The Denver NWSL team is a future American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado, that will compete in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL) starting in 2026. It was founded as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

on January 30, 2025.

History

In July 2023, an investment group called For Denver FC, led by former soccer player

Jordan Angeli Jordan Leigh Angeli (born May 31, 1986) is an American former soccer player and current soccer commentator. Known for her versatility, Angeli played for Boston Breakers in the Women's Professional Soccer, and the Washington Spirit and Western ...

, sports executive Tom Dunmore, and insurance executive Ben Hubbard, announced their plans to bid for a franchise in the NWSL or

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

. They were joined by IMA Financial Group CEO Robert Cohen and venture capitalist Nicole Glaros. Other members of the ownership group included

Mellody Hobson Mellody Louise Hobson Lucas ( Hobson; born April 3, 1969) is an American businesswoman who is president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, and former chair of Starbucks. She is the former chairman of DreamWorks Animation, having stepped down after ...

and

Jason Wright Jason Gomillion Wright (born July 12, 1982) is an American business consultant. He attended Northwestern University in the early 2000s and played American football as a running back for the Wildcats while earning a degree in psychology. Wright ...

Ariel Investments Ariel Investments is an investment company located in Chicago, Illinois. It specializes in small and mid-capitalized stocks based in the United States. History Ariel was founded as Ariel Capital Management in 1983 by John W. Rogers, Jr., who is ...

. For Denver FC had been founded in 2022 as a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

group and organized outreach events, including watch parties for the United States women's national team during the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

. In November 2024, the NWSL announced that Denver was one of three finalists, alongside

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, to become the league's 16th team which would begin play in 2026. Denver was officially awarded the expansion bid by NWSL on January 30, 2025, and will join as the league's 16th team in the 2026 season. The ownership group, led by finance executive Rob Cohen, was reported by media outlets to have paid a league-record expansion fee of $110million. They are the first professional women's sports team in Colorado since the

Colorado Xplosion The Colorado Xplosion was the first women's professional basketball franchise in Colorado, an American Basketball League (ABL) team based in Denver. Playing from 1996 through 1998, the team produced many memorable moments for Colorado sports fa ...

of the American Basketball League folded in 1998. On February 19, 2025, the ownership announced that a name vote would take place with the following six names: Denver Peak FC, Colorado 14ers FC, Colorado Summit FC, Denver Elevate FC, Denver FC, and Denver Gold FC. On May 6, 2025, alpine skier and

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the nume ...

native

Mikaela Shiffrin Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin (born March 13, 1995) is an American FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine skier who has the most World Cup wins of any alpine skier in history (men or women) and is considered one of the greatest alp ...

joined the team's ownership group. On June 3, 2025, Pro Football Hall of Fame and former

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

quarterback

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

also joined the ownership group.

Stadium

The team plans to build its own 14,500-seat

soccer-specific stadium A soccer-specific stadium, mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium whic ...

at Santa Fe Yards in Denver's Baker neighborhood, which would be completed in 2028. In March 2025, the team announced plans to build a temporary stadium at Potomac Street and Fremont Avenue in

Centennial A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

that would be used for their first two seasons. It would have 12,000 seats for use by the NWSL team before it is downsized into a 4,000-seat venue for school sports. The stadium would be on the grounds of the permanent training facilities in Centennial, which are planned to include eight soccer fields on , with $25 million in financing primarily provided by the

Cherry Creek School District The Cherry Creek School District 5, also known as Cherry Creek Public Schools, is a school district located in western Arapahoe County, Colorado. The current superintendent is Christopher Smith. Former superintendent Scott Siegfried, Ph.D. anno ...

. The training center would be adjacent to the team headquarters and training facilities of the

Dick's Sporting Goods Park Dick's Sporting Goods Park, also known as DSG Park, is a soccer-specific stadium in Commerce City, Colorado, that is home to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer (MLS). The stadium seats up to 18,061 people for soccer matches, but can acco ...

, the home of the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

, was ruled out of serious consideration early in the process.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Colorado Sports 2025 establishments in Colorado Association football clubs established in 2025 National Women's Soccer League teams Soccer clubs in Denver Women's sports in Denver Women's soccer clubs in the United States