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The biggest NWSL comebacks and collapses, 2015 to 2025

The deepest hole an NWSL winner has climbed out of is 9 points: OL Reign sat that far behind in the 2022 NWSL on May 22, 2022, and won it by 1 point. The biggest lead lost: Washington Spirit led the 2016 NWSL by 7 points as late as September 3, 2016, and finished behind Portland Thorns FC. Every charted race since 2015 is ranked below; how the numbers are read is spelled out under the lists.

Companion pages: Closest NWSL races and Days in first place.

Biggest comebacks

  1. OL Reign trailed the 2022 NWSL race by 9 points on May 22, 2022, and won it by 1 point.
  2. Seattle Reign FC trailed the 2015 NWSL race by 7 points on May 23, 2015, and won it by 10 points.
  3. Portland Thorns FC trailed the 2016 NWSL race by 7 points on September 3, 2016, and won it by 2 points.
  4. San Diego Wave FC trailed the 2023 NWSL race by 6 points on May 13, 2023, and won it by 2 points.
  5. Orlando Pride trailed the 2024 NWSL race by 6 points on March 30, 2024, and won it by 4 points.
  6. North Carolina Courage trailed the 2019 NWSL race by 5 points on June 22, 2019, and won it by 5 points.
  7. Portland Thorns FC trailed the 2021 NWSL race by 4 points on May 26, 2021, and won it by 2 points.
  8. North Carolina Courage trailed the 2017 NWSL race by 1 point on July 22, 2017, and won it by 2 points.
  9. Kansas City Current trailed the 2025 NWSL race by 1 point on May 10, 2025, and won it by 21 points.

Biggest collapses

  1. Washington Spirit led the 2016 NWSL race by 7 points as late as September 3, 2016, and finished behind Portland Thorns FC.
  2. Portland Thorns FC led the 2019 NWSL race by 5 points as late as September 6, 2019, and finished behind North Carolina Courage.
  3. Chicago Red Stars led the 2015 NWSL race by 4 points as late as May 29, 2015, and finished behind Seattle Reign FC.
  4. Kansas City Current led the 2024 NWSL race by 4 points as late as April 30, 2024, and finished behind Orlando Pride.
  5. Orlando Pride led the 2021 NWSL race by 3 points as late as June 25, 2021, and finished behind Portland Thorns FC.
  6. Angel City FC led the 2022 NWSL race by 3 points as late as April 29, 2022, and finished behind OL Reign.
  7. Washington Spirit led the 2023 NWSL race by 2 points as late as May 19, 2023, and finished behind San Diego Wave FC.
  8. Chicago Red Stars led the 2017 NWSL race by 1 point as late as August 4, 2017, and finished behind North Carolina Courage.
  9. Orlando Pride led the 2025 NWSL race by 1 point as late as May 10, 2025, and finished behind Kansas City Current.

Latest deciding day

  1. With no charted days left to play, Portland Thorns FC took first place in the 2016 NWSL race for good on September 25, 2016, having led on 60 of the race's 163 charted days. The season's charted days include 3 breaks in the schedule.
  2. With no charted days left to play, San Diego Wave FC took first place in the 2023 NWSL race for good on October 15, 2023, having led on 31 of the race's 205 charted days. The season's charted days include 4 breaks in the schedule.
  3. With one charted day left to play, OL Reign took first place in the 2022 NWSL race for good on October 1, 2022, having led on 3 of the race's 157 charted days. The season's charted days include 2 breaks in the schedule.
  4. With 31 charted days left to play, North Carolina Courage took first place in the 2019 NWSL race for good on September 11, 2019, having led on 60 of the race's 183 charted days. The season's charted days include 2 breaks in the schedule.
  5. With 42 charted days left to play, Seattle Reign FC took first place in the 2015 NWSL race for good on July 26, 2015, having led on 51 of the race's 150 charted days. The season's charted days include a pause in the schedule.
  6. With 57 charted days left to play, North Carolina Courage took first place in the 2017 NWSL race for good on August 5, 2017, having led on 148 of the race's 170 charted days. The season's charted days include 3 breaks in the schedule.
  7. With 105 charted days left to play, Portland Thorns FC took first place in the 2021 NWSL race for good on July 18, 2021, having led on 111 of the race's 170 charted days. The season's charted days include 3 breaks in the schedule.
  8. With 120 charted days left to play, Orlando Pride took first place in the 2024 NWSL race for good on July 6, 2024, having led on 148 of the race's 233 charted days. The season's charted days include 4 breaks in the schedule.
  9. With 161 charted days left to play, North Carolina Courage took first place in the 2018 NWSL race for good on March 31, 2018, having led on 162 of the race's 169 charted days. The season's charted days include 2 breaks in the schedule.
  10. With 175 charted days left to play, Kansas City Current took first place in the 2025 NWSL race for good on May 11, 2025, having led on 197 of the race's 234 charted days. The season's charted days include 4 breaks in the schedule.

How these lists are ranked

Everything on this page comes from the same season files the charts draw, with standings read as each day ended. All 10 charted NWSL races from 10 finished seasons enter: every Shield and playoff race from 2015 to 2025. The 2026 season joins these lists when it ends. A team's comeback or collapse is counted once per season, at its deepest, whichever of its charted races it came in.

Biggest comebacks: the deepest deficit the eventual winner faced at the end of a charted day, in points behind the club furthest ahead that day, dated to the first day it reached that depth. These are the same numbers the turning points on each race page state.

Biggest collapses: the largest lead in points over the nearest club held at the end of a charted day by a team that did not finish first, dated to the last day the team still held that full lead. A comeback and a collapse read the same race from opposite ends, so they can disagree about one season.

Latest deciding day ranks winners by how few charted days remained when they took first place for good, which is the day after the last one the winner ended behind or level with another club: a day it only shared the top is not a day it held first place for good, so a late tie pushes the date later. Here level means level on points: a winner ahead only on the league's tiebreakers has not yet taken first place for good, so this date can fall after the day it went top. Ties are broken by the deepest deficit the winner came back from, then oldest first. Races whose top two the standings cannot separate appear on none of these lists: the data cannot name a winner. Only finished seasons are ranked; every irregularity in the record is listed in the data notes.