The USA will host the eighth annual SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa, from Feb. 16-22 as Brazil, Canada and Japan join the USA for the four-team tournament. Played as a series of three doubleheaders in three cities over a seven-day span, the tournament will open at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Fla, move to GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tenn., and conclude in Frisco, Texas, with Toyota Stadium playing host to the third and final match day.
Here are Five Things to Know about this year’s SheBelieves Cup.
SHEBELIEVES CUP FORMAT AND SCHEDULE
The tournament format for the 2023 SheBelieves Cup will be the same as the previous seven years. The winner will be determined by total points (three for a win, one for a draw), with the first tiebreaker being overall goal difference, followed by goals scored, then head-to-head result. If teams are still tied, the next tiebreaker will be the Fair Play ranking based on yellow and red cards.
The tournament will be broadcast in its entirety by U.S. Soccer’s new broadcast partners – Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and Telemundo – with all six matches of the tournament available in English on HBO Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock. The USA’s Feb. 19 match against Japan (3:30 p.m. ET) and Feb. 22 tournament finale against Brazil (7 p.m. ET) will also be broadcast on TNT.
FAMILIAR FACES RETURN TO TOURNAMENT FIELD
The field for the 2023 SheBelieves Cup features four of the top 11 teams in the latest FIFA World Rankings in the USA (No. 1), Canada (No. 6), Brazil (No. 9) and Japan (No. 11), all four of which have also qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The USA has won a record four FIFA Women’s World Cup titles while Japan lifted the trophy in 2011 and Canada are reigning Olympic gold medalists.
Canada will be making its second ever appearance in the SheBelieves Cup and finished third in its only other appearance in 2021. In that tournament, the USA and Canada squared off on the first match day at Exploria Stadium on February 18. The USA prevailed 1-0 behind a 79th minute goal from Rose Lavelle. This year’s meeting in Orlando will be the 64th all-time between the longtime regional rivals and the first since July 18, 2022 when the USA defeated Canada 1-0 in the Concacaf W Championship final to secure its spot in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The Feb. 19 matchup in Nashville will be the 39th meeting all-time between the USA and Japan and the first since the finale of the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press and Lindsey Horan scored in that 3-1 victory for the USA in Frisco, marked the second meeting between the teams in the SheBelieves Cup. Japan and the U.S. played to a 2-2 draw in the opening match of the edition of the tournament. The USA went on to finish runner-up while Japan finished third in the overall standings.
The tournament finale in Frisco will mark the 39th time the USA has faced Brazil and the third such meeting between the teams during SheBelieves Cup play. The USA topped Brazil 1-0 on the final match day of the 2019 SheBelieves Cup behind a 20th-minute tally from Tobin Heath and won 2-0 when the teams met during the 2021 SheBelieves Cup with goals from Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe. That 2021 matchup was the most recent meeting between the USA and Brazil.
SHEBELIEVES CUP HISTORY
The United States has won the SheBelieves Cup five times and is looking to win its fourth consecutive tournament title. In 2021, the USWNT became the first team to lift the trophy in back-to-back years and followed that performance with a third consecutive victory in 2022. England and France have won the tournament once each.
Here’s how teams have finished since the inaugural tournament in 2016:
|
Year |
Winner |
Runner-up |
Third Place |
Fourth Place |
|
2016 |
USA |
Germany |
England |
France |
|
2017 |
France |
Germany |
England |
USA |
|
2018 |
USA |
England |
France |
Germany |
|
2019 |
England |
USA |
Japan |
Brazil |
|
2020 |
USA |
Spain |
England |
Japan |
|
2021 |
USA |
Brazil |
Canada |
Argentina |
|
2022 |
USA |
Iceland |
Czech Republic |
New Zealand |
Of the first 12 SheBelieves Cup matches over 2016 and 2017, 11 were decided by one or less goal, with just nine goals scored over the six games in both 2016 and 2017.
In 2018, the teams combined for 16 goals and two matches saw three-goal margins of victory with England beating France 4-1, and France beating Germany 3-0.
In 2019, the teams combined for 19 goals over the six matches with two ties, two one-goal wins, a two-goal win for Japan over Brazil (3-1) and a three-goal win for England over Japan (3-0).
After the 19-goal bonanza in 2019, the 2020 SheBelieves Cup produced 13 total scores.
The 2021 edition saw 17 goals scored, nine courtesy of the USA – including a 6-0 victory over Argentina, the largest win in SheBelieves Cup history.
A total of 14 goals were scored in the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, 10 of them by the USWNT.
The USA’s Megan Rapinoe is the all-time leading scorer in SheBelieves Cup history with seven goals and in 2021 became the first player to score three goals in a single tournament, though Mallory Swanson matched that mark in 2022. Becky Sauerbrunn has played the most minutes by any player in SheBelieves Cup history with 1,222 while Lindsey Horan is the tournament’s all-time leader with five assists and Alyssa Naeher has pitched a tournament-best eight clean sheets.
VISA SHEBELIEVES CUP MVP
For the fourth year in a row, Visa, the presenting sponsor of the SheBelieves Cup, will award the MVP trophy to the most outstanding player of the tournament. The award will be announced following the conclusion of the final match. Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the inaugural award in 2020 as voted on by a selection committee of former Women’s National Team players from each participating country while Rose Lavelle claimed MVP honors in 2021 and fellow American Catarina Macario was the 2022 recipient.
A new selection committee comprised of representatives from all competing nations will be announced for the 2023 SheBelieves Cup and fans will once again have the opportunity to vote for the Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP award recipient, using an online ballot to select among a list of finalists chosen by the committee. The fan-vote will be incorporated into the overall determination of the 2023 Visa SheBelieves Cup MVP.
SHEBELIEVES MOVEMENT CONTINUES TO GROW
Inspired by the U.S. WNT players, SheBelieves is an initiative led by U.S. Soccer to inspire and encourage women and girls. The campaign launched in the run-up to the 2015 Women’s World Cup and has since grown into a powerful message of empowerment and believing in oneself. The SheBelieves Cup represents a showcase event for the campaign, which also features efforts such as the SheBelieves Summit Presented by Deloitte.
The 2023 SheBelieves Summit will take place on March 11-12 at Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas. Returning to its original in-person-only format, the sixth annual SheBelieves Summit will feature speakers from sports, business and beyond, aiming to help provide attendees with the tools needed to help secure jobs in their chosen careers and continue on the journey to reach their goals. Registration for the event is now open.