SheBelieves Cup 2025: USWNT roster, key matchups and how to watch
HOUSTON — The annual SheBelieves Cup is back for its 10th year, kicking off the U.S. women’s national team’s matches in 2025. It will also be the USWNT’s first tournament since winning gold at the Paris Olympics last summer.
This year’s SheBelieves Cup features three strong opponents who featured at the 2024 Olympics — Japan and tournament debutants Australia and Colombia. The schedule kicks off Thursday, Feb. 20, at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, with Japan vs Australia at 5 p.m. ET and the U.S. vs Colombia at 8 p.m. ET before moving to Glendale, Ariz. and San Diego.
The four-team invitational tournament offers head coach Emma Hayes another chance to explore the USWNT’s player pool. She has called 10 players to their first SheBelieves Cup, including four uncapped players, among the 23-player roster. Hayes has enjoyed the flexibility of experimenting with recent rosters during a development period for the squad as she looks ahead to the World Cup in 2027.
“I see this as a great opportunity to develop less experienced players in a tournament-type setting in these games,” Hayes told reporters last week. “From now until the end of June, I suspect there will be a fair bit of experimenting with the available players I can select.”
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s SheBelieves Cup.
What is the tournament’s format?
The SheBelieves Cup was inspired by a movement “to encourage young women and girls to reach their dreams, athletic or otherwise,” and the competition also extends to the SheBelieves Summit. The movement became a rallying cry for the team and its fans in the run-up to the 2015 World Cup, with the team’s success winning back-to-back World Cups fueling that tradition.
Starting in 2016, the U.S. will have hosted 15 nations over the past decade after this year’s edition. The hosts won their fifth consecutive SheBelieves title last year, their seventh in total. England (2019) and France (2017) split the other two titles.
This year’s edition consists of three double-header matchdays between the U.S. (No. 1 in FIFA rankings), Japan (No. 8), Australia (No. 15) and Colombia (No. 21), across three locations. The tournament will begin in Houston, continuing on to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. on Feb. 23 and concluding at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Feb. 26.
Each team plays the others once and the winner is decided by total points accumulated across all games, based on the traditional scoring system of three points for a win, one point for a tie, and a series of tiebreakers that begin with goal differential.
USWNT SheBelieves Cup roster
Goalkeepers (2): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals).
Defenders (8): Tierna Davidson (Gotham FC), Crystal Dunn (Paris Saint-Germain), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Tara McKeown (Washington Spirit), Jenna Nighswonger (Arsenal), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (Gotham), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC).
Midfielders (6): Korbin Albert (PSG), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Heaps (Lyon)*, Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Jaedyn Shaw (NC Courage), Lily Yohannes (Ajax).
Forwards (7): Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign FC)*, Michelle Cooper (KC Current), Catarina Macario (Chelsea), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City).
Keys to the tournament
All four teams competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics. The visiting teams also feature multiple players who compete in the NWSL, offering fans a chance to catch them a few weeks shy of the new season, which begins March 14.
Colombia is the lowest-ranked team in the tournament but is no easy opponent. The team had an impressive run in Paris, where they bowed out of the tournament in the quarterfinals after a penalty shootout with World Cup champions Spain. Stars such as Chelsea striker Mayra Ramirez and Real Madrid’s Linda Caicedo are expected to feature, as well as Washington Spirit’s Leicy Santos and 19-year-old Ana Maria Guzman, who is newly on loan to the Utah Royals from Bayern Munich for the 2025 season.
Australia remains without their captain, Sam Kerr, who is still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained last year. Chelsea recently posted photos of the striker returning to training. The Matildas named Tom Sermanni as interim head coach in September after opting not to renew Tony Gustavsson’s contract following the team’s early group-stage exit at the Olympics. It’s his third time in charge of the team as the Matildas navigate their first camp of the year and prepare for the Asian Cup. The team features Ellie Carpenter, who is teammates with Lindsey Heaps (formerly Horan) in Lyon, as well as Arsenal’s Kyra Cooney-Cross and Caitlin Foord, and Manchester City’s Mary Fowler.
Japan’s national team features Fowler’s club teammate, Yui Hasegawa, who is considered one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. Others in the midfield include Chelsea’s Maika Hamano, and Narumi Miura, who signed with the Washington Spirit in December as a free agent. Japan’s system is tough to crack, with cohesive passing and movement that effectively shuts down opponents. The USWNT vs Japan will be the tournament’s final game, a rematch of the Olympic quarterfinals when Trinity Rodman scored in extra time to send the Americans one game closer to their eventual gold medal. However, Rodman won’t be part of the lineup this time around.
Hayes has continued to call up players with limited experience on the international stage, testing all options as the team looks toward the next World Cup in Brazil. A string of injuries to veteran starters also shapes this SheBelieves roster. The ‘Triple Espresso’ forward line (Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson, formerly Smith) is again absent. Other players working back from injuries include midfielder Rose Lavelle, who is recovering from ankle surgery, and center back Naomi Girma, who recently moved to Chelsea for a world-record $1.1 million transfer fee. There is, however, an exciting return to the international stage for Chelsea’s Catarina Macario, who missed the Olympics due to a knee injury.
How to watch
Fans can watch the doubleheader games on Feb. 20, Feb. 23 and Feb. 26.
All USWNT games will air on TBS in English and Universo in Spanish, with every tournament fixture streaming on Max in English and Peacock in Spanish. Two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist and former U.S. captain Becky Sauerbrunn joins the TBS studio desk in her broadcast debut alongside Shannon Boxx, Julie Foudy and host Sara Walsh.
Thursday, Feb. 20
Japan vs. Australia – 4 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. ET
USA vs. Colombia – 7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 23
Colombia vs. Japan – noon MT / 2 p.m. ET
USA vs. Australia – 3 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 26
Australia vs. Colombia – 4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET
USA vs. Japan – 7:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
US Women's national team, Australia, Soccer, NWSL
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