Just over three months after winning the franchise’s first NWSL Championship, the Orlando Pride enters 2025 in the unfamiliar position of league favorite.
“Everybody’s gonna hunt after us, and we need to deal with this and find a way to keep doing our best to keep making history for this club,” six-time world player of the year and Orlando forward Marta said on Thursday.
Orlando and the Washington Spirit kick off the 2025 NWSL slate on Friday in the NWSL Challenge Cup, a Community Shield type of event that doesn’t count toward the standings but pits the previous year’s NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship winners against each other for a preseason trophy.
Orlando won both trophies last year, making this year’s Challenge Cup a rematch of November’s final. The Pride won 1-0 behind a goal from forward Barbra Banda.
“Yeah, it’s personal,” Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury said on Thursday about the rematch. “I want to win everything, and this is the first trophy. [Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez] has talked to us a lot about that. We’re here to win.”
“It’s a good and big opportunity that we have right now to win a title,” Giráldez said. “We only have to play a game, try to be better than them and create more chances and be close to win this title. We know that the game is going to be probably different compared with the last final.”
Washington and Orlando were the two best teams in the regular season in 2024. The Pride went unbeaten through the first 23 games of the regular season, setting a new NWSL record. They also set a new points record (60). Washington finished second, tying Orlando for a new league record with 18 wins.
Orlando had not previously won a trophy since launching in 2016, and frequently finished seasons at or near the bottom of the table. That dire history motivated the Pride last year, but they enter 2025 as the team everyone is chasing.
“There’s no difference going into this this year,” Pride head coach Seb Hines said. “We’re shifting into this championship mentality now, which is changing the verbiage from ‘underdog’ to now ‘championship.’ But we have to stay consistent with everything that we do.”
Both Orlando and Washington largely retained their 2024 rosters while strengthening certain positions this offseason.
The Spirit signed Japan international midfielder Narumi Miura and recently acquired standout Mexican defender Rebeca Bernal via transfer from Monterrey.
The Pride just removed Brazilian defender Rafaelle and Zambian midfielder Grace Chanda from the season-ending injury list after they missed most of and all last year, respectively. Both players are available for Friday’s clash.
Giráldez was coy about the potential availability of United States forward Trinity Rodman, who played through a back injury in last year’s final and missed the last four U.S. women’s national team training camps to focus on rehabbing to full strength.
Rodman recently said that she is in a “really good place” with her back issues.
Giráldez also did not elaborate on the status of U.S. midfielder and 2024 NWSL Rookie of the Year Croix Bethune, who missed the final three months of last season with a torn meniscus suffered while throwing out a first pitch at an MLB game.
Marta, who turned 39 last month, is back to start her ninth campaign with the Pride after signing a new two-year contract in the offseason. Last year was her best in Orlando since her inaugural season with the Pride in 2017, and earned her a renewed place with Brazil as the team won an Olympic silver medal.
She said on Thursday that she is happy to be back in Orlando.
“It’s exciting to know that everybody is gonna look to us and then try to make it difficult for us,” Marta said. “But for me, it’s the best feeling, because you’re good at what you do, so just go and play, go and have fun. Go and get people excited to see you on the field. And it’s what I’m looking for.”
The NWSL’s regular season kicks off on March 14.
The Kansas City Current host the Portland Thorns on March 15 on ABC and ESPN+ (12:45 p.m. ET), and opening weekend continues on March 16 as Los Angeles’ Angel City FC hosts San Diego Wave FC on ESPN2 and ESPN+ (6:50 p.m. ET).
