PayPal Park to Host U.S. Women's National Team vs. Japan on April 11
MLS San Jose Earthquakes

PayPal Park to Host U.S. Women's National Team vs. Japan on April 11

Published on January 24, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
San Jose Earthquakes News Release


SAN JOSE, Calif. - The U.S. Women's National Team will take on Japan at PayPal Park in an international friendly presented by The Home Depot on Saturday, April 11 (2:30 p.m. PT). The game will air on TNT, truTV and HBOMax in English and Universo and Peacock in Spanish, with English radio on Westwood One.

The match in the South Bay is the first of three consecutive matches in a weeklong span against Japan, a longtime rival that has been a part of some of the most famous games in USWNT history.

"Japan is one of the best teams in the world," said U.S. head coach Emma Hayes. "I'm a big admirer of how they play and I have tremendous respect for their team and identity. They are a highly experienced group and are fully committed to their style of football. Playing the same opponent three times is unusual but it presents a great challenge and a chance to test ourselves against a top-quality opponent." The USA-Japan rivalry is a storied one, dating back 40 years to their first-ever meeting in 1986.

An exclusive presale for Earthquakes Season Ticket Holders will begin Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 10 a.m. PT before tickets are made available to the general public on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 10 a.m. PT via ussoccer.com. Fans who purchase Earthquakes season tickets before the general public on-sale will gain access to the presale. For more information on season tickets and all included benefits, click here.

The USA holds a 32W-2L-8D all-time record against the Nadeshiko and in the 2010s, the teams met in three straight world finals. Japan won the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup on penalty kicks, while the U.S. won the London 2012 Olympic Games and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The teams also famously met in the quarterfinal of the 2024 Olympic Games, a razor-thin contest in which Trinity Rodman scored a world-class goal in extra time to win it, 1-0.

The game will also mark the seventh time that the USWNT will play at PayPal Park, which has proven to be a fortress as all six prior matches were witnessed by sellout crowds (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023, 2025) and all but one ended in victory. Overall, they have outscored their opponents 21-4 during that span, with the largest win being an 8-1 rout of Romania in 2016. In the USA's last appearance at PayPal Park on April 8 of last year, Brazil pulled out a late 2-1 win after former Stanford standout Catarina Macario opened the scoring for the Stars and Stripes in the very first minute.

The April 11 trip to PayPal Park, home to the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS and the NWSL's Bay FC, marks a return to San Jose and the Bay Area where the USWNT has a long and rich history. Many current and former players have Bay Area ties and the USWNT played its first-ever match in California in San Jose at Spartan Stadium in 1997.

All USWNT matches at PayPal Park:

Date Final Score Goalscorers

April 8, 2025 USA 1-2 Brazil Catarina Macario 1'

July 9, 2023 USA 2-0 Wales Trinity Rodman 76', 87'

Sept. 4, 2018 USA 4-0 Chile Mallory Swanson 34' Tobin Heath 38' Carli Lloyd 47', 90+3'

Nov. 12, 2017 USA 3-1 Canada Julie Ertz 11' Alex Morgan 56' Carli Lloyd 80'

Nov. 10, 2016 USA 8-1 Romania Christen Press 8', 35', 38' Tobin Heath 10' Morgan Gautrat 25' Alex Morgan 52', 75' Own Goal 90+2'

May 10, 2015 USA 3-0 Ireland Abby Wambach 42', 45' Julie Johnston 54'

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Major League Soccer Stories from January 24, 2026


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