The Next Superclub in the Americas -- Recommended Matches 2/20/26

The NWSL is starting up in less than a month, so my next couple essays here, if I can, will be about women's soccer in the US, and its relationship to global women's football. First up, the second half of my analysis of the next potential superclubs. After discussing European clubs like Atletico Madrid, Juventus, and Hacken a couple weeks ago, it's time to look at the Americas, specifically the USA, Mexico, and Brazil.

THE UNITED STATES

The NWSL is in a completely different position, both philosophically and monetarily, to European clubs. In American sports, including the NWSL, the overall financial and competitive health of the league as a whole is prioritized heavily, meaning the league wants every team to have the chance to be good, accomplished mostly by a cap on player salaries and expectations that every team will try. (In Europe the club comes first, which is why it seems like heavy investors like Barcelona and Lyon are playing at such a different level from Eibar or Le Havre.) 

As such, the NWSL might not have the absolute top-tier teams in the world anymore like the absolute best European clubs, but relatively speaking, almost every team in the league is really good. Check the Opta women's rankings again – three NWSL teams are in the top 13, but six more are in the next 10. The NWSL has also rapidly been expanding, which temporarily dilutes the talent pool, with seven new teams this decade and an eighth to come soon.

The other fascinating aspect of American sports in the NWSL is the American college system, which produces professional-level players at ages 21-23 when they graduate, most of whom are happy to play in the US. This tends to mean that your average replacement-level player in the NWSL is generally at a high standard, so even the teams that don't necessarily have a bunch of superstars are still extremely solid – and even successful even beyond the superclubs.

Which leads us to the Orlando Pride, the 14th team on the Opta list, the 2024 NWSL champion and 2025 semifinalist, and the one most on the border of the "superclub" list I made. Orlando had and still has a team built around a small number of superstars – five, really: Marta, the Brazilian legend; Angelina, her national teammate; Barbra Banda, the Zambian striker in the conversation for best in the world; and English number two goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse. They also had rock-solid defender Emily Sams until this past offseason, and also world-record signing Mexican winger Jackie Ovalle starting late last season. But these superstars have been surrounded by very good NWSL players (although some of those like Ally Watt and Carson Pickett have left the club recently, which is concerning). 

In the NWSL a few world-class stars surrounded by solid NWSL players is enough to have an extremely good team like Orlando, one of the best in NWSL history in 2024 and a contender in 2025. In the other major leagues in Europe, it might not challenge for the title but probably would get top 3 without fail in France, Spain, or Germany.

So is Orlando a superclub? Not by the particulars of my definition of half the team every match being a world-class player, but I didn't want those definitions to be too rigid. I'd lean yes, and make it definite if they're a contender again this year.

This league structure also means that several different NWSL teams are potential contenders at any given time. The one that jumps out San Diego, although it lost major players in the offseason (Delphine Cascarino), they're also adding world-class stars (Ludmila and possibly Catarina Macario). I'm also fascinated by what's happening with the two expansion teams, Boston and Denver, starting entirely from scratch and picking up stars like Amanda Gutierres and Lindsey Heaps, respectively. The NWSL is a famously unpredictable league thanks to that parity, so it wouldn't be shocking if in a year from now this list looks notably different.

THE REST OF THE AMERICAS

There are three other clubs that might rise to the level of "superclub" in the Opta list from outside the US and Europe. From Mexico, Tigres and Club America are in the top 30, as is Corinthians of Brazil after their FIFA Champions Cup appearance  All three are worth discussing as their issues are similar: they're definitely the best in their countries, really good when they play in continental competitions, but they don't get the chance to play worthy external competition often enough.

Club America get the chance to play in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup (as does Tigres theoretically, they missed this year's incarnation, but will be back next) against NWSL competition, and America made the final last year and is in the semis this year, which shows some level of strength. On the other hand, the Mexican league is centered around Mexican players, and Mexico as a nation has not historically done well internationally, only making the World Cup three times and never making it out of the group stage. 

