LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The defending Women’s Cup champion, Racing Louisville FC, is looking to make a repeat at this year’s tournament, but first they’ll have to get past Italian club AC Milan Wednesday night.
What You Need To Know
- The second annual Women’s Cup is being hosted in Louisville, and it became the first carbon neutral soccer tournament in the world
- Racing Louisville FC is facing AC Milan Wednesday night in the semifinals
- Wednesday’s semifinal round begins at 5 p.m. as Mexico’s Club America will take on OL Reign
- The final is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium
The Women’s Cup launched in 2021 as an international tournament between international clubs and top NWSL talent. Last year’s roster saw Racing Louisville and the Chicago Red Stars face off against international clubs PSG and FC Bayern Munchen.
This year’s tournament is historic in its own way.
“Tomorrow will be the first time in women’s club soccer history that an American team will play against an Italian team, it will also be the first time an American team will play against a Mexican team so that’s history in the making here at the Women’s Cup,” said John Paul Reynal, president of The Women’s Cup.
It’s history in the making both on and off the field as The Women’s Cup becomes the world’s first carbon neutral soccer tournament.
Sport Impact Group Louisville was founded in 2020 in response to the city launching a pro women’s soccer team. Carbon neutrality was a huge goal to reach this year.
“We’re measuring everything from stadium energy use to fan travel to define and determine the tournament’s total carbon footprint,” said Mae Marks, co-founder of Sport Impact Group Louisville. “Then we access a network of real reliable long-term carbon offset credits to ensure full carbon neutrality.”
This year’s tournament increased from 4 teams in 2021 to 6 teams in 2022, featuring 4 international clubs. The language barrier hasn’t seemed to be an issue either, with the international squads already picking up on the Louisville lingo.
“In this year’s tournament, we want to float like butterflies and sting like bees,” AC Milan’s manager said in a press conference Tuesday.
For Racing Louisville FC, they’ve got the targets on their back. Coming in as the defending Women’s Cup champs, the mindset is simple.
“We know we’re holders of this so it’s almost like a positive distraction for us, but we know there’s the cup there to win and being holders of it we were super proud to hold it especially holding the tournament,” Racing Louisville FC defender Gemma Bonner said. “So we’ll definitely be going out tomorrow with the mindset that we want to retain this trophy.”
Racing Louisville will face AC Milan on Wednesday for the semifinals of the tournament.
“We know that normally Italian teams are tactical, really good and that’s what we expect tomorrow as well, so it’s a team that can play high and low but are also good in transitions so it’s going to be difficult but we believe in ourselves,” Kim Bjorkegren, Racing Louisville FC head coach said.
The Semifinal round begins at 5 p.m. as Mexico’s Club America will take on Seattle’s OL Reign, and Racing Louisville takes on Italian club AC Milan at 8 p.m.
The fifth place game will take place at 2 p.m. Wednesday before the semifinals as Japan’s Tokyo Verdy takes on England’s Tottenham Hotspur. The grand final is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium.