When Gotham FC won their first NWSL Shield on Sunday, coach Juan Carlos Amorós encouraged his team to savor the moment.
“Definitely a historic day for the club,” he said following Gotham’s win against the Utah Royals. “At least for a week, we are champions of the championship, champions of the Challenge Cup … now we are champions of the Shield, which means that basically we’re winners of everything and we’re going to try to win the championship again.”
Gotham’s quest to win back-to-back titles begins Sunday when they host the Seattle Reign in the quarterfinals.
Gotham knows there’s a chance to make even more history this month.
The Bats already set franchise records in wins (18) and points (61). But they have the chance to do something no other club has done.
There have been only three instances when clubs have won both the NWSL Shield and championship. The Orlando Pride last did it in 2024, while the North Carolina Courage completed the trophy sweep in 2018 and 2019.
But since the Challenge Cup started in 2020, no team has pulled off the treble and won all three trophies in a single calendar year.
Gotham wants to change that. “Everyone here definitely wants to win the championship,” defender Mandy Freeman told The Post this week.
Forward Midge Purce said winning the Shield was nice, but as an American, winning the championship means more.
Freeman agreed.
International leagues often lack the playoff structure common in North American sports; whoever finishes at the top of the league standings is the ultimate winner. But it’s different in the NWSL.
“Winning the Shield is great for (determining) who’s the most consistent,” Freeman said, “but you kind of forget about it after the championship because it’s the team holding the trophy at the end that gets remembered.”
Pulling off the season sweep of NWSL trophies would further cement Gotham’s dynastic status.
Gotham has won two of the past three championships, including last year. In each of their title-winning seasons, they entered the playoff field as the final seed and had recorded single-digit wins during the regular season.
But Gotham flipped the script this season and was the most consistent club throughout the regular season.
It wasn’t easy.
“We were missing players through injury, we had situations that weren’t ideal, we even have two head coaches,” said Amorós, who took several weeks of paternity leave during the season. “I think always everyone that was wearing the Gotham badge really was able to step out there, make sure our fans are proud.”
Gotham set a goal at the beginning of the season to have sustained success.
“Against everything, against everyone, we were able to do that,” Amorós said.
But now comes the ultimate test of whether they can navigate the minefield that is the playoffs and once again experience championship glory.
