5 Gotham FC games to look forward to in 2025 | OneFootball

On Thursday, the NWSL released its 2025 schedule for all 14 clubs, including NJ/NY Gotham FC. This year's schedule, similar to 2024, features 13 home and 13 away games with national broadcast partners ABC/ESPN, CBS, ION, and Prime Video.

The regular season kicks off on Friday, March, 14 with five of the seven matches on opening weekend being nationally broadcast. This includes Gotham's visit to the Seattle Reign FC on Saturday, March, 15 at 10:00 PM ET.

As with any team and any season, there are always highlights that fans, and sometimes players, have circled on their calendars. This year is no different with plenty of high-profile matchups to look forward to. Let's take a look at five such matchups coming up in 2025.

5 Gotham FC games to look forward to

5. Sunday, March 23, vs Orlando Pride; 5:00 PM ET, ESPN2

The home opener is always a special occasion for any team across the world of sports. Gotham FC's home opener in 2025 takes on even greater meaning as they welcome reigning NWSL Shield and Championship winners Orlando Pride to the newly renamed Sports Illustrated Stadium. Notably, Gotham was one of only two teams, Portland Thorns FC being the other, to have beaten Orlando last season and were the only team to do so against a full-strength Orlando side.

The March 23 fixture is also Gotham's first ever "Blue Out" game with the team encouraging fans to "create a sea of Gotham blue in the stands". While the full list of theme and promotional nights has not been released, this has the makings of being an excellent idea and is hopefully the start of a revamp and improvement to the promotional schedule, which has at times fallen flat in the past few years.

4. Saturday, August 9, vs Washington Spirit; 12:00 PM ET, ESPN

Gotham FC's bogey team in 2024 was most definitely the Washington Spirit. Not only did they lose both regular season matchups to the D.C. side, but they then also knocked The Bats out of the playoffs on penalty kicks in the semifinals. The Bats will look to earn their first regular season win over the Spirit since September of 2023 when they meet on Saturday, August 9.

While this is not the first time these two teams will meet in 2025, it is a part of NWSL's "Rivalry Weekend", a new idea for 2025. A concept that has been in MLS for a number of years now has made its way over to the NWSL with Gotham vs Washington being part of the inaugural set of matchups. The other two matchups include San Diego Wave FC vs Angel City FC and Portland vs Seattle.

3. Sunday, August 17, vs Houston Dash; 4:00 PM ET, NWSL+ and Paramount+

The Houston Dash come to town for the first time on August 17 and with them will be three members of the 2023 Championship team who left for Texas this past offseason. Delanie Sheehan left via free agency, and she was then very quickly followed by Yazmeen Ryan who left via trade. They were followed by Abby Smith who also joined the Dash via trade.

While Houston has not been one of NWSL's premier sides having only made the playoffs once since joining in 2014, their offseason activity has put them on the right pathway for the future and should provide a more entertaining fixture than what fans saw last year.

2. Saturday, October 5, vs Seattle Reign FC; 4:00 PM, NWSL+ and Paramount+

After meeting in the opening week in Seattle, Gotham will welcome the Reign to New Jersey on Saturday, October 5. This will be Lynn Williams' first game back at Sports Illustrated Stadium following her offseason trade to Seattle.

Despite only being with the NJ/NY side for two seasons, there have been very few players who have impacted this club more than Williams. From being one of the first statement acquisitions before their championship win, to scoring in the championship match, and even coining the "Bats" nickname, one cannot tell the story of this club without her. The forward will undoubtedly be received warmly and loudly when her name gets announced at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

1. Sunday, November 2, at North Carolina Courage; time and broadcaster TBA

Decision Day is back! After a one-year hiatus, Decision Day returns with all 14 teams in action at the same time. And there could be a lot on the line for Gotham FC as the North Carolina Courage could potentially be the team that makes last year's "Big 4" at the top of the table a "Big 5". While they did lose Kerolin to Manchester City FC, they made arguably the biggest splash by acquiring 20-year-old superstar in the making Jaedyn Shaw from San Diego.

This match could affect seeding just before the playoffs begin and could also be a preview for a future playoff matchup, potentially even happening the following week. It is expected a lot will be on the line for Gotham FC.