{"id":21953,"date":"2019-03-29T15:29:22","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T19:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=21953"},"modified":"2019-03-29T15:29:22","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T19:29:22","slug":"nwsl-north-carolina-courage-to-host-the-international-champions-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2019\/03\/29\/nwsl-north-carolina-courage-to-host-the-international-champions-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"NWSL: North Carolina Courage to host the International Champions Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Cary, North Carolina (March 29, 2019) \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>Last year, the North Carolina Courage hoisted not one, but two trophies. In addition to winning the NWSL Championship, North Carolina competed \u2014 and claimed victory \u2014 in the first-ever Women&#8217;s International Champions Cup.<\/p>\n<p>This year, North Carolina will compete in the tournament again. Last year, the Courage competed on American soil, as the tournament was held down in Miami, Florida. However, this year, North Carolina has a big advantage.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>NWSL: North Carolina Courage to host the International Champions Cup<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The International Champions Cup will be held in Cary, North Carolina. WakeMed Soccer Park will host four of the world&#8217;s best women&#8217;s soccer clubs. The stadium is home to the Courage and North Carolina FC of the USL Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Other clubs that will take part in the tournament include Olympique Lyonnais from France, Manchester City from England and\u00a0Club Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid from Spain. Last year, Paris Saint Germain competed, but this year the tournament has expanded to the Spanish club. In 2020, the ICC is hoping to expand to include eight clubs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.internationalchampionscup.com\/en\/articles\/womens-international-champions-cup-2019\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cThis tournament is a key a component of our core mission; to provide more opportunities for people of all backgrounds to participate in soccer,\u201d Relevent Sports Group CEO Daniel Sillman said. \u201cThe women\u2019s game is every bit as compelling as the men\u2019s game, and it is a privilege to host a world-class tournament featuring these special athletes.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the first time in Women&#8217;s ICC history, the winning club will earn a monetary prize.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.internationalchampionscup.com\/en\/articles\/womens-international-champions-cup-2019\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cThe inaugural Women\u2019s ICC exceeded everyone\u2019s expectations, with a thrilling 1-0 victory by the North Carolina Courage,\u201d RSG Executive Chairman and Co-founder Charlie Stillitano said. &#8220;As we get closer to kicking off this year\u2019s tournament, I can guarantee there will be a buzz about whether North Carolina will repeat, or if one of the European clubs will capture the trophy.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The 2019 Women\u2019s ICC tournament line-up was announced today!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ManCityWomen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ManCityWomen<\/a> \u2705<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheNCCourage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheNCCourage<\/a> \u2705<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AtletiFemenino?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@AtletiFemenino<\/a> \u2705<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OL_English?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@OL_English<\/a> \u2705<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ICC2019?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ICC2019<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WomensICC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WomensICC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qKl0PJxyVu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/qKl0PJxyVu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Women&#39;s International Champions Cup (@iccwomen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iccwomen\/status\/1111691068259618816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 29, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Can the Courage repeat as Champions again? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>North Carolina will essentially bring back the same roster as last year.<\/p>\n<p>In last year&#8217;s victory, North Carolina routed Paris Saint Germain, 2-1, to reach the final. In the Championship match, North Carolina had one lone goal scored by then-rookie Darian Jenkins. The second-year player will not be competing in the tournament, as she joined the Reign FC this off-season.<\/p>\n<p>Curt Johnson, North Carolina Courage president and general manager, said it&#8217;s an honor for the Courage to host the ICC.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nccourage.com\/news_article\/show\/1008179\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;WakeMed Soccer Park has a proven track record when hosting international events including last year\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup qualifying tournament,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;This will be a great event with dozens of international stars returning from the World Cup. It will be a moment in time when all eyes of women\u2019s soccer will be upon us, and the Courage will be able to measure up against some of the best women\u2019s soccer clubs in the world.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Heather O&#8217;Reilly, a current midfielder for the Courage, called the ICC a &#8220;premier display&#8221; of international club football.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nccourage.com\/news_article\/show\/1008179\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cLast year was the first women\u2019s edition and it was tremendous to be able to take part in it,&#8221; O&#8217;Reilly said. &#8220;It shows growth of the women\u2019s game and gives an opportunity for club football to be supported the way that national teams are. Visibility is key, and the ICC is fantastic for player and club visibility. It is also just straight up entertaining \u2014 seeing the best of Europe and the best of the US face off.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In addition to the tournament being in Cary, North Carolina, the matches will air on ESPN. Tickets are slated to go on sale in the next couple of months.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"7jXRwqcuS_NreqlUKJ3jkQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1133503799\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'7jXRwqcuS_NreqlUKJ3jkQ',sig:'At2LLykRB1XIkf277W759EZhdbt0TwExaD35LOfv4Dw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1133503799',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After capturing the crown in the first Women&#8217;s International Champions Cup, the North Carolina Courage will compete in the ICC again \u2014 this time, on their home field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2497,"featured_media":21954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,2904,353],"tags":[2519,1169,881,172,2921],"class_list":["post-21953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-north-carolina-courage","category-nwsl","tag-icc","tag-international-champions-cup","tag-north-carolina-courage","tag-nwsl","tag-wakemed-soccer-park"],"modified_by":"Rachael Kriger, Senior Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}