Boston Legacy FC
Attacking soccer could be on display from Legacy FC in their Gillette Stadium opener, but the defending NWSL champions will have something to say about it.
Lais Araujo, Laurel Ansbrow, and Barbara Olivieri wear Boston Legacy FC’s primary kit for the club’s inaugural season. Via Boston Legacy FC
March 13, 2026 | 5:39 PM
3 minutes to read
At 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2026, a Boston NWSL team will kick off a regular season game for the first time since the previous iteration closed its doors in 2018.
It’s a moment that’s been years in the making, the culmination of renewed hope, a substantial increase in investment, and overall league growth. The result is Boston Legacy Football Club, which will play Gotham FC at Gillette Stadium (the game will be available on ABC, the ESPN App, and Disney+).
But with so much attention focused on the higher-level view of the club and its possible future over the last few months (and years), what about the short-term? Here are a few things to watch for when Boston’s newest professional team takes the field on Saturday:
How will the team play in the actual game?
As the club has been largely preoccupied with higher-level concerns — establishing a team name (twice), a home venue, a front office staff, and building a roster — it’s been easy to overlook thoughts about how Legacy FC will line up and play in actual NWSL games.
Questions over the team’s style, formation, lineup, and (most crucially) its ability to win will begin to be answered against Gotham on Saturday.
More than half of the roster (14 of its 24 players) have never played in NWSL before. Head coach Filipa Patão is also new to the league, arriving from a highly successful run in charge of Portuguese powerhouse Benfica. Team general manager Domènec Guasch has some background in U.S. soccer, but spent most of his career building Barcelona’s women’s team into a world-class program.
It means there will likely be a bit of culture shock during the league opener, as players (and staff) find out how hard it can be to implement a tactical vision in a league with a salary cap and other roster constraints that do not apply in most European competitions.
Patão and Guasch have spoken about how they want to see a possession-style game, and intend to play attacking soccer. That’s good news for fans hoping for excitement, but (as is perpetually the case) it runs the risk of leaving an exposed defense to counterattacks.
Predicting a lineup and formation is tricky, given that the only available information to this point has been preseason, but Patão has deployed a two-strike setup in the past while at Benfica, so (as The Blazing Musket’s Jackie Contreras noted) an attacking 4-4-2 could be the team’s setup while in possession.
The scene happening around the game
Off the field, there will be plenty of entertainment for fans in attendance. As the game will be played at Gillette Stadium, it will provide tailgating opportunities. And fans who aren’t able to drive can take special Commuter Rail train service that will depart South Station Saturday at 10:05 a.m.
Boston ISA (the club’s first independent supporters’ group) will get its first chance to show off chants and songs as it builds support for the players.
And there will even be a halftime show: New Kids on the Block will perform a quick set.
Saturday’s opponent: Gotham FC
Though the eyes of New England soccer fans will rightfully be focused on Legacy FC, the other team in attendance will invariably draw attention of their own.
Gotham FC is only a few months removed from winning its second league title after defeating the Washington Spirit 1-0 in the 2025 NWSL Championship.
The reigning champs obviously pose a difficult matchup for the fledgling Legacy. Gotham’s roster is packed with talent — including U.S. stars Rose Lavelle and Jaedyn Shaw, as well as Spanish goalscorer Esther González — and will prove a tough test for Patão’s intended style of attack.
German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger will likely also be a thorn in Boston’s side. Berger was responsible for one of the saves of the tournament in last summer’s European Championships.
Grass on the pitch
With rare exceptions, no local team has played on grass at Gillette Stadium since the Patriots almost two decades ago. Aside from a few isolated moments when the Revolution got to play on grass amid Gillette hosting international tournaments (such as Copa América Centenario in 2016), it’s been an artificial turf surface at the stadium.
But after the Revolution’s initial home-opener was postponed due to the recent snowstorm, it meant that Legacy FC would get the first game on the newly-installed grass (which was put down in advance of the stadium hosting seven 2026 FIFA World Cup games this summer).
Grass fields are almost universally preferred by players in 2026, and will likely be received positively. As for its effect on the game itself, grass could suit a more methodical, possession-style game that Boston wants to play as opposed the normally faster conditions of the turf.
Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.
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