Subaru Park’s latest women’s soccer game has big stakes for Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit
Both teams are full of stars from the USWNT and around the world. But what makes this game special is how much it matters as a Concacaf Champions Cup matchup with first place at stake.
In recent years, local soccer fans have gotten to know the meaning of the Concacaf Champions Cup, thanks to the Union’s participation in it.
On Wednesday, the women’s version of the tournament will come to town for the first time when the NWSL’s Gotham FC and Washington Spirit meet at Subaru Park (7 p.m., Paramount+ and ESPN+). It continues the tradition of Gotham bringing games here, to a fan base it built up when the former Sky Blue FC played at Rutgers.
And although neither team is officially local, this should be the most compelling of Gotham’s games in Chester since the first, a tribute to Carli Lloyd’s retirement in 2021.
The storylines start with both teams’ star power. When Gotham and Washington played here last summer in an exhibition cup during the Olympics, most of the big names were over in France. While there’s no guarantee they’ll all play this time, they at least should be in town.
The headliners, as usual, come from the U.S. women’s national team. Gotham, which won the inaugural Concacaf women’s Champions Cup last year, has Rose Lavelle, Jaedyn Shaw, Midge Purce, and Emily Sonnett. Washington has Trinity Rodman, Croix Bethune, Hal Hershfelt, and Tara McKeown.
There are major international players, too. Gotham has Spanish women’s World Cup champion Esther González, English European champion Jess Carter, and German stalwart Ann-Katrin Berger. Washington has Colombia’s Leicy Santos, another English Euros winner in Esme Morgan, and a rising star in Italy’s Sofia Cantore, who this summer helped Le Azzure reach their first Euros semifinal since 1997.
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And there are players with ties to the Philly area. Washington’s Brittany Ratcliffe is a Williamstown, N.J., native who has long flown the flag for locals in the league. Gotham’s Sarah Schupansky is the daughter of an Oreland-born mother, and, although she was raised in Pittsburgh, she gave a hearty “Go Birds!” to The Inquirer.
“These competitions are something that I knew I was going to be a part of when signing for this team,” said Schupansky, one of the NWSL’s top rookies this year. “I wanted to do everything possible to be able to help this team take the steps that they took the last time around, to make it to the championship and win that championship. They worked really, really hard, and there’s a lot of experience on this team that has been through this tournament before, and they always instill a lot of confidence in us stepping into these matches.”
That leads to what really sets this game apart: how much it matters.
Gotham and Washington are in a five-team group that also includes Mexican power Monterrey. Each team plays the others once, and only the top two teams advance to the semifinals. Gotham can seal a perfect group record with a win, while Washington is trying to stay ahead of Monterrey before they meet on Oct. 15.
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The stakes grow even higher from there. The tournament’s winner qualifies for the 2026-27 edition of FIFA’s new annual women’s Champions Cup and for the inaugural women’s Club World Cup in 2028.
“I think it’s been fun,” Lavelle said. “I think it’s something that’s been missing in the NWSL, international competition. I know we’re playing the Spirit, but I think any time that you can play in these kinds of tournaments and get to see how you match up with not just teams within the league, but teams outside of the league, is a really nice opportunity.”
Gotham won last year’s Concacaf title, the first edition of a regional championship for women’s clubs, so they will play in the 2025-26 FIFA Champions Cup and the Club World Cup. In the FIFA tournament’s final four, planned for late January and early February, the Bats will play the winner of South America’s women’s Copa Libertadores. The winner of that game could play reigning European champion Arsenal for the title.
Those are some big stages to be on, and potentially some quite profitable ones for women’s soccer. A Gotham-Arsenal final would be not just star-studded but a New York vs. London matchup.
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“We want Gotham to be a team that not only wants to be known in the U.S., but also in other countries,” manager Juan Carlos Amorós said. “For us, being the champions of the continent is something that we take a lot of pride in. It’s a special competition, and then on top of that, it has those rewards. … That’s where we want to be, and this is what it takes.”
Washington wants in on the party. The team from the nation’s capital is owned by billionaire Michele Kang, one of women’s soccer’s most influential figures. She also owns French superpower OL Lyonnes and England’s London City Lionesses, and is a major donor to the U.S. Soccer Federation.
“That competition allows you to spread your brand, to spread your identity all over the world, and try to play with the best teams in the world, and this is our aim,” Spirit manager Adrián González said. “It’s an important competition for us. And obviously for our club, I think it’s really important to be playing against the best teams in the world.”
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As for Philadelphia’s NWSL prospects, although there are rumors around town of an expansion bid forming, it hasn’t come forward to announce itself yet. Until then, this game and the U.S. women’s team’s game vs. Portugal on Oct. 23 are what the region has.
Tickets for Wednesday’s contest start at $33, including fees, and are available through Gotham and the Union’s websites.