The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is receiving prime-time treatment for its championship game. The OL Reign will take on NJ/NY Gotham FC to see who is the top team in the league. The 2023 NWSL Championship will start at 8 p.m. ET and air on CBS and Paramount+. The game will be played at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.
The OL Reign are playing in the championship game for the third time in team history. They entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed and defeated Angel City FC in the quarterfinals and the San Diego Wave in the semifinals. The Reign are led by soccer legend Megan Rapinoe who is playing in the final match of her career. The 38-year-old announced her retirement earlier this year. During her time in NWSL, she led the Reign to three Sheid titles and The Women’s Cup title in 2022.
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“I’ve always tried to play the game the right way, always tried to enjoy it,” Rapinoe told reporters when answering a question on her legacy, per CNN. “At the end of the day, I feel like we are in the entertainment business and especially in a growing sport and a growing league, I feel like that’s really important.
Gotham FC continues its magical season with its first appearance in the title game. After finishing last in the league in 2022, Gotham clinched the final spot in the playoffs and defeated the North Carolina Courage and the Portland Thorns in the playoffs. Ali Krieger leads Gotham, and like Rapinoe, she is playing in the final match of her soccer career. Krieger, 39, has been with Gotham since last year and is a six-time selection to the NWSL Best XI Team. She also played for the United States Women’s National Team from 2008 to 2019 and won two World Cups.
“It was definitely rough at the beginning,” Krieger told reporters this week, per CNN. “I was basically fighting for socks to wear at training for some of the players and at times we had to wash our own clothes, so we’ve definitely come a long way. Over the years, no matter what team you’re on, no matter where you’re from in this country and who you play for, at the end of the way we [the players] have each other’s backs. We have power in numbers and I think we’ve seen that over the years.”
