The NWSL announces seeding for 2020 Challenge Cup

The NWSL held their seeding draft for the 2020 Challenge Cup on Monday. Here’s what the first three days of matches look like.

The 2020 Challenge Cup is less than a month away, and on Monday, NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird drew seeding for each of the league’s nine teams. Here’s the final seeding for the opening stage of the tournament:

1. Chicago Red Stars
2. Washington Spirit
3. Houston Dash
4. Utah Royals FC
5. North Carolina Courage
6. Sky Blue FC
7. Portland Thorns FC
8. OL Reign
9. Orlando Pride

This seeding will produce some exciting matchups in the first few days of the tournament. On June 27th, the first day of the tournament, the Portland Thorns will face off against the North Carolina Courage. These clubs have been two of the strongest sides in the league. A meeting between the two of them promises to be epic.

The opening day matchup between the Chicago Red Stars and the Orlando Pride will be aired live on CBS. While the Orlando Pride are coming into this tournament with a tough mountain to climb, the Chicago Red Stars are considered to be strong contenders for the title.

The broadcast on CBS also showed the odds of each team winning the tournament. The North Carolina Courage were the most likely to win at +160, with the Orlando Pride at the bottom of the table with odds of +4000.

The 2020 Challenge Cup will be played in lieu of the 2020 NWSL season. It will be a month-long tournament featuring 25 games and will be played in the Salt Lake City area. The event kicks off on June 27th and the championship match is slated for July 26th.