The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a major trophy by the league.

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based team

OL Reign OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

, each with three NWSL Shields since the league's inception in 2013, are tied for the most shields won by any NWSL team as of 2022.

are the current (

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

) winners.

History

When the NWSL was launched in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, the league's format was set up similarly to other contemporary North American leagues. After the regular season, the

NWSL Playoffs The National Women's Soccer League Playoffs (or NWSL Playoffs) are a single elimination tournament among six teams in the National Women's Soccer League of the United States, deciding the winner of the NWSL Championship. Since playoff games can ...

were held with the top four teams vying for a spot in the postseason championship match. The club with the most regular-season points was awarded the NWSL Shield and earned the top seed in the playoffs.

Point system and tiebreakers

Since the 2013 inaugural season, the system of awarding points in the NWSL is the same as the international standard: three points for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss. In the event of an end-of-season tie in total accumulated points, the following tie-breakers are used among all teams with the same number of points: # Head-to-head record: The most points earned against all other teams that are tied on points. # Goal differential: Goals-for minus goals-against during the season. # Goals for: Total goals scored throughout the season. # Head-to-head road record: The team with the most points earned on the road against all other teams that are tied on points. # Road goal differential. # Road goals for. # Coin toss. All tiebreakers involving goal counts (goal differential, goals for) include all regular-season games, not just games against tied teams.

History

Point system and tiebreakers

Winners

Records

Shield winners

See also

References

External links