Although the 2023 NWSL season came to an end last weekend, there are still plenty of interesting matches taking place in women's football, including the start of the 2023 NCAA Women's Soccer championship.
Here's all you need to know ahead of another exciting week in women's football.
What to watch in women's football: November 16th through November 19th
NCAA
The 2023 NCAA Women's Soccer competition is now underway, with the second round and round of 16 games coming up over the next few days. Reigning champions UCLA were shockingly eliminated in the first round after losing 1-0 to unseeded UC Irvine - meaning that this year will have a different team lifting the title.
As such, fans of college soccer will once again have plenty of games to follow. Fans in the USA can follow many of these games via live streaming through ESPN+ and the ESPN App, which also provides games from the ACC Network. Additional live-streaming options also include fuboTV, while the SEC Network will also be carrying some games on TV and live-streaming is also accessible through SEC Network +.
For a detailed schedule of games, including where and how you can watch them, check out our special NCAA Division I women's soccer page here.
D1 Féminine
The next round of matches in the 2023/24 D1 Féminine season kicks off on Friday, November 17th as reigning champions Lyon welcome Dijon. Once again, Lyon, who are by far the most successful women's team in not just French football but also in Europe, are on top of the table after a perfect start to the season that has seen them win all seven of their matches so far. Dijon, by contrast, are already involved in an early relegation fight after picking up just two points. It's safe to say that this match will likely be all one way traffic, with visiting side Dijon just keen on trying to keep the score-line as low as possible.
Frauen-Bundesliga
Friday also marks the start of another round of Frauen-Bundesliga games, with Hoffenheim, who sit in third place, taking on fifth-placed Essen. At the moment, Hoffenheim are three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich so could technically pull level with die Roten should they pick up a win ahead of Bayern's away game against Werder Bremen on Sunday, November 19th.
Top news in women's football
2023 NWSL Championship final posts surprising viewing results in the USA
On Saturday, the 2023 NWSL season came to an end as OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham battled it out for the Championship title. Both teams were seeking to win the coveted prize for the first time, and after an exciting 90 minutes, Gotham prevailed thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 victory.
Yet, despite the hype and excitement surrounding this past weekend's final, the viewership numbers in the USA did not exactly meet expectations per se.
Indeed, stats show that the 2023 NWSL Championship final's viewership numbers were over 10% lower than the 2022 edition, which starred Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current. An estimated 817,000 people tuned into watch the OL Reign vs NJ/NY Gotham match on November 11th on CBS, versus the nearly 1 million (915,000) who opted to watch the Thorns vs Current match in 2022.
Part of this drop in viewership could be due to the fact that the NWSL final took place in the midst of the college football season - albeit the Reign vs Gotham game did bring in more viewers than the Mississippi State and Texas A&M game, which was shown on ESPN2 and pulled in a bit over 400,000 viewers (409,000).
Interestingly, the same report indicates that live-streaming numbers on Paramount+ actually increased in the 2023 NWSL Championship final versus the 2022 edition. Saturday's match also marked the second consecutive time a NWSL Championship final not only was shown on primetime TV, but also reached at least 800,000 viewers.
All in all, it will likely be encouraging news for the NWSL, who recently secured a four year deal with CBS, ESPN, Scripps Sports, and Amazon worth an estimated $60 million per annum. Prior to this, the NWSL had a deal with CBS worth just $1.5 million per year - so this new deal is a clear sign that many broadcasters are eager to take advantage of the rapid growth of women's football.
What to watch in women's football: November 20th through November 22nd
Here is all you need to know.
FA Women's League Cup
The FA Women's League Cup resumes on Wednesday, November 22nd. One big match fill feature Manchester United, who cruised to a 7-0 win over Everton, taking on a Liverpool side who lost 4-3 to Manchester City in a seven goal thriller. Other notable matches include Manchester City vs Leicester City and Tottenham vs Bristol.
UEFA Women's Champions League
There will be more UEFA Women's Champions League action on the cards as the group stages continue on Wednesday. Key games include Lyon vs St. Pölten and Eintracht Frankfurt vs Barcelona, while Benfica vs Rosengård could be another great match to follow.
Didn't find your favorite women's league on this list? No worries, as this is just a highlight of some of the exciting games coming up this week. Make sure to check out our special Women's Football Page here at LiveSoccerTV.com for full broadcast info, match updates, news, and more.
