We’re just two weeks away from the start of the 2025 USL W League Playoffs presented by VensureHR, where 16 teams will compete for the league title in its fourth season. A few berths have already been clinched, while the remaining spots are up for grabs in the final week of the regular season. 

Here’s a breakdown of this year’s playoff structure: 

Playoffs Qualifications 

Four teams from the four conferences (Central, Eastern, Southern, Western) will make up the 16 teams in the playoffs. Each of the 15 divisional winners earn a spot, and one team from the Southern Conference gets a wild card spot. 

The second-place team from the South Central and Southeast Divisions with the most points per game accumulated in regular season games will earn the wild card bid. 

Playoffs Seeding & Hosting 

In the Conference Semifinals, the four teams from each conference are seeded 1-4 based on points per game with goal differential as the tiebreaker. The #1 seed plays the #4 seed, and the #2 seed plays the #3 seed. The W League will try to avoid scheduling divisional opponents in the first round. The winners will move on to the Conference Finals.   

Being the highest seed in your conference does not guarantee the hosting of matches. 

Playoffs hosts are determined via a bid process conducted by the League. Regional pods will be used in the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, where one participating team will host all three matches for its respective conference.   

Matchups, game times, locations and ticketing will be announced at a later date. Host sites for League Semifinals and Finals will be announced as the playoffs progress.   

Playoffs Schedule 

• Conference Semifinals & Finals: July 3-6

• W League Semifinals: July 11-13

• W League Final: July 18-20

All playoff matches will be streamed live on SportsEngine Play. Stay up to date by following the W League on Twitter and Instagram.  

VensureHR is the first-ever presenting partner of the USL W League Playoffs. Read more about the multi-year partnership between the United Soccer League (USL) and VensureHR here.