Gotham FC will be the first NWSL team to visit the White House for championship celebration

Gotham FC, the reigning NWSL champion, will be the first NWSL team to visit the White House for a championship celebration. President Joe Biden will welcome the team on Monday, reuniting most of last season’s squad — including Ali Krieger, who retired at the end of the year.

“This is such a monumental moment for the NWSL,” Krieger told The Athletic. “I’m so excited the NWSL is getting recognition at the White House and that we’re the very first NWSL championship team to celebrate. This is going to be such a great moment for the team and for us as a whole.”

While the White House has previously honored the U.S. women’s national team for winning the World Cup, only one women’s professional soccer team has been honored by the White House with a celebration: Sky Blue FC in 2010 for their 2009 championship win during former President Barack Obama’s first term. While it was in a different professional league — Women’s Professional Soccer, which ran from 2009 to 2011 — the same franchise will earn the same honor 14 years later.

Krieger and Gotham investor Carolyn Tisch Blodgett referenced the team’s worst-to-first storyline and the way Gotham barely made it into the 2023 playoffs, needing the final day of the regular season.

“We’re really thinking of this as a moment to recognize the work that went into winning that championship,” Tisch Blodgett said. She also said the team does not view their visit as a political statement. “We were invited by the White House. We were invited by President Biden to celebrate this team.”

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The Athletic’s American soccer team of 2023: NJ/NY Gotham FC

But Krieger and Tisch Blodgett also view the White House invite as something much larger — not just an image of an NWSL team next to the President, but a moment that could help put the NWSL into the same conversation as other major sports leagues such as the NFL, MLB and WNBA. Last week, Biden hosted the undefeated South Carolina women’s basketball program, led by head coach Dawn Staley, for their NCAA March Madness win.

“It is a broader statement, though. This should be the standard,” Tisch Blodgett said. “First of all, I hope it’s us winning the championship again. If it’s not, I hope whoever is winning the championship, this is part of what they do because we’ve now set the standard. This is the treatment our players deserve when they win a championship as the best athletes in the world.”

Krieger said Monday will be historic for the NWSL, but she also wants to balance her excitement with taking full advantage of this platform.

“I want to acknowledge the lack of historical coverage of women’s sports while we’re there and just mention, ‘Thank you for your support, and continue to highlight women’s sports,’” she said, noting that there was still plenty of work to be done.

“This is just going to be a really great platform to elevate the team and the players, and women’s sports in general,” Krieger said. “The coverage of this day is also going to mean a lot. I think there’s a balance of saying, ‘Thank you, we appreciate it,’ and ‘The work isn’t done.’ We need your help to continue and we need your support.”

Krieger retired after the 2023 season (Ben Nichols / Getty Images)

In February, the Biden-Harris administration announced that the NWSL and the NWSL Players Association would partner with the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition to leverage community events to promote healthy eating and physical activity. But Gotham front office’s efforts to coordinate a championship celebration predated that agreement, having been in contact with the relevant people from the White House since winning the final in November 2023.

Gotham FC is also staring down a hectic period in the calendar as they juggle fighting for playoff positioning (they just moved into third place this week) and qualifying for the new FIFA Club World Cup.

“This was not like we woke up in September and were like, ‘We have nothing to do in September, let’s go to the White House!’” Tisch Blodgett joked. “Obviously, the President’s schedule is very busy and fluid. Our schedule is very busy.”

The team played in Seattle against the Reign on Monday and flew back after the win that same night. On Thursday, they’ll host C.F. Monterrey Femenil as part of CONCACAF W Champions Cup, then have to quickly turn back to regular season action, hosting the Utah Royals on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, before the 2023 members of the team head to Washington, D.C., for Monday’s event.

“It would have been easier to say no and to say we’re focused on 2024, we’re focused on winning the championship again and move on,” Tisch Blodgett said. “But we all collectively felt like this was really important.”

Krieger can’t wait to reunite with her teammates and relive the 2023 win — one she said she’s still enjoying all these months later. While Krieger has been a part of a White House celebration before with the USWNT following their 2015 World Cup victory, she couldn’t help but laugh when asked if she was dispensing advice on what to expect.

“Listen, I only went once and we were all geeking out,” she said. “I don’t even know if I was in my body.”

(Top photo: Robyn Beck / Getty Images)