Boston Legacy’s journey to its inaugural season has felt like a slow burn.
It has been nearly two-and-a-half years since the National Women’s Soccer League awarded its 15th franchise to a group of investors led by controlling partner Jennifer Epstein, who is also a minority owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics. There have been missteps and lessons learned — such as the first attempt at a name and the process of securing its future home in White Stadium — but, as the club took shape over the past 15 months, it was as if a match had been lifted to the flame.
Anchored by general manager Domènec Guasch and head coach Filipa Patão, the club began forming a dangerous roster in the summer. Guasch, who spent time at FC Barcelona, and Patão, who most recently led Benfica in Portugal, have brought a decidedly global approach to the team build. Their inaugural NWSL season kicks off with a chance to upset the 2025 champions, Gotham FC, at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots and Legacy’s temporary home.
“Everybody knows that this city wants to win. This city wants a legacy,” Patão said during her inaugural press conference in the fall. “This city deserves strong women’s football, and this is why I’m here, because I know this project is ambitious.”
Filipa Patão joined Boston from Benfica as the club’s first head coach. (Christian Kaspar-Bartke / Getty Images)
The Legacy will debut alongside fellow expansion club Denver Summit FC. The two teams are the last to endure the league’s previous model that staggered expansion over the past decade. Last year, the league moved expansion to a rolling basis, with Atlanta the latest city to be awarded an NWSL franchise.
Boston Unity Soccer Partners, the ownership group led by four women founders — Epstein, Stephanie Connaughton, Ami Kuan Danoff, and Anna Palmer — has also added celebrity partners. In July, the club welcomed WNBA standout Aliyah Boston into its investor group, joining the ranks of Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, Hollywood actress Elizabeth Banks, USC basketball star Juju Watkins, and Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and his wife, Tracy, a former college soccer player and attorney.
Boston Legacy is bringing women’s professional soccer to a city that has been aching for its return after the Boston Breakers disbanded in 2018.
Until their permanent home at White Stadium is completed, the team will be playing its inaugural season at Gillette Stadium, with select matches at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to adjust for seven men’s World Cup matches taking place in Foxboro this summer.
Boston Legacy general manager Domènec Guasch joined the team after a few years with FC Barcelona. (John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
On the field, Guasch has crafted a team from international transfers, college graduates, and NWSL mainstays. The club’s inaugural general manager has a storied history in Spain. He is a nine-time Liga F and three-time UEFA Women’s Champions League winner with FC Barcelona, where he served as head of management for women’s football. Meanwhile, Patão joined the club in July after five years at Benfica, tallying a 156-28-15 (W-L-D) record during her tenure.
“The league is very, very competitive. It is one of the best leagues in the world,” Patão said. “It’s normal that every coach wants to be here, wants to be in this league, wants to bring something to this league.”
Together, the two have gone on to recruit a truly global team filled with some powerful options. The team’s 23-player roster, as of March 9, has players with ties to the U.S., Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Uganda, Venezuela, Spain, and Mali.
A 2025 Ballon d’Or Féminin nominee, 24-year-old Amanda Gutierres, was one of the highlights of Boston’s roster build. The Brazilian forward is a dominant goalscorer whose strength enables her to be a versatile threat up top. She wowed the world during the Copa América Femenina last year, ending the competition as one of its top goalscorers.
Before signing with Boston, she was a dominant force at Brazilian club Palmeiras, too, claiming golden boots in 2023 and 2024 and earning the prestigious 2024 Bola de Prata award, given to the best players in the Campeonato Brasileiro Feminino Série A1.
Amanda Gutierres will play for Boston Legacy this season. (Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
“I had that on my mind for a while,” Gutierres told The Athletic. “I had a dream to play in the league.” After adjusting to the culture shock of a Boston winter, she said she and her teammates are “growing together” on the pitch, as their style develops, too.
“For now, we’re just together for five months, not even a year,” Gutierres said. “After a while, we will start discovering together what the ideal team is and what is the best for Boston.”
There are players such as Ella Stevens, who last played for Gotham FC and is a quick attacking player with uncanny footwork, and 18-year-old Chloe Ricketts, the first player to sign with a club through the league’s Under-18 Entry Mechanism.
U.S. goalkeeper Casey Murphy was another key signing for Boston, choosing to leave North Carolina Courage after four years at the club to enter free agency.
“I just really wanted to be a part of a team that valued me and not only what I brought on the field, but off the field as well,” Murphy, who won gold with the U.S. at the 2024 Olympics, said. “I feel like this was a great step for me in regards to my leadership and how I could help the team with my voice in the locker room.”
Boston goalkeeper Casey Murphy won gold with the U.S. at the 2024 Olympics. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
The Legacy spent part of their preseason in Florida and Europe, learning to play together ahead of their inaugural year.
“(Patão) wants to see what we bring without putting too many restrictions on us week one,” Murphy said. “I felt a lot of freedom to just be on the field and play without thinking too much.”
That, of course, will change as the season progresses and the team settles in the NWSL. Until then, all eyes will be on Gillette Stadium on March 14, when Gotham and Boston meet for the first time. Will there be a spark igniting another East Coast rivalry in the NWSL?
“They call it Title Town, because the teams (in Boston) are just always winning championships,” Murphy said, “That was just something that sold me, like, I want to bring a championship to Boston.”