January 25, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Washington Spirit News Release
Washington, D.C. – The Washington Spirit has released its full 2024 schedule of home and away fixtures, the club announced today.
As the Spirit enters its 12th season, the club anticipates an historic year. After hosting nearly 120,000 fans across 11 regular season home matches in 2023, the Spirit looks to protect its home pitch each game in front of a packed Audi Field. 2023 FIFA “The Best Women’s Coach” nominee Jonatan Giráldez will take over as Head Coach this summer following a historic run with FC Barcelona. Giráldez will be charged with guiding a Spirit roster injected with world-class talent – including star defender Casey Krueger, forward Brittany Ratcliffe and the team’s six 2024 NWSL Draft selections – to the club’s second NWSL Championship. In the interim, new Assistant Coach Adrián González will serve as the team’s Head Coach until Giráldez arrives.
This season will consist of 26 regular season matches with the Spirit hosting and visiting each of the other 13 NWSL clubs once. The NWSL’s league-wide week off for players will take place from Monday, July 8 through Sunday, July 14 prior to the beginning of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Washington will kick off 2024 on the road against newly named Seattle Reign FC at Lumen Field on Sunday, March 17 before returning home to open its Audi Field schedule against Bay FC on Saturday, March 23. The Spirit will have a balanced home schedule this season, having a homestand no longer than two matches. The club will, however, have two separate three-match stretches on the road.
Home schedule highlights:
The Spirit will host expansion side Bay FC in its home opener at Audi Field on Saturday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
The club will host the other 2024 expansion side, Utah Royals FC, on Sunday, March 31 at 1 p.m. EDT.
CBS will broadcast Washington’s home match against the club’s east coast rival NJ/NY Gotham FC on Saturday, April 20 at 1 p.m. EDT.
North Carolina will come to DC for the first 2024 matchup of the rivalry on Saturday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
The Spirit will host another nationally-broadcast match on CBS when Portland Thorns FC comes to DC on Saturday, September 7 at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
The following weekend, Washington’s home match against the Houston Dash will air on ESPN2 on Sunday, September 15 at 1 p.m. EDT.
Washington’s final regular season home match will be on Sunday, October 20 when the…