2025/26 Gainbridge Super League

Full 2025/26 schedule has already been announced with Jacksonville being the only new team joining. Season kicks off on August 23.

Carolina signed 15-year-old academy player Stella Spitzer to a multi year pro deal. She debuted last year at age 14 as the youngest female player to appear in a US professional game.

DC claims Audi Field will be their home again, despite it not being listed on the schedule, and they have hired a new coach in Omid Namazi.

The full list of transactions for the offseason are at this link. Lexington has made the biggest moves with 14 new players including the captains of both league champion Ft. Lauderdale and Spokane.

 

1 key new signing for each team

Brooklyn hires a successful Portuguese coach

Dallas Trinity player Deb Abiodun played the entire final for Nigeria's women's AFCON champs

 

Darya Rajaee scores off a free kick for the first goal of the season.

1-0 Ft Lauderdale over Lexington 20 minutes in.
Brooklyn and Tampa scoreless at halftime despite 10 total shots.

 

Brooklyn now up 1-0 over Tampa in the second half.

Jacksonville's debut is about 10 minutes away as the weather has cleared in Florida. They get the DC Creampuffs in their first ever match.

 

Brooklyn wins 2-1 over Tampa. 1,275 in attendance.

Ft Lauderdale went up 2-0 over Lexington early in the 2nd half only to have Lexington come back and take a 2-3 lead in the 87th minute. Ft Lauderdale ties it up on a penalty in the 1st minute of stoppage time and we're 3-3 in the waning moments. 2,946 in the stands getting more than their money's worth.

Jacksonville's start has been delayed again due to the field being too waterlogged. The new start time is 9:50pm ET. Not sure how many of the sellout crowd will still be there.

Dallas trailing at home 0-1 at the half against Spokane. Probably the best played game so far tonight.

 

Dallas wins 2-1 in front of 2,763.

Jacksonville 1-1 against DC at the half. Decent crowd remaining despite the weather. Field is holding up better than expected considering how much water is on it.

 

Dallas is playing Club America in the "State Fair of Texas Classico" Saturday at 4pm CT streaming free on Victory+.

 

The league returns from the winter break to see Dallas and Brooklyn tie 1-1 at the Cotton Bowl in front of 1,527 people who watched the game in below freezing weather. In Jacksonville, 8,247 people sat in 36F weather, with a wind chill of 27, to watch their home team beat Carolina 1-0.

2 more games to go tonight in the slightly warmer locales of Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.

 

I don't have a subscription to The Athletic, but they ran an article on the league last year and one of the things they mentioned was the $36k minimum, which is in line with NWSL numbers were at the low end at that time. No idea what the average is or if anyone is making significantly more than that.

They also have a similar "pathway" option for HS/youth players like the two USL mens leagues have, so they've certainly got some players making less while still living at home. I know they voted to have the USLPA represent them, but I don't think there's an official CBA yet.

 

1,684 in Ft Lauderdale and 1,631 in Tampa.

Not bad getting at least 1,500 for every game when only 1 was above 50F. Jacksonville and Tampa pulled in more than their season average.

 

Lexington temporarily vaults to the top of the league with a 1-2 win a Carolina. 1703 in attendance which isn't bad considering Charlotte was in the 40s with snow still visibly piled up around the stadium.

Lexington has 7 wins and 9 draws in their 16 matches, a rather odd way to be the only undefeated team left in the league.

 

DC gets the win in Jacksonville in front of a crowd of 8358.

 

Dallas with a 0-4 win at Ft. Lauderdale in front of 1525.

 

Jacksonville pulled a crowd of 8,377 for a Wednesday night game. Setting the bar pretty high for their men's side.

 

Carolina loses 0-2 at home to Spokane in front of a crowd of 2.064.
Ft. Lauderdale and Brooklyn tie 3-3 in Florida in front of 2,026.

 

Tampa Bay and DC tie 1-1 in front of 2,050.

 

Carolina wins 2-0 over Dallas in front of 2,406.
Lexington loses 0-3 to Jacksonville in front of 1,707.

 

Tampa Bay gets back on track a bit and beats the brakes off Ft Lauderdale 3-0 in front of 1,343.

 

DC with the 0-2 win at Brooklyn to move within 1 point of the final playoff spot. Continued bad attendance for Brooklyn with 624.

Steven Birnbaum and Omid Namazi are doing some good work building that DC team.