations" (PDF). National Women's Soccer League. May 19, 2022. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 23, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  8. ^ "2021 Competition Rules". National Women's Soccer League. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  9. ^ Yang, Steph (October 23, 2022). "Kansas City Current punches ticket to NWSL final with win over OL Reign". The Athletic. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
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