Angel City Football Club have qualified for the 2026 National Women's Soccer League playoffs, only the second time in the club's history it has reached the postseason. The Portland Thorns' week 25 win over the North Carolina Courage clinched playoff spots for Angel City and three other teams.
Angel City last made the playoffs in 2023, in its second season in the league, but was eliminated in its first match, a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Reign. At that time, only the top six teams in the league qualified for the postseason. Since the 2024 season, the league expanded so that the top eight teams now reach the single-elimination playoffs.
Angel City joined the NWSL as an expansion side five seasons ago, debuting in 2022 and giving Los Angeles its first professional women's soccer team since the Los Angeles Sol played its lone 2009 season in the now-defunct Women's Professional Soccer league.
The qualification comes at the end of one of the club's best runs. Saturday's 2-0 win over Bay FC marked the ninth consecutive match in which Angel City has gone unbeaten. Entering match week 26, Angel City (14-7-8, 49 points) sat fifth on the league table.
A Season of Club Records
The 2026 campaign has produced four new club records. Maiara Niehues and Sveindís Jónsdóttir lead the team in scoring with nine goals each, the most by an Angel City player in a single regular season. Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson has set a personal best and club single-season record with ten shutouts so far.
Rookie Taylor Suarez made league history on September 15 against Seattle Reign FC, scoring just 21 seconds after entering the match to set the NWSL record for the fastest goal by an in-game substitute. She also scored her fourth goal in a five-match span against Denver. Defender Evelyn Shores set a season-high with eight assists.
"We are very proud of the players and all of our staff for reaching this milestone. We are in a good run of form at a great time, and this team is hungry for more," said Angel City Sporting Director Mark Parsons in a press release announcing the team's playoff push. "We can't wait to keep this going for our fans and for the city of LA."
Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson said the team's focus remained on finishing the regular season strong. "We just made sure to do our best to really focus on this game; the job's not finished yet. We really want to go into the playoffs with a lot of good momentum from having really good performance in these last two games of the regular season," she said.
A Different Team
Team captain Sarah Gorden, who signed with Angel City in 2021 and is one of four inaugural season players still with the club, said this year's squad feels different from the 2023 team that reached the playoffs. "This team is different than any other Angel City team I've ever been on. Obviously, you're seeing that with the results and the momentum," she told The Sporting Tribune.
"Our team is really different than any other team... We're calm... We do what needs to be done to win games. Whatever happens in the middle, we'll do what we have to do to win the game. So we're extremely effective, and that's what you need going into the playoffs. So I'm really excited to see how we do," Gorden said.
During Saturday's press conference, Gorden also acknowledged the club's fans. "It's easy to play for them because they've sacrificed so much for us," she said.
Fans have taken notice of the club's reach beyond Southern California. Shannon, who has followed Angel City with friends since its inaugural season, traveled nearly four hours from Fresno to see Saturday's win over Bay FC. "It's very inspirational. We don't have a team in Fresno, so Angel City is the closest thing, and we absolutely love it. We're so excited for playoffs. We've been in it, and we just want them to win -- the culture, the community, the players. I just love it. I'm over the moon," she said.
Jeanine, a young Angel City fan who has supported the club with her family for two years alongside her younger sister Alani, said she hopes to see the team advance deep into the postseason. "I am so excited. I hope if they get to the top four, we'll hopefully come and see them play and I'll bring her along. I'm excited to see them play in the playoffs," she said.
Angel City will close out the 2026 regular season on November 1 at 2 PM PST at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, hosting a "Celebración de Culturas" as it takes on the Boston Legacy.
