Portland Thorns fans. (Photo Copyright Patricia Giobetti for The Equalizer)
The National Women’s Soccer League final will be played at Providence Park in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 1, and not at the site of the highest-seeded team in the championship as previously announced. SoccerWire.com first reported the news.
NWSL owners made the decision to switch to a fixed-site final back in early April, according to Portland Thorns FC owner Merritt Paulson, but the league did not want to announce the change without firm details. The league is yet to officially announce a change; the final is in less than 50 days.
https://twitter.com/MerrittPaulson/status/632195009450643457
https://twitter.com/MerrittPaulson/status/632204342603309058
Sept. 26 or 27 were the initial scheduled dates for the NWSL Championship, but that was changed last month to accommodate the match being on Fox Sports 1. The final will now take place on Thursday, Oct. 1.
Houston was also in the mix to host the final, of which details are not 100 percent finalized.
https://twitter.com/MerrittPaulson/status/632204546605887488
Competition rules on the NWSL’s official site state:
“The NWSL Championship will be a single championship match hosted by the finalist with the most regular season points. If the two finalists have the same number of regular season points, the tiebreaker for playoff qualification will be applied to determine the host team.”
This will be the first women’s professional soccer championship played at a predetermined site since the 2003 WUSA Founders Cup. All three WUSA finals were played at predetermined sites. All three WPS championships were played at the site of the highest remaining seed, as were the first two NWSL Championships.
As previously reported, this will be the first of the nine championship matches not played on a weekend.
