The United States Women’s National Team will play one of the best teams in the world three times in April. Yesterday, ahead of their January Camp match against Paraguay, U.S. Soccer announced that the USWNT will face Japan in three friendlies during the April FIFA international window.
The two teams will first face off on Saturday, April 11th at PayPal Park in San Jose, with kickoff set for 5:30pm ET (2:30pm PT). They then travel to Seattle on Tuesday, April 14th to face each other at Lumen Field,
a 10:00pm ET (7:00pm PT) kickoff. The two teams then head to Denver for one more friendly at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on Friday, April 17th. That kickoff is set for 9:00pm ET (7:00pm MT).
The two teams last squared off in the finale of the 2025 SheBelieves Cup last February, a 2-1 win for Japan. Japan is the 8th ranked team in the FIFA world rankings, and with the April window allowing for three matches, it’s a chance for the USWNT to have a full series of contests against the Nadeshiko.
“Japan is one of the best teams in the world,” head coach Emma Hayes said in a press release. “I’m a big admirer of how they play and I have tremendous respect for their team and identity. They are a highly experienced group and are fully committed to their style of football. Playing the same opponent three times is unusual but it presents a great challenge and a chance to test ourselves against a top-quality opponent.”
The USWNT is 32W-2L-8D all-time record against Japan dating back to 1986. Of course, in the 2010s, they met in three straight major finals: the 2011 Women’s World Cup Final (won by Japan on penalties), the 2012 Olympic Gold Medal match (won by the United States) and the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final (won by the USWNT). Matches between the two teams are normally contested and action-packed.
With their match in Seattle, it will mark the first USWNT match at Lumen Field since July 2017, which was a 1-0 loss to Australia in the Tournament of Nations. It’s one of the final weeks of soccer at Lumen Field before the stadium begins its final preparations for the 2026 World Cup. The facility will have natural grass for the match, which has been a deterrent in previous years for playing at Seattle venues.
