Providence Park, home of Portland Thorns FC, has been named the host site of the 2018 NWSL Championship match. The game will take place on Saturday, September 22.
Providence Park has hosted three NWSL playoff games, including the 2015 championship match, which featured the largest crowd for an NWSL Championship match in league history (13,264). Thorns FC have led the NWSL in attendance in each of the league’s first five seasons. Globally, Portland has the highest attendance of any women’s professional team in the world, averaging 17,653 fans in its fifth season in the league in 2017.
The top four teams in the NWSL standings qualify for the playoffs and the higher-seeded teams will each host semifinal matches on the weekend of Sept. 14-16. Lifetime will broadcast live all three games of the 2018 NWSL Playoffs and the matches will also be available for both live and on-demand streaming via the Lifetime iOS and Android apps and MyLifetime.com. International fans can watch on the NWSL app and NWSLsoccer.com.
Home to Thorns FC, the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer and T2 of the United Soccer League, Providence Park seats 21,144 with an extensive stadium-expansion project underway to add approximately 4,000 seats for 2019. Originally constructed in 1926, the stadium has held a variety of premier sporting events over the decades, including the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the 2014 MLS All-Star Game and the 2015 NWSL Championship.
Image courtesy Portland Thorns.