The NWSL’s NJ/NY Gotham FC won the inaugural edition of the Concacaf W Champions Cup on Saturday, defeating Tigres 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Esther Gonzalez. Gotham’s lone goal came in the 82nd minute, the opportunity first presenting itself in a penalty. Gonzalez stepped up to take the spot kick, and though Tigres goalkeeper Itzel Gonzalez made the stop, the Gotham player got ahold of the ball and scored on the rebound.
Watch the strike below.
The champions were dominant from start to finish, taking 23 shots to Tigres’ seven, but finding the go-ahead goal was easier said than done for Gotham against their defensive-minded opponent. Gotham had a golden opportunity in first-half stoppage time when Midge Purce earned a penalty, but Itzel Gonzalez stopped that shot and a batch of Gotham players were unable to regain the ball despite a scramble to take another shot.
For Gotham, the Champions Cup marks the latest accolade in a successful stretch of years for a club that was once a bottom-dweller in the NWSL. Since hiring Juan Carlos Amoros ahead of the 2023 season, they have won the NWSL Championship and the Concacaf W Champions Cup, and were also finalists last year in the NWSL Challenge Cup and NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup.
“I feel fantastic. I feel like we really left it all out there and everyone really fought hard to the end and we deserved the win and we really earned it,” said defender Mandy Freeman, who has been with the club since her rookie season in 2017. “I have no words. I think this has been three years in the making and to finally have this moment to celebrate.”
The Champions Cup is one of several new competitions that signal the further development of the women’s game at the club level, the structure of which is now beginning to resemble the men’s game. That structure includes the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, which will see the club champions from all six FIFA confederations take part in a competition that will debut in 2026, and the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup, the first edition of which will take place in 2028.
By winning the Champions Cup, Gotham have qualified for both of those FIFA competitions, becoming the first NWSL team to do so.
“I think it is a historic moment for women’s soccer in the U.S., and in New York, on the East Coast,” Amoros said in his post-match press conference. “We have very big expectations sometimes. It’s difficult to see when you’re in the middle of the league, and people obviously in America are very focused on the league, and you have these midweek [Concacaf] games and for us, it was so important to hear. So important. We believe this is a game-changer for us as a club … It is massive, the fact that Gotham is going to be on the world stage for the next three years, one way or another, is definitely something we are incredibly proud of.
“Obviously, we are hosting, as well, the men’s World Cup final in New York [next year], we’re hosting the FIFA [men’s] Club World Cup final in New York [this year]. I think we are, step by step, making New York one of the biggest cities in the world around the game of football.”
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