‘This will change women’s soccer’: why KC Current’s stadium has set a new standard

Players in Kansas City used to get changed in parking lots. On Saturday, the city's latest club opened the first purpose-built stadium for a women's professional sports team

Through strength, speed and courage, Temwa Chawinga created an opening in the Portland defense. She sprinted past a defender to beat oncoming Portland goalkeeper Shelby Hogan to the ball, which spilled out into space. Teenager Alex Pfeiffer saw an opportunity, closed in and buried her left-footed strike. Music, smoke and pyrotechnics burst from the Kansas City Riverfront. Kansas City Current led Portland Thorns, 5-1.

The brand-new CPKC Stadium, the world's first purpose-built for a women's professional sports team, billowed with the joy of 11,500 fans in the midday Missouri sun. At 16 years, three months and 20 days old, Pfeiffer became the youngest goalscorer in National Women's Soccer League history.