Women's International Champions Cup (WICC): What is it, how to watch

There's never going to be one definitive answer to the question of "who is the best team in the world?" but whichever club leaves Portland, Oregon victorious this week will have a valid claim to the moniker.

Now in its third edition, the Women's International Champions Cup (WICC) is back with more pomp and circumstance than ever before. This year's competition includes the last two UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona (2021) and Olympique Lyonnais (2020) alongside the previous two NWSL Challenge Cup winners: Portland Thorns (2021) and Houston Dash (2020). 

The NWSL's North Carolina Courage won the inaugural competition in 2018, beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in the semifinal and then Lyon 1-0 in the final. In 2019, Lyon returned the favor and took the intercontinental crown. The French club snuck past Atletico Madrid and the Courage 1-0 in both matches. The tournament was cancelled in 2020, so Lyon will act as the defending champions this summer.

The four clubs will face off in two intra-continental semifinal matches, then the two triumphant teams will contest for the WICC trophy and the losing sides will compete for third place. There's never been a penalty shootout at the WICC before, but that could all change this week.

The winner takes it all. 

Schedule/How to watch

Wednesday August 18

FC Barcelona vs Olympique Lyonnais 7:36PM CT - ESPNU/ESPN DEPORTES 

Portland Thorns vs Houston Dash 10:10PM CT - ESPN2/ESPN DEPORTES

Saturday August 21

Houston Dash vs FC Barcelona 6:36PM CT - ESPNU/ESPN DEPORTES

Portland Thorns vs Olympique Lyonnais 9:10PM CT - ESPN2/ESPN DEPORTES

Portland Thorns

The 2021 season is serving as a swan song for head coach Mark Parsons, who has agreed to become the new boss of the Netherlands national team in November of this year. The impending departure doesn’t appear to have negatively impacted his players, though. The Thorns head into their first-ever WICC tournament as good as they have ever been since they lifted the NWSL Championship in 2017.

Since successfully opening the season by winning the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup, the Thorns have gone on to sweep the rest of the NWSL aside during the regular season. Portland currently sit top of the NWSL standings (9-2-3), five points clear of the North Carolina Courage in second place. 

What makes the Thorns so dangerous is their organized and energized mix of young and experienced talent. Their measured high pressing attack pins opposing teams, shackling the passing lanes. Once the other team is pinned back, they’ll slowly grind you down and use their flair players to finish you off. With the added bonus of being the hosts, the Thorns will be adamant on making the final and bringing the WICC trophy back to the USA. 

Player to watch: Sophia Smith

The former No.1 overall pick had their rookie season partially dismantled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This year Smith has been making up for loss time. With four goals in eight starts - including a winning goal against the Dash in Houston - the Thorns forward has really stepped up her game in the absence of Portland's high caliber Olympians. Smith is already building her national team resumé ahead of the distant 2023 World Cup.

Houston Dash

The Dash arrive in Portland as the wild card team, the party crashers. Unlike the other three teams, their success on the pitch has not been long-lasting and the club’s “brand” off the pitch is not internationally well-known — at least for now.

Since taking over as Dash head coach in 2019, James Clarkson has flipped the script on Houston’s mentality. Traditionally a perennial struggler in the NWSL, Clarkson’s iteration of the Dash has brought home a trophy — the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup — and posted a 50% win ratio over his 40 games in charge. 

Perhaps even better than winning matches is the flair and desire the team exhibits under Clarkson. The standards across the club have risen. Draws now feel like losses, playoffs are now required rather than dreamt. 

Player with something to prove: Gabby Seiler

The midfielder returns to Portland to face her old team for the first time since she was traded to the Dash from the Thorns in January 2021. The move has worked out for both parties. Seiler has thrived as a defensive holding midfielder, a box-to-box presser and a more technical '8' in Houston. In return, the Thorns helped grow the young talent pool on their roster by picking up TCU's elite creative attacker Yazmeen Ryan. All's well that ends well, but Seiler will still have extra fire to show her old fans what they're missing when she walks out at Providence Park.

FC Barcelona

The Spanish club are in Portland for revenge. In the 2019 UEFA Champions League final, Barcelona were embarrassed 4-1 by Lyon. Since then, the club has made stride after stride to become arguably the best club team in the world, but they have never faced Lyon again. During the 2020-21 season, they won 33 of 34 matches, scored 99 goals and won the Spanish Primera, the Spanish cup and the UEFA Champions League. Let that greatness sink in for a minute. 

Perhaps this narrative is all in the international women's soccer community's mind. 

"It's a very different situation, we must understand this is a pre-season match," head coach Jonatan Giráldez said to the press before their match with Lyon on Wednesday. 

It is important to remember that the European soccer season does not start for a few more weeks, and building up to match fitness will be a target for Barcelona.

The WICC tournament is not for a major European trophy, but the bragging rights could be worth a lot — especially for fans.

Player to watch: Alexia Putellas

Any player on this exquisite Barcelona team is worthy of some extra attention but winger/attacking midfielder Alexia Putellas is one of the brightest stars in the constellation right now. Having initially played her youth soccer for Barcelona's city rivals RCD Espanyol, Putellas transferred across town in 2012, when she was just 18 years old. Over the past nine seasons, the team's culture and personality have grown around the Catalan, who now acts as the conductor of the orchestra. She's dangerous from range, in one-on-one situations, out wide and majestic at reading the game. Look out world.

Olympique Lyonnais

A legendary era of soccer has ended for Lyon. What the next era holds is unknown. 

Lyon were the original blueprint for more equitable treatment for women’s soccer. In the 21st century, their investment, resource sharing and infrastructure helped change the game on both sides of the Atlantic. Many of the greatest players in the world from this the past half-decade all have passed through central France because of their once revolutionary model. 

However, after five UEFA Champions League titles in a row (2015-2020) and 14 consecutive French D1 Feminine championships (2006-2020), the Queens of Europe were finally dethroned in 2021. While their unmatched success in world soccer is something to be applauded, the state of the women’s soccer playing field is more level now that it has ever been before. The club fired head coach Jean-Luc Vasseur in April 2021 after last season’s shocking trophy-less haul. His replacement Sonia Bompastor was promoted from the Lyon academy, where she coached for nearly a decade. This will be her first test at the reigns of the soccer dynasty.  

Player with something to prove: Cat Macario

The USWNT attacker hasn't played a professional club match in the United States before. Macario, 21, opted to sign for French side Lyon after finishing her time at Stanford University in 2020. The WICC tournament will be an interesting heat check for arguably the USA's most talented young player who snubbed the NWSL in search of more elite competition in Europe. I'm sure her USA teammates on the Thorns and the Dash will be excited to go head-to-head with a player they don't often get the chance to compete against. Macario is a hybrid forward who can play many positions.