Gotham secures its first regular-season title with a 2–0 win over Utah; Seattle beats Orlando 1–0 for the final playoff berth, while San Diego beats Bay 1–0 to finish second, three points behind Gotham.
Gotham FC beat the Utah Royals 2–0 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, on 1 November 2026, to secure its first National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Shield. The trophy rewards the regular-season winner; the postseason Championship remains to be decided.
Gotham needed only a draw to hold off San Diego Wave and finished 3 points clear. San Diego beat Bay FC 1–0 to finish second.
| Club | Points |
|---|---|
| Gotham FC | 61 |
| San Diego Wave | 58 |
Guro Reiten opened the scoring in the 8th minute, and Jaedyn Shaw added Gotham’s second in the 80th minute.
Seattle Reign FC secured the eighth and final playoff seed by beating Orlando Pride 1–0 at Lumen Field. Center back Jordyn Bugg scored the winner from the corner-kick sequence that followed an incident in the 67th minute.
Gotham has reached the playoffs in all 4 seasons under head coach Juan Carlos Amoros, winning the Championship in 2023 and 2025. The Shield joins its June 2026 Challenge Cup trophy; Amoros said Gotham would hold all 3 NWSL trophies for at least a week.
Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger told reporters that finishing atop the league should be Gotham’s standard given its squad, while saying the team had not performed as well as it should last season.
| Pairing | Date and kickoff |
|---|---|
| No. 1 Gotham FC hosts No. 8 Seattle Reign FC | 8 November, 12:00 Eastern time [21:00 Yerevan time] |
| No. 2 San Diego Wave hosts No. 7 Utah Royals | 6 November, 20:00 Mountain time [07:00 Yerevan time on 7 November] |
| No. 3 Washington Spirit hosts No. 6 Portland Thorns | 8 November, 15:00 Eastern time [00:00 Yerevan time on 9 November] |
| No. 4 Kansas City Current vs. No. 5 Angel City FC | — |
Gotham’s top seed guarantees home-field advantage in the quarterfinal and, if it advances, the semifinal. The Gotham–Seattle winner will face the Kansas City–Angel City winner.
The Championship final is scheduled for 21 November 2026 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
Pei set 2 world records, while final men’s 85 kg standings put Armenia’s Rafik Harutyunyan 22nd with 345 kg and Martin Poghosyan 23rd with 337 kg.
1 min
The unseeded player from Monaco wins his second career title, following his qualifying-to-champion run at the 2025 Shanghai Masters.
1 min
Sheila Chepkirui wins her second women’s title in 2:24:36, while Andreas Almgren wins the men’s race in 2:06:01 on his marathon debut. Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner win the wheelchair races.
2 min
