The U.S. women’s national team will kick off its fall schedule with two match-ups against perennial African champions Nigeria, U.S. Soccer announced on Wednesday.
The first match is set for Sept. 3 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas (Kickoff at 1:30 p.m. ET (FOX) and the second game is on Sept. 6 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. (6 p.m. ET on ESPN2).
Both matches will be played at home venues of National Women’s Soccer League teams in the Kansas City Current and reigning league champions Washington Spirit as well as Major League Soccer clubs Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United, respectively. These will be the first domestic matches for the USWNT since qualifying for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The match in Kansas City also brings the USWNT back to the home area of Vlatko Andonovski for the second time since he became head coach at the end of 2019. It will be the sixth overall match at Children’s Mercy Park for the USWNT. Kansas City, Mo. was also recently named as one of 11 U.S. host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“First, I’m just excited to play two matches against Nigeria. They have some very talented players who will present a lot of different problems for us to solve on both sides of the ball,” Andonovski said in a statement. “Secondly, of course we’re looking forward to bringing the team back to one of the best soccer cities and best soccer stadiums in the United States in Kansas City, as well as getting to play our first game at Audi Field, which I’ve visited several times for NWSL games and is also a fantastic venue for our team to play in front of our home fans.”
The USA has played quite a few matches in our nation’s capital over the years, but all of them – 10 to be exact from 1995-2017 — were at RFK Stadium, which closed in 2019 and will at some point be demolished. This will be the first contest for the U.S. women at Audi Field. The Spirit, which won the 2021 NWSL title, had seven players named to the roster for the 2022 Concacaf W Championship, which is currently being held in Mexico.
Nigeria, which is led by an American, long-time college coach Randy Waldrum, is competing in the African Women’s Cup of Nations, a 12-team tournament that will send its top four finishers to the Women’s World Cup. Nigeria plays Cameroon on July 14 in Casablanca, Morocco, in the quarterfinal round for a berth to the World Cup. The Super Falcons are 11-time African champions and by far the most successful women’s soccer nation from the continent. Nigeria has participated in all eight Women’s World Cups that have been contested.
The U.S. qualified for its ninth consecutive World Cup on July 7 following its second group stage match at the Concacaf W Championship, becoming the 12th team and the first nation from Concacaf to qualify for Australia and New Zealand.
