SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa®, is coming to Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday, February 26! This doubleheader matchday grants you access to two exciting matches: USWNT vs. Japan and Australia vs. Colombia, featuring some of the top-ranked teams in the world!  

In 2025, the world’s top-ranked U.S. Women’s National Team will host Japan (#7), Australia (#15) and Colombia (#21) as the competition returns to its traditional six-game, three matchday format after being played in a four-game, two-date format last year due to the new FIFA windows in years that feature the Olympic Games.

 

The winner of the tournament will once again be determined by total points (three for a win, one for a tie), with the first tiebreaker being overall goal difference, followed by most goals scored, then head-to-head result and lastly, Fair Play ranking if necessary.

 

All four teams in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup field participated in the 2024 Olympic Women’s Soccer Tournament with the USA defeating Australia (2-1) in group play and Japan (1-0) in an overtime thriller in the quarterfinal match. Australia and Colombia will make their first appearances in the SheBelieves Cup, while Japan returns to the field for the third consecutive year and the fifth time overall. The USA has won the last five SheBelieves Cups and has seven titles overall, while France won in 2017, and England took top honors in  2019.

 

The schedule will see the USA open the tournament against Colombia on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston (7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET on TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) while Japan faces Australia at 4 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock). The teams will then move to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the USA faces Australia on Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. ET (TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) and Colombia takes on Japan at Noon MT / 2 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock). The final two games will take place at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Feb. 26 with the USA facing Japan at 7:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET (TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) and Australia taking on Colombia at 4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock).

 

The matches of the 2025 SheBelieves Cup will be the first domestic games of the new year as the USWNT continues its preparations to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Brazil.

 

“This will be my first SheBelieves Cup, but I’ve followed the tournament, and it always produces close games between top teams,” said U.S. head coach Emma Hayes. “All four of these teams were in the last World Cup and Olympics, and all are in the building process to qualify for the next World Cup, so to get three games against talented teams and players in a format that replicates group play at a world championship is valuable in our process. All the games will be great tests for the teams and fun for all the fans.”

 

All three visiting teams feature multiple players who play in the National Women’s Soccer League.

 

The SheBelieves Cup will be the second event for the USWNT in 2025 as the team will come together for a January training camp in Los Angeles that will run from January 14-21. No official matches are associated with that camp, but it will run concurrently with the “Futures Camp” that will feature up-and-coming USWNT prospects. Rosters for both camps will be revealed early next year.

 

VISA SHEBELIEVES CUP MVP

For the sixth year in a row, Visa, the presenting partner of the SheBelieves Cup, will award the MVP trophy to the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. The award will be announced following the conclusion of the final match. Spain’s Alexia Putellas – the Ballon d’Or winner in both 2021 and 2022 -- won the inaugural award in 2020. The USA claimed top honors every year following, as Rose Lavelle won the award in 2021, Catarina Macario won it in 2022, Mallory Swanson took home the trophy in 2023 and Sophia Smith claimed MVP honors in 2024. A new selection committee comprised of representatives from all competing nations will be announced for the 2025 SheBelieves Cup while fans will once again have the opportunity to vote for the Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP award recipient via online ballot to select among a list of finalists chosen by the committee. The fan vote will be incorporated into the overall determination of the 2025 Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP.

 

In an exciting enhancement that started at the 2024 tournament, U.S. Soccer will award $25,000 to women-owned small businesses from the same country as the National Team represented by the Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP, thanks to Visa’s continuing commitment to supporting women on and off the field.

