One of soccer’s fastest-growing leagues wraps up its season Saturday night. The 2025 NWSL Championship pairs two franchises with big names, passionate followings and unfulfilled animosities. From the near sideline, the Washington Spirit try avenge their narrow loss in last year’s title match. And on the far sideline, Gotham FC seeks surprise glory as the bracket’s No. 8 seed.

How to watch Gotham FC vs. Washington Spirit (2025 NWSL Championship)

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Gotham launched its postseason push off an upset of the top-seeded Kansas City Current. Katie Stengel sent the NWSL Shield holders home with this strike in the 121st minute:

GOTHAM ENDS THE SEASON FOR NO. 1 SEED KANSAS CITY WITH THIS KATIE STENGEL GAME-WINNER😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/Wee1a1sT8D

— espnW (@espnW) November 9, 2025

Up next was the defending champion Orlando Pride. Once again, stoppage-time heroics sealed a road upset for Gotham. This time, Jaedyn Shaw did the damage in the 97th:

JAEDYN SHAW IS THE DEFINITION OF CLUTCH! pic.twitter.com/3vh5if2ygf

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 16, 2025

Ann-Katrin Berger has been spectacular as Gotham’s goalkeeper. The 35-year-old German national made seven saves in Kansas City, then came through with a clutch clean sheet at Orlando. Her leaping punch out in the final minute ended the Pride’s back-to-back trophy effort.

She’s one of several seasoned players pacing this New Jersey/New York-based club. Lead scorer Esther González (age 32) has played for Spain’s national team since 2016. Fellow goal scorer Rose Lavelle (30) made her first USWNT cap in 2017. Forward Midge Purce is also 30, defender Emily Sonnett is 31 and quarterfinal hero Stengel is 33. Gotham is experienced and composed. Just don’t call it an underdog, especially within earshot of Shaw.

Like its opponent, Washington needed every second of the opening round to advance. Racing Louisville took the second-seeded Spirit to penalty kicks, but keeper Aubrey Kingsbury stonewalled two tries:

@nwslsoccer TWO. PENALTIES. SAVED. 😤 Aubrey Kingsbury does what she does best — own the shootout. #NWSLPlayoffs ♬ MONTAGEM RUGADA – cape & JXNDRO & Sayfalse

It was reminiscent of last year’s playoffs, when Kingsbury saved three PKs to ship Washington to the championship match. Gotham was on the devastating short end of that semifinal epic.

The Spirit had a far less stressful semifinal this year, beating the Portland Thorns by a 2-0 final. Gift Monday and Croix Bethune scored for the hosts. It was Monday’s second postseason goal in as many matches. She’s dedicated each one to her late father, who died shortly before the playoffs started:

After their 2024 instant classic, Gotham and Washington faced off in the inaugural NWSL Rivalry Weekend back in August. That match ended in a tense 0-0 draw, headlined by Gotham forward Geyse’s red card.

Washington’s Tara McKeown was named Defender of the Year at this week’s NWSL Awards. Gotham’s Lilly Reale won Rookie of the Year honors. McKeown and González were both named to the Best XI First Team.

The Athletic’s boldest staff predictions, via Full Time:

• Melanie Anzidei: We’re reaching penalties after a 2-2 draw, and it will become a battle of the goalkeepers.
• Asli Pelit: Gotham lifts the trophy. Ann-Katrin Berger becomes the hero over Aubrey Kingsbury, saving two penalties.
• Meg Linehan: The NWSL goes through a rite of passage for pro leagues: The commissioner is booed during the trophy presentation.
• Tamerra Griffin: Despite the record meetings between these two teams, a majority of the game won’t be super entertaining because they know each other so well. I’m expecting most of the chaos to be concentrated in the last 20 minutes or so of the second half.

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