The Women’s Cup Expands for 2022 Return to Louisville

The Women’s Cup, an international club competition that was held in a four-team format last year, will expand to six teams this season at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky, home of NWSL club Racing Louisville FC.

Two clubs from Europe, along with Liga MX Femenil’s Club América from Mexico and the WE League’s Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza from Japan, will participate along with NWSL teams Racing Louisville and OL Reign, in the 2022 event. The quarterfinals will be August 14 with the winners facing the two NWSL clubs in the semifinals on August 17. The third-place and championship matches will be August 20. Racing Louisville beat Germany’s Bayern Munich in penalty kicks to win last year’s event.

“We are thrilled to build on the success of last year’s tournament,” said James O’Connor, Racing Louisville’s interim president. “Our supporters were able to witness some fantastic games from some of the world’s biggest clubs in Bayern and PSG and this year will be no different. Our players had a wonderful experience facing top-class opposition and the final last year is something we will always remember.”

Tournament organizers are planning additional events throughout the week, including a music festival and youth soccer activities. The Women’s Cup will be staged outside of the regular-season NWSL schedule. Lynn Family Stadium, which opened in 2020, is a 15,304-capacity facility that is home for Racing Louisville and USL Championship club Louisville City FC.

“It’s a huge honor to present the 2022 edition of The Women’s Cup to be played in Louisville this summer,” said Tournament Co-Founder and Executive Director Jaime Phillips. “We continue to make history in the women’s soccer industry by having more teams from different continents participating this year. We invite everyone to be part of it and enjoy this special event.”

Club América, founded in 2016, won a title in 2018 and calls home the famous Estadio Azteca, which recently hosted a FIFA Men’s World Cup qualifier between Mexico and the United States. Tokyo Verdy Beleza is Japan’s only women’s soccer club to have never been relegated from the top flight, finishing first or second in its league every year since 1997.

Racing Louisville and OL Reign are in the NWSL Challenge Cup currently, which serves as the preseason tournament ahead of the regular season starting at the end of April. Seattle-based OL Reign boasts one of the league’s most star-studded rosters with World Cup winners Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle.

“The 2022 edition of The Women’s Cup promises to be bigger and better than the last one,” said J.P. Reynal, tournament president and chief executive officer. “This event will continue to present an opportunity for women’s soccer fans to see how the NWSL stacks up against strong sides from nations such as England, Japan, Mexico and Spain.”