 

Additional Notes:

• The USWNT will be playing its 14^th all-time match in Houston and 11^th at Shell Energy Stadium – formerly known as BBVA Stadium - where the U.S. Women have never lost or even drawn.
• Shell Energy Stadium is home to the Houston Dash of NWSL and Houston Dynamo of MLS. The USWNT’s most recent matches there came in the summer of 2021 as the sporting world emerged from the global pandemic. The USWNT defeated Portugal, 1-0, on June 10 and then downed Jamaica, 4-0, on June 13.
• The U.S. Women have not played in Arizona since 2015 and will be playing their fourth match at the home of the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale. The most recent match at the venue was a 2-0 win over China PR in December of 2015 as the USA celebrated its third FIFA Women’s World Cup title.
• Snapdragon Stadium, home to the San Diego Wave of NWSL and San Diego FC of MLS, opened in the fall of 2022 and the USWNT has already played three matches there, two in the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup, including the 1-0 victory over Brazil in the championship game, and a 3-0 friendly win over Colombia in Oct. of 2023.
• Colombia put in an admirable showing at the 2024 Olympics, advancing out of the Group A in third place after a narrow 3-2 loss to France, a 2-0 win over New Zealand and 1-0 loss to Canada. Las Cafeteras had a 2-0 lead over reigning World Cup winners Spain in the quarterfinal until almost the 80^th minute when Las Rojas pulled one back in the 79^th and dramatically tied the game seven minutes into second-half stoppage time. Colombia would eventually fall in a penalty kick shootout, 4-2.
• The USWNT has played Colombia three times over the past two years, drawing 0-0 on Oct. 26, 2023, in Sandy, Utah, and winning 3-0 three days later in San Diego. The teams met earlier this year in the Concacaf W Gold Cup as the USA bounced back from its only loss of the year to defeat Colombia 3-0 in the quarterfinal round. Lindsey Horan, Jenna Nighswonger and Jaedyn Shaw scored for the USA as goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher kept a clean sheet in her 100^th cap.
• This will be the 14^th meeting all-time between the USA and Colombia with the Americans holding a 11W-0L-2D record. The other tie in the series prior to the scoreless draw in 2022 came in the 2016 Olympics, a 2-2 result.
• The USA and Australia met in the final group match of the 2024 Olympics, a 2-1 U.S. victory that knocked the Matildas out of the tournament. Trinity Rodman and Korbin Albert scored for the USA to finish atop the group. Australia scored a late goal to make it close.
• Before that game, the teams had not met since the end of 2021 when the Americans went Down Under and picked up a 3-0 win in Sydney and a 1-1 draw in Newcastle.
• The series with the Matildas runs all the way back to the beginning of the USWNT program. The meeting at this year’s SheBelieves Cup will be the 35^th in the history of the teams.
• The USA holds at 28W-1L-5D all-time record vs. the Aussies, who are currently being coached by former USWNT head coach Tom Sermanni. Currently the interim head coach, Sermanni coached the Matildas from 2005-2012 and was named interim head coach following the 2024 Summer Olympics.
• Australia, co-host of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, at which it made the semifinals, struggled at the 2024 Olympics. Australia fell to Germany, 3-0, in its first match, had to rally tremendously in one of the wildest games in women’s soccer history for a 6-5 victory over Zambia, then fell 2-1 to the USA the final match of group play. That loss was the final game at the helm for former USWNT assistant coach Tony Gustavsson.
• The most recent meeting between the USA and Japan is still fresh in people’s minds as the Americans gutted out a 1-0 victory in the quarterfinal of the 2024 Olympics as Trinity Rodman scored the dramatic game-winner in overtime against a highly talented and disciplined Japanese team.
• The USA faced Japan earlier in the year during the 2024 SheBelieves Cup, a 2-1 come-from-behind win in front of 50,644 fans, the largest crowd ever to watch the USA in a domestic friendly match. Jaedyn Shaw and Lindsey Horan scored for the USA in the semifinal victory.
• The USA-Japan rivalry is a storied one, dating back to 1986. The teams meet in three straight world finals in the aughts, with Japan winning the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in penalty kicks, while the USA won the 2012 Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
• The USA holds a 32W-1L-8D all-time record against the Nadeshiko.
• The USA has played Japan four times in the SheBelieves Cup and holds a 3W-0L-1D record.
• The SheBelieves Cup was first played in 2016. The USA won the inaugural edition and France took top honors in 2017. The USA won again in 2018, and England finished first in 2019, but the USA returned to the top of the podium in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.