U.S. Women’s National Team will return to Kansas City for a September soccer match
The U.S. Women’s National Team is coming back to Kansas City.
The four-time world champions will return to the heartland to take on Nigeria in one of their two friendlies during soccer’s September international window.
The match is scheduled for Sept. 3 (12:30 p.m. Central) at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Aug. 1, with a pre-sale starting July 25 and Kansas City Current and Sporting KC season-ticket members eligible for early purchase July 29.
“Hosting the U.S. National Team in the soccer capital of America is always exciting,” said Kansas City Current president Allison Howard. “We look forward to hosting them, along with the Super Falcons (Nigeria’s nickname), and showing the world how the Midwest gets behind the beautiful game.”
The USWNT is currently in the midst of the CONCACAF W Championship. The U.S. won all three of its group-stage W Championship matches, defeating Jamaica, Haiti and Mexico with a total of nine goals scored and none conceded.
The USWNT plays Costa Rica in the W Championship semifinals on Thursday, potentially setting up a showdown with Canada in the tournament finale.
The CONCACAF W Championship also serves as the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament for the CONCACAF region. The USWNT qualified for the 2023 World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand, after winning its second group-stage match on July 7.
Nigeria, meanwhile, is currently competing in its own continental championship, the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations. The top four teams in that tournament also qualify for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Nigeria is the most successful African nation in the women’s game today, having won the African championship 11 times, and has been a participant in all eight FIFA Women’s World Cups.
USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski, a Kansas City resident and former head coach of the now-defunct FC Kansas City women’s club, is excited about the prospect of playing the Super Falcons.
“First, I’m just excited to play two matches against Nigeria,” he said. “They have some very talented players who will present a lot of different problems for us to solve on both sides of the ball.
“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.”
The USWNT boasts a 5-0-4 all-time record in Kansas City. The squad’s most recent visit came in October 2021, when the Americans played South Korea to a scoreless draw at Children’s Mercy Park. Members of FIFA’s site-selection delegation were present that day as part of their site evaluations of potential host cities for the men’s 2026 World Cup.
That site visit impressed the FIFA officials enough that Kansas City was selected last month as a North American host city for the men’s 2026 World Cup.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 10:00 AM.