Portland Thorns FC

Portland Thorns FC
Founded	2012
Stadium	Providence Park; Portland, Oregon
Capacity	25,218
Owner	RAJ Sports
General manager	Karina LeBlanc
Head coach	Rob Gale (interim)
League	National Women's Soccer League
2023	Regular season: 2nd of 12
Website	Club website
Home colors	Away colors
	Current season

The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which received support from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).^[1]

In its inaugural season, the Portland Thorns FC placed third during the regular season and, in the playoffs, won the first NWSL championship. The club won the NWSL Shield in 2016^[2] and a second NWSL Championship in 2017.^[3] In 2020, they won the Community Shield with the best record in the 2020 NWSL Fall Series. In 2021, the Thorns won the NWSL Challenge Cup, the Women's International Champions Cup, and the NWSL Shield.^[4] They followed up in 2022 by winning the NWSL championship.^[5]

The Thorns have had the highest average attendance in the league in each of their first eight regular seasons, and set the club's all-time attendance record with a capacity 25,218 attendance on August 11, 2019, in a match against the North Carolina Courage that also set the league's record at the time.^[6]^[7]

^ Cite error: The named reference soccer wire league was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Portland Thorns earn NWSL Shield after 3–1 win at Sky Blue FC". September 26, 2016. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
^ "Portland Thorns Beat the Courage to Win a 2nd N.W.S.L. Championship". The New York Times. Associated Press. October 14, 2017. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
^ "Match Recap: Portland edge Houston to win 2021 NWSL Shield". October 17, 2021. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
^ Lev, Jacob (October 30, 2022). "Portland Thorns defeat Kansas City Current to win the 2022 NWSL championship". CNN. Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
^ Linehan, Meg. "The NWSL's new attendance record is notable for how it wasn't accomplished". The Athletic. Archived from the original on August 16, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
^ Goldberg, Jamie (August 11, 2019). "Thorns fight back to earn massive 2-1 win over Courage". OregonLive. Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2019.

[soccer_wire_league-1] Cite error: The named reference soccer wire league was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] "Portland Thorns earn NWSL Shield after 3–1 win at Sky Blue FC". September 26, 2016. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2016.

[NYT-2017-championship-3] "Portland Thorns Beat the Courage to Win a 2nd N.W.S.L. Championship". The New York Times. Associated Press. October 14, 2017. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2017.

[NWSL-2021-championship-4] "Match Recap: Portland edge Houston to win 2021 NWSL Shield". October 17, 2021. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2021.

[5] Lev, Jacob (October 30, 2022). "Portland Thorns defeat Kansas City Current to win the 2022 NWSL championship". CNN. Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2022.

[ath-attendance-2019-6] Linehan, Meg. "The NWSL's new attendance record is notable for how it wasn't accomplished". The Athletic. Archived from the original on August 16, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2019.

[7] Goldberg, Jamie (August 11, 2019). "Thorns fight back to earn massive 2-1 win over Courage". OregonLive. Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2019.

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