I think this will likely change in a hurry next year – I've been very impressed with Liga MX Feminil! – but my predictions are not (yet) reality. In 2023 Colombia's run in the WWC led to players like Linda Caicedo, Mayra Ramirez, and Leicey Santos being recognized as global stars, a good 2027 for Mexico could see similar for Jackie Ovalle or Diana Ordonez.

For example, winger Scarlett Camberos looks absolutely world-class when she plays for America, but she spent two years in the NWSL and only scored two goals. Is that that the Mexican league is notably worse, or that a young player spending time with two different expansion clubs in two years was dealt a bad hand? 

It's arguably more difficult to judge Corinthians, while Brazil is an international women's football powerhouse, the rest of South America is much less so, and Brazilian clubs have unsurprisingly dominated the Copa Liberatores. Still, their results at the FIFA Champions Cup give them bragging rights, at the least, and well-deserved at that.

A combined North/South American tournament of the best women's clubs seems like a way to resolve issues on both sides (and give the NWSL teams more robust continental competition), but I would imagine both the logistics and politics for that would be nightmarish. For that reason I think it's likely that the next obvious superclub comes from European Champions League club, although we might look back on these Latin American clubs and realize they counted in a few years.

WEEKEND RECOMMENDATIONS

We've got a month-long break for the Champions League and almost as long before most WSL matches start up again – in fact, the NWSL will be back before we see matches from either again. This makes European football very quiet this week, except for some of the biggest matches of the season in Germany and Italy. 

There's also no midweek matches of note, although if you really want to go true sicko mode, Vix has the South American U-20 championship.

PLEASE NOTE! ALL TIMES NOW GIVEN IN PACIFIC TIME! I MESSED UP LAST WEEK AND IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN BECAUSE I AM NOW LIVING MY AUTHENTIC SELF AS A WEST COASTERNER. 

Also worth the reminder, given that these matches are very early and overlap, DAZN will have replays of them up very quickly after their conclusion to watch at your leisure.

1. Bayern Munich v VfL Wolfsburg (Sun 7:15am PST, DAZN) - Here we go, the match of the season in Germany. Bayern currently have an 11-point lead although Wolfsburg have a game in hand, which means that a Wolfsburg win plausibly means a mere five-point difference between the superclubs heading into the final stretch of the season.

Given Bayern's domestic dominance this year, with only one draw in the league, pretty much only a win for Wolfsburg will do for keeping the title race open and potentially returning to glory. Look for Wolfsburg to try to spring striker Linneth Beerensteyn on the counter while holding Bayern's attacking duo of Klara Buhl and Pernille Harder in check.

2. Inter Milan v Roma (Sun 6:30am PST, DAZN) - Roma's seemingly insurmountable lead at the top of Serie A has been almost surmounted after two draws and Inter's hot streak – Roma now only leads by three points, and an Inter win here puts the two sides level.

Inter is led by German midfielder Lina Magull while Roma is the team to watch for young stars Alayah Pilgrim and Giulia Dragoni. 

3.  Hoffenheim v Leverkusen (Sun 5am PST, DAZN) - In addition to the top-two clash above, we've also got third place versus fifth place in the duel for Champions League places. Leverkusen, a major men's side who won that title not long ago haven't ever quite broken through on the women's side. They're well-placed this season, especially with the dynamic and adorably tiny striker Vanessa Fudalla, currently leading the league in goals. 

Hoffenheim is an interesting club, part of the relative nouveau riche for both the men's and women's side, after billionaire Didier Hopp bought the club in 2000 and helped both sides of the football club get good, but not quite champion level yet. The women's side's most notable player is forward Selina Cerci, who's received 17 caps for the German national team and is right behind Fudalla for the golden boot.

