By OkayGoal 
USWNT defender Crystal Dunn battles Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas during the 2020 SheBelieves Cup on March 8. (Photo Credit: The Equalizer)
The U.S. women’s national team will host the reigning World Cup champions, Spain, for two friendlies in October, it was announced Monday. The first match will be played on Oct. 10 at Audi Field in Washington D.C., the second on Oct. 13 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa.
At the home of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit, legendary USWNT defender Crystal Dunn will be honored pregame. Dunn was named NWSL MVP playing for the Spirit in 2015. A core contributor across multiple championship teams, Dunn retired with 160 international appearances from 2013-2025, scoring 25 goals with 20 assists. She won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019, Olympic gold in 2024 and bronze in 2020, along with several other cup and tournament championships. There is a special edition commemorative Dunn bobblehead for the first 2,000 fans.
The matches against Spain will be the first for the U.S. in just over four months due to the long break for club play following the June matches in Brazil. Spain and the U.S. have only faced each other four times, all since 2019. The Americans won the first three, the first two crucial on their path to winning the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. But the Spaniards won the most recent meeting in 2022 and won the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. They will provide top competition for head coach Emma Hayes to measure her players as Concacaf qualifiers for the 2027 World Cup draw ever closer.
“Two more fantastic matches,” said USWNT head coach Emma Hayes in a statement. “We’ve desperately wanted to get Spain on our schedule, but the difficulties of scheduling the top teams during the women’s international calendar are well known, so to be able to get these two games on the East Coast will be the perfect tests before we head into World Cup qualifying at the end of the year.”
Spain is available for these matches because they took first place in their UEFA Women’s World Cup qualifying group, securing direct qualification. The wins to secure that included a 4-0 result over England, the 2025 EURO champions, and 6-1 over Iceland.
