The ultimate 2025 Gotham FC season preview | OneFootball

It was a "nearly" year for NJ/NY Gotham FC in 2024. From losing in the season opening Challenge Cup 1-0 to San Diego Wave FC, losing 2-0 to the Kansas City Current in the Summer Cup Final, finishing just four points off of Shield Winners Orlando Pride, to then lastly falling on penalty kicks to the Washington Spirit in the NWSL Playoff Semifinals, they were a matter of inches away from winning as many as four trophies, but ultimately came away with zero.

This Gotham team now enters 2025 as a hunter rather than the hunted, like in 2024. But after an offseason of a huge roster turnover, murmurs of discontent, and the departure of some key players, question marks remain about just how good this team is. Let's take a deeper look and take a guess as to where this team might finish in 2025.

An offseason of change for Gotham FC

Gotham FC departures

As mentioned earlier, roster turnover was the story of the offseason. 10 incoming players replaced the 14 departing players, with three retiring, from the 2024 team. Let's take a look at the outgoing players first.

Veteran leaders McCall Zerboni and Michelle Betos both did not have their contracts renewed in the offseason. Betos retired and joined the team's coaching staff while Zerboni remains unsigned, potentially signaling the end of her 16-year professional career. Both players played very few minutes in 2024 but provided key off-the-field benefits ranging from leadership to experience the younger players could rely upon.

With Betos remaining around the team and other players like Nealy Martin and Jess Carter stepping up into bigger leadership roles, the effect of the loss of these two players should be pretty easy to overcome.

Some other role players who departed this offseason include Abby Smith, who was traded to the Houston Dash, Maitane López, who signed with Chicago Stars FC, Sam Hiatt, who signed with Portland Thorns FC, and Cassie Miller, who was part of a trade to Seattle Reign FC. Maitane, Hiatt, and Miller provided some much-needed depth at times in Gotham's busiest season in club history.

However, these players elected to leave for situations to play more minutes and have a higher chance to earn a starting role. Smith essentially missed all of last season with the injury she suffered in June of 2023. Her only appearance was a one-minute cameo in the Summer Cup Final loss. While these players played bigger roles on the field than the two mentioned earlier, Gotham has seemingly done a good job with their offseason acquisitions to offset these losses.

Then, there were the big-name departures. Lynn Biyendolo, formerly Williams, was traded to Seattle, Delanie Sheehan signed in Houston with Yazmeen Ryan shortly following her to Texas via trade, Crystal Dunn had her contract terminated and eventually signed with Paris Saint-Germain Football Club in France, and Jenna Nighswonger was transferred to Arsenal Women for a reported $100k fee.

Starting with Dunn, it was a disappointing season for the Long Island native. The first piece that kick-started last year's signing spree never really got going, scoring only one goal and two assists in 20 league matches before she took her leave of absence towards the end of September. Truthfully, that ultimately signaled the end of her time with Gotham FC.

With Biyendolo, it seemed like only a matter of time before she made a move to the West Coast. Ever since her trade to Kansas City before 2022, she had supposedly been trying to make the move out west to be closer to family. Obviously, New Jersey is further east than Kansas City, but ever the professional, Lynn made things work here for as long as she could. And she ended up getting a championship win out of her two years here. Her numbers took a dip in 2024, partly due to injury, and partly due to the emergence of new signing Ella Stevens.

Then there is Nighswonger, who was perhaps the departure that caught most people off guard. Not just because a perk for season ticket holders was dinner with her and Martin, but also because she was seemingly a player this team was building around for the future. But a late season change saw her lose her starting left-back spot of nearly two years to Mandy Freeman, which may have made her more expendable to Gotham's front office.

The biggest losses of the offseason were Sheehan and Ryan. Both players came into their own at Gotham FC and left for pastures new in Houston. Sheehan was, and still is, one of the most underrated players in NWSL. Ryan was arguably the breakout star of NWSL in 2024. Scoring nine goals and 10 assists in 35 matches in all competitions helped her earn her first three caps with the USWNT. Of all of the offseason departures, these two will most certainly be the hardest to replace.

Arrivals to Gotham FC

Gotham FC's biggest arrival of the offseason is Brazilian international Gabi Portilho, who joined on a free transfer from Brazilian club Sport Club Corinthians Paulista. Portilho finished 18th in Ballon d'Or Féminin voting after being a part of Brazil's Olympic Silver Medal team last summer. She finished behind just five other NWSL players.

