KC Current to play in The Women’s Cup at CPKC Stadium
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Current are officially in The Women’s Cup along with hosting a tournament.
In March, it was announced that the Current would host the tournament but did not say if the Current would participate.
On Friday, TWC officials announced that the Current will host Spanish powerhouse Atlético Madrid, Japanese powerhouse INAC Kobe Leonessa, and 2023 African champion and South African club Mamelodi Sundowns.
The Current will face Mamelodi Sundowns at 8 p.m. while Atlético Madrid will face INAC Kobe Leonessa at 5 p.m. on August 14.
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The championship game will be at 8 p.m. and the third-place game being played at 5 p.m. on August 17.
“When we were looking at for 10 years, we obviously were very interested in what Kansas City was doing,” TWC president and CEO John Reynal said. “Not only because the women’s team is so incredibly good on the field, but also this amazing stadium that you have built here to showcase women’s soccer. So immediately we contacted (Current co-owner) Angie Long and talked to her about the possibility of bringing the event here and she was thrilled. And that’s how it all got started.”
This year’s event follows a TWC Colombia tournament held in February in Cali, Colombia where NWSL side NJ/NY Gotham FC took home the championship. One tournament will be played inside CPKC Stadium, while the other will be held in Racing Louisville FC’s Lynn Family Stadium.
The winners of each event will face off in the new TWC Global Series Finals held at a neutral site in the Middle East in February 2025.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup showed how much women’s soccer has flourished around the world on each continent and Reynal is excited to put international clubs on display.
“Kansas City will play the first match against Mamelodi which will be a very, very contested match,” he said. “The Japanese have always been good at the World Cup. They won the World Cup (in 2011), and their teams are also very, very good. So I think you can see that the women’s soccer world has evened up. And today, an event like The Women’s Cup that brings the best from each continent will show that really there’s parity.”
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The Women’s Cup will consist of two four-team tournaments of top clubs from Europe, South America, and Africa facing the best NWSL teams for a prize of $100,000 in each bracket.
This is the fourth year for The Women’s Cup. The first two editions were played in the U.S. and the third in Europe in 2023.
