Kansas City Current to welcome teams from Spain, South Africa and Japan this summer
The Kansas City Current will be busy during the break in the National Women’s Soccer League calendar due to the Paris Olympics. On Friday, the Current unveiled the participants for The Women’s Cup, which will be hosted in August at CPKC Stadium.
The Current will participate as hosts, joined by Atletico Madrid of Spain, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, and Inac Kobe Leonessa of Japan. The matches will be held August 14th and 17th at CPKC stadium.
The first matches will be treated as semifinals on August 14th. Atletico Madrid will face Kobe, while the Current will play the Mamelodi Sundowns. The winners of those matches will face off on the 17th in the final.
This tournament joins the growing list of international soccer events taking place in Kansas City this summer, building toward the pinnacle of hosting international soccer: the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
“This is an opportunity to continue to show our community, the nation, and the world that Kansas City is the Soccer Capital of America,” president of the KC Current Raven Jemison said in a statement.
The winners of the four separate Women’s Cup tournaments will be invited to a “Final Four” style tournament held in early 2025, “somewhere in the Middle East,” according to President and CEO of The Women’s Cup John Reynal. The tournament will be announced after the summer events and have a “major” cash prize.
The Women’s World Cup last summer showed just how much women’s soccer around the world has grown. This summer’s tournament, which will bring some of the best from four separate continents, is another opportunity to show that at the club level.
“This is the first time that an African team gets to play against an American team and against the European team,” Reynal said.
Atletico Madrid is a five-time winner of Liga F in Spain and currently sits third in the league standings. Mamelodi Sundowns, based in Pretoria, South Africa, has won six SAFA Women’s League titles, making it the most successful team in the country, and has won the African Women’s Champions League twice in the last three years, finishing as runner-up in 2022. Kobe Leonessa is an eight-time champion of the WE League in Japan.
In another summer tournament, the Current will play host to the Houston Dash and two Liga MX Femenil teams, Pachuca and Tigres. All three of those Summer Cup games will be held at CPKC Stadium, beginning July 20 and ending August 1.
After being shut out for the first time in 2024 on Wednesday, the Kansas City Current is set to take on the North Carolina Courage on Mother’s Day, May 12th. Kickoff at CPKC Stadium is set for 5 p.m. Central.
