State of the NWSL belt
Updated November 13, 2026The belt tree
Every way the next four belt games can go.
Who holds it after each game
| Team | After game 1 |
|---|---|
| Gotham FC | 60% |
| Kansas City Current | 40% |
Who holds it when the regular season ends
We played out the rest of the schedule on file (November 15, 2026 is the last game) 4,000 times, passing the belt game by game with Elo win chances. Kansas City Current keeps it to the end in 39.7% of runs. 2 teams finish with it at least 1% of the time.
| # | Team | Share | Chance | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gotham FC | 60.3% | 1626 | |
| 2 | Kansas City Current | 39.7% | 1609 |
Elo power ranking
| # | Team | Elo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gotham FC | 1626 |
| 2 | Kansas City Current Holder | 1609 |
| 3 | Washington Spirit | 1581 |
| 4 | San Diego Wave FC | 1558 |
| 5 | Angel City FC | 1549 |
| 6 | Portland Thorns FC | 1531 |
| 7 | Seattle Reign FC | 1517 |
| 8 | Utah Royals | 1509 |
| 9 | North Carolina Courage | 1508 |
| 10 | Denver Summit FC | 1503 |
| 11 | Orlando Pride | 1476 |
| 12 | Boston Legacy FC | 1470 |
| 13 | Houston Dash | 1435 |
| 14 | Racing Louisville FC | 1399 |
| 15 | Bay FC | 1397 |
| 16 | Chicago Stars FC | 1339 |
How the numbers work
Every team gets an Elo rating built from every game in the record, not just belt games. Wins against good teams count more; bigger margins count a little more in football and basketball. Home teams get a bump worth about 50 rating points, and between seasons each rating slides a third of the way back toward average.
The chance to defend comes straight from the two ratings. The outlook plays the rest of the schedule thousands of times. They're honest rough odds, not betting lines.