Gotham FC’s stars and staff took the stage at City Hall on Monday morning with a triumphant kind of stump speech: We’re not done yet.
Just 36 hours after winning the 2025 NWSL championship, Gotham was feted in front of their loyal fans with a bus ride up Broadway and a confetti-strewn ceremony in which they were presented keys to New York City by mayor Eric Adams.
Gotham snagged their second title in three years — tearing through the playoffs as the lowest seed, much like they did in 2023 — with a 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit in Saturday night’s final in the Bay Area on Rose Lavelle’s thundering late goal.
“Thank you guys so much for believing in us, for supporting us all season long,” Lavelle said when the “M-V-P” chants from the several hundred fans had died down. “Hopefully, this is not the last time we’ll be doing this. Hopefully, there’s many more.”
The goal of continuing to add hardware was echoed by the team’s brass.
Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós proudly recounted how his players had built togetherness during a busy slate that included winning the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup in May — which earned them a spot in the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup alongside other continental club tournament winners in early 2026.
“That’s what has driven us, not only to be the champions of the country, to be the champions of the continent, and we are never finished,” Amorós said. “Our next stage is we want to be the champions of the world in January.”
Before prize midseason acquisition Jaedyn Shaw gamely reprised her “underdogs, my ass” line that became a postseason rallying cry, general manager Yael Averbuch West talked up Gotham’s “relentless ambition.”
“Moments like this are the fuel to continue to push, with you backing us,” Averbuch West said.
Expressions of gratitude for that backing from the fan base was another of the morning’s primary themes.
They came, young and old, in light blue sweatshirts and hats and scarves.
They came in throwback Carli Lloyd No. 10s, an Emily Sonnett UVA shirt and the obligatory “Everyone watches women’s sports” tees.
They came with shots of Fireball (Lavelle’s preferred cheers) and handmade drawings of Lavelle’s pet dog.
Beatrix Stepanian, 9, skipped school (she got a note!) to be in the front row behind the barricades as Gotham paraded past.
“There’s so many people supporting their team right now,” Stepanian said, “and it’s just so much fun to be here.”
And no one seems to be getting tired of these trophy celebrations.
“From Day 1, our dream wasn’t just to win,” owner Carolyn Tisch Blodgett said. “It was to build something iconic. Something that reflects the energy of New York, the heart of New Jersey and the power of women’s sports. Something that says: We’re here, we’re committed and we’re not done. And we’re not, not even close.”