4. Eintracht Frankfurt v Freiburg (Mon 9am PST, DAZN)- German league hat-trick! Here's fourth-placed Freiberg against seventh-place Freiberg, both firmly in the Champions League race. Frankfurt is the club that feels most like it "should" get third place, as it did so last season, has the most historical success with seven German championships, and has recognizable stars like Sara Doorsoun, Laura Freigang, and Geraldine Reuteler, the Swiss attacker who the world fell in love it at her country's Euros last summer.

Freiburg is the reverse, they have been a midtable side for the last several years and don't have easily recognizable stars. But they're merely four points out of the Champions League!

THE SICKO ZONE

5. Lyon v Marseille (Sat 12pm PST, DAZN) - One of the biggest rivalries in French men's football, new in women's this year. Lyon should win, but things might get spicy.

6. Barcelona v Grenada (Sat 9:15am PST, DAZN) - Barca hasn't made the recommendations list yet, because they haven't played even a top-half of the table team since I started this. Grenada is currently 7th. 

7. Tigres v Pumas (This Fri 4pm PST, Vix/Youtube) - Doesn't fit on the calendar image above, but still in the future when this gets published!

8. Atletico Madrid v Sevilla (Sun 9am PST, DAZN) - Fifth against sixth in La Liga F. Both need to get on a hot streak to have a chance at Champions League qualification.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

The Champions League's wildcard round ended with wins for Arsenal, Manchester United, Wolfsburg, and Real Madrid, who are now set to meet Chelsea, Bayern, Lyon, and Barca, respectively. Eagle-eyed readers may recognize that these were the eight remaining superclubs in the competition, so this isn't surprising, with only Wolfsburg really struggling to dispatch Juventus (who, of course, were my pick for the next European superclub). Bad news for fans of upsets, but tremendous news for those of us who love titanic matches with lots of narrative weight behind them. 

The other big winner was the weather. A disgustingly wet winter in Europe continued with both Arsenal-Brighton and Bayern-Bremen being rained out. The former in particular may throw the WSL into some chaos, as Arsenal now have two games in hand and are arguably the most important team in the league, so everyone's going to be waiting for those results desperately.

Results-wise, most of the big teams held serve, with the exceptions being surprise draws for Roma and Wolfsburg, the former of which made the race for Serie A closer, the latter of which made Bayern much more likely to win their fourth title.

In Mexico, Club America should have scored several goals in the second half to put the game out of reach, didn't, and then naturally had to watch as Monterrey got a late equalizer. This puts the Mexican league almost in a really satisfying place where the top eight are one point behind each other, only Juarez in eighth messes up the symmetry. Dang. 

IN OTHER NEWS

The Brazilian and Colombian women's leagues have started up again, and you can read about them more here, and find out how to watch. I do not expect to include them in this newsletter often, but I may dip into Brazilian women's football for Palmeiras-Corinthians and the playoffs. 

Meanwhile, there's drama behind the scenes in Germany, as an agreement between the clubs and the federation to attempt to improve German women's football, which both sides agree has fallen too far since its 2000s heyday, has collapsed with only the clubs moving forward. This analysis suggests that this might lead to the clubs breaking away from the federation, although who knows what that might look like. 

GOALS OF THE WEEK

Incredible week for Manchester United's Jess Park, where two different teams gave her space to run at the defense and launch shots from the top of the box, and well, turns out that's a thing you should avoid if you can. First, London City Lionesses: 

Then she does it again against Atletico Madrid!

In fact we've got several edge-of-the-box bangers this week, with young Wolfsburg star Cora Zicai, mentioned in this newsletter as a player to keep an eye on, seals the victory for Wolfsburg against a game Juventus side in the Champions League.

In domestic German action, Leverkusen's Sofie Zdebel somehow wraps her leg around this ridiculous volley:

And finally, from somewhat further out, Ecuador's Rosa Flores beats – not simply chips, but beats the goalkeeper from about 45 yards in the CONMEBOL U-20 Championship to give them the upset win over Colombia.