A milestone edition of The Women’s Cup is set to kick off in late February, with the tournament holding its event in South America for the first time.
Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Colombia, will host the four-team international cup that will pit UKG NWSL Challenge Cup finalist Racing Louisville and reigning National Women’s Soccer League champion NJ/NY Gotham FC against Colombian powerhouses América de Cali and Deportivo Cali as part of the preseason build-up to the 2024 NWSL campaign.
It will be the first time in league history that NWSL clubs have played matches in South America or competed against a team from South America. The Women’s Cup Colombia will be the first of four tournaments to be played in 2024 as part of the TWC Global Series.
Summer events in the United States and Europe will be announced in the coming weeks.
“We are incredibly excited to make history this year with The Women’s Cup in Cali,” said J.P. Reynal, the president and CEO of The Women’s Cup. “This is a fantastic opportunity to help continue to grow women’s football globally and in South America while providing fans the chance to see some of the best players in the world sharing a pitch. We learned from the FIFA Women’s World Cup that Colombia can be among the best in the world in women’s football, and we can’t wait to see how two of Colombia’s best pair up against teams from the strongest women’s league in the world.”
Kickoff for the first semifinal, Gotham vs. Deportivo Cali, is set for 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 27. The second semifinal between América de Cali and Racing Louisville kicks off at 8 p.m.
The final is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday, March 1, with the third-place game preceding the final at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets for the two days of the competition will be available starting Thursday at TheWomensCup.world.
This February edition of The Women’s Cup seeks to build off the excitement from the previous three editions of event, which were held in the U.S. and Spain. Racing won the first tournament on its home field in 2021, while Seattle-based OL Reign claimed the trophy in 2022 in Louisville. This past year, Atletico Madrid won the first iteration of The Women’s Cup played in Europe.
TWC Colombia will be staged as the Liga Femenina Profesional season gets underway, with América de Cali hoping to win its third league trophy and Deportivo Cali pursuing its second. The NWSL kicks off its season on March 16.
Racing Louisville features U.S. Women’s National Team midfielder Savannah DeMelo and Brazilian star Ary Borges as well as Nigeria national team standout Uchenna Kanu, legendary New Zealand defender Abby Erceg and USWNT-capped veterans Jaelin Howell and Carson Pickett. Racing reached its first NWSL cup final in 2023, finishing as the runner-up in the Challenge Cup.
Coming off its league championship, Gotham made significant offseason moves, signing U.S. Women’s National Team stars Tierna Davidson, Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett to a squad already featuring fellow American stars Midge Purce and Lynn Williams as well as World Cup-winning Spanish forward Esther Gonzalez.
América de Cali features four members from Colombia’s history-making 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad, including Diana Ospina, Daniela Arias and Natalia Giraldo. America was the South American club with the most players participating in the recent WWC. The club won the league in 2019 and again in 2022 and has three top-three finishes in the Copa Libertadores Femenina over the last four years.
Deportivo Cali won Colombia’s top-tier league in 2021 and finished second in 2022. Colombian superstar Linda Caicedo, who signed with Spanish giant Real Madrid after the World Cup, was a breakout player at Deportivo before her star turn on the global stage last summer.
The host venue, Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, has a capacity of 38,000 and is home to three Colombian professional men’s and women’s football clubs. The famous stadium is 87 years old and has hosted a FIFA U-20 World Cup, two Copa Americas and the Pan American Games.