Portilho is the signing who could have the biggest impact as she will most likely fill the right-wing position vacated by Ryan. If she lives up to expectations, then Gotham will have an easier time keeping up with the point-scoring pace from last season.

Two NWSL veterans who arrived in the offseason were midfielder Jaelin Howell, who was part of the trade with Seattle that saw Biyendolo and Miller go the other way, and goalkeeper Shelby Hogan, who arrived via a trade with Portland.

Howell is a two-time Hermann Trophy winner from her time at Florida State University and is joining a Gotham team that is by far the best she's played on in her NWSL career. After two trades in less than six months that saw her go from Racing Louisville FC to Seattle and now Gotham, having a more settled environment could see Howell finally reach the potential she showed at Florida State.

Hogan arrives as the backup goalkeeper to Ann-Katrin Berger. She brings plenty of experience and can be ready to jump in when need be. She might also serve as a mentor to college free agent signing Ryan Campbell, who will begin the season as the third-choice goalkeeper.

Speaking of college free agents, Gotham signed five of them, a stark departure from their strategy the past few years when it came to the discontinued College Draft. The club only made three picks in the last two drafts. A more detailed piece exploring the expectations for the rookie signings can be found here, but in short, expect Sarah Schupansky, a forward from the University of Pittsburgh, and Lilly Reale, a defender from UCLA, to be the two rookies that get the most playing time.

The last signing was Stella Nyamekye, a Ghanaian youth international who played for Dreamz Ladies FC in Ghana. Not much is known about Nyamekye, but she did play and score in last summer's U-20 World Cup and joins on a long-term deal through 2027. Primarily an attacking midfielder, do not expect to see her much on the field this year as this looks to be more of a signing for the future.

In addition, the club signed Mckenna "Mak" Whitham last year to a contract that is beginning this season. The 14-year-old will likely not see the pitch too much in her first full season with the Bats.

The team also saw their two longest-tenured players re-sign with the club this offseason. Defender Freeman, who went through a career renaissance last season after moving to left-back, and forward Midge Purce, who tore her ACL 45 minutes into the 2024 regular season opener against Portland, signed new contracts. Both players bring some much-needed continuity to a roster that has seen plenty of turnover.

Season expectations for Gotham FC

After finishing third on 56 points last year, many expect a slight drop-off after the offseason's departures. And while Gotham FC arguably got slightly worse this offseason, and teams like the Kansas City Current and the North Carolina Courage got better, this should still be a really good team. Expect them to be firmly in the playoff picture, but maybe not as high as third. Fourth or fifth seems like the realistic landing spot in the standings for this team in 2025.

Of course, there is always the chance that the Bats finish higher than that this season, and it should not be dismissed as a possibility. Yes, they lost some big players and do not have the same depth that they did last year, but this group might be a better mix of off-the-field personalities and on-the-field playstyles that meshes well. Hopefully, it will result in a great season. Wherever they finish, do not be surprised if this group takes some time to find their stride, thus resulting in a slow start but a strong finish to the season.

The team will also be playing in the semifinals of the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup in late May against Tigres UANL of Liga MX Femenil. Gotham finished second in Group A last autumn, qualifying them for the semifinal game. The rest of the Champions Cup will be played at Estadio Universitario in Nuevo León, Mexico, the home stadium of Tigres. The two teams in the other semifinal are Portland and Club América. The semifinals will be played on Wednesday, May 21, with the final on Saturday, May 25.

While it is still unconfirmed, it is believed that Gotham has also qualified for the next edition of the W Champions Cup, which will begin in the autumn. Typically, the three NWSL qualification spots go to the Champion and the top two in the regular season standings. But because Orlando won both the Championship and finished first in the standings, it is expected one of the qualification spots will go to Gotham, who finished third in the 2024 regular season standings.

When it comes to playoff expectations, it's not unreasonable to suggest another first-round win could be in the cards, even if they finish the regular season in fifth and have to play on the road. After that, it's very wide open across the league. While Orlando and Washington go into the season as the two favorites to win the Championship this year, teams like Gotham FC, Kansas City, North Carolina, and maybe even Utah Royals FC cannot be counted out.