What makes the best, “the best?” It's an endless conversation in sports. Sometimes it feels like hyperbole, and other times it feels like fact.
Well, as the 2025 National Women's Soccer League regular season comes to an end, there is an argument to be had that this year's Kansas City Current team may just be the best ever in the league's history.
Why is this KC Current team so great?
The 2025 Current have broken records left, right and center. Since the NWSL was founded in 2013, no team has recorded more points (65) or wins (21) than this Current side. That alone is one way to quantify their greatness.
An important note to add with those statistics is that the NWSL used to have fewer games prior to expansion in 2024. But even if you average out the 2025 Current's points total, with 65 points from 26 matches (2.5 points per game), it eclipses the next best points and win records: 2018 North Carolina Courage (57 points, 2.4 points per game, 17 wins) and the 2024 Orlando Pride (60 points, 2.3 points per game, 18 wins).
Attacking-wise, the Current scored more goals than any other team in 2025 (49) but didn't break the all-time record. That record, of 57 goals, does belong to the 2024 Current, though. And, 19 of the Current's players from last year's roster are still on the roster this season.
Defensively, the 2025 Current are also unmatched. Their 13 goals conceded across a 26 regular season (0.5 per game) is a somewhat ridiculously stingy record. Similarly, no team has ever kept 16 shutouts in a single NWSL season before with goalkeeper Lorena also breaking the individual record with 14.
Bringing up Lorena neatly moves the conversation beyond the statistics and into the individuals. Top to bottom, the 2025 Current is a loaded squad with no real weakness. Top goalscorer, reigning NWSL MVP and Ballon d'Or nominee Temwa Chawinga is on pace to be the greatest goalscorer in NWSL history. She scored a league-leading 15 goals in 2025, having scored a league-record 21 goals in 2024, her first season in the league.
TWO YEARS IN THE LEAGUE.
— KC Current - z (@thekccurrent) November 3, 2025
TWO GOLDEN BOOT HONORS.
It’s just Temwa math 💅 pic.twitter.com/vFNqgjD2Ti
Joining Chawinga in the attack is Brazilian international Bia Zaneratto and Debinha, a former NWSL MVP herself, while U.S. women's national team winger Michelle Cooper offering width, pressing flair and crossing ability.
The USWNT midfield duo of Claire Hutton and Lo LaBonta is again the most elite in the league when it comes to defensive grit and quick-release passing to progress the ball and find gaps. Both Hutton and LaBonta can trade off defensive duties in a single pivot or combine to be a double pivot and hold onto a lead.
The Current's defensive group is led by center back Kayla Sharples and fullback Izzy Rodriguez. While the other two spots have been rotated between veteran Elizabeth Ball, the recently returned Gabrielle Robinson, the technically gifted Hallie Mace and up-and-comer Ellie Wheeler.
Behind the backline is the imperious Lorena, another Brazilian international with a calm demeanor. There's a hawkish way in which she watches the play evolve and sets her position perfectly before an opponent's strike is hit.
“O meu principal objetivo é ser campeã” 🗣️ Lorena
— KC Current - z (@thekccurrent) October 29, 2025
Nossa goleira will stop at nothing to raise our team to the next level 😮💨@BlueKC | #SidelinetheStigma pic.twitter.com/ieA6ue2X4S
Who are the other great NWSL teams?
Going up against the 2025 Current in these greatest team ever stakes is the 2018 Courage and the 2024 Pride. Both those teams topped the standings in the regular season with then-record points totals and win totals.
The 2024 Pride were more similar to the 2025 Current in that they had a steely defensive disposition that didn't let opposing teams back into games after securing an early lead.
Along with great team culture and organization, the 2024 Pride had a dazzling attacking duo in Marta and Barbra Banda. While Chawinga gets all the headlines, the 2025 Current have a more diverse range of attackers than the 2024 Pride did.
Neither of these teams is quite like the 2018 Courage, and that has a lot to do with what the NWSL was like back then. Due to the U.S. Soccer Federation subsidizing salaries for USWNT players, a club like the Courage did not need to budget for its many allocated stars.
When the Courage lifted the 2018 NWSL Shield and championship trophies, their XI had three USWNT stars in Sam Mewis, Crystal Dunn and Abby Dahlkemper, all in the peak of their careers.
Also on the USWNT and the Courage at that time was leading goalscorer Lynn Biyendolo (né Williams), as well as Jess McDonald and Jaelene Daniels (né Hinkle). Just like the Current, Debhina was a central attacking force of creativity to fizz and pop around the box.
In terms of sheer star power, the 2018 Courage will have a good case to be even greater than the 2025 Current. But, when it comes to tactics and seeing how players function as a collective, I would back the 2025 Current and 2024 Pride to take care of the 2018 Courage quite effectively.
Do the Current have to win the NWSL title to be the best?
This is the big question. If the Current is unable to sweep the playoffs, could they even be considered the best team ever?
Both the 2018 Courage and the 2024 Pride were runaway winners in the regular season and then triumphed in the playoffs. Winning both trophies, the Shield and the championship, does feel like a prerequisite for being considered the best.
That means the Current is just three games away from being in the most elite tier possible in terms of the NWSL. Should the Current win the NWSL championship on Nov. 22, then it will be impossible not to consider this group the greatest ever.
The moment the Orlando Pride became the 2024 NWSL Champions 🏆 pic.twitter.com/TVfFOqcM9C
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 24, 2024
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Are the 2025 Kansas City Current the Best NWSL Team Ever?.
