NJ/NY Gotham FC W welcome Kansas City W to Sports Illustrated Stadium on Sunday evening for a place in the NWSL Women final. The hosts finished the regular season as the top side in the 16-team table, accumulating 61 points from 30 matches, while Kansas City W ended fourth with 53 points — a gap of eight points between the two sides.
Gotham arrive at this semi-final on the back of three consecutive wins, having taken 10 points from their last five matches. Their recent run includes victories over Seattle Reign FC W, Utah Royals W and Orlando Pride W, though that sequence also contains a defeat to Washington Spirit W and a draw with Angel City W.
Kansas City W carry the stronger recent momentum into this fixture. They have won all five of their last matches, taking the full 15 points on offer in that run. That sequence includes victories over Angel City W, Racing Louisville W, Washington Spirit W, Utah Royals W and Bay FC W, with an aggregate in those five matches that underlines their attacking output — 54 goals scored across the full season against 39 conceded.
The two sides have already met twice in 2026, with the honours shared. Gotham won the most recent encounter 2-1 on 15 August, while Kansas City W claimed a 2-1 victory in the earlier meeting on 4 April. Neither side holds a clear head-to-head advantage going into Sunday.
Gotham's defensive record of 23 goals conceded across the season stands as one of the more compact in the competition, while Kansas City W's tally of 54 goals scored is notably higher than Gotham's 39. The table places Gotham in the top two and Kansas City W in the top third of the 16-team standings. Both sides have earned their place in the semi-finals, and the match at Sports Illustrated Stadium kicks off at 20:00 UTC.