Three of those teams were in the inaugural episode, with Atletico Madrid taking Paris Saint-Germain’s spot this year. That tournament drew small crowds at a large NFL stadium in Miami. By moving to 10,000-seat WakeMed Soccer Park, where the National Women’s Soccer League champion Courage is based and where women’s soccer has a rich history, the event should generate greater interest.

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The schedule will include semifinals, a third-place match and the championship game. It falls in preseason for the European teams and late in the season for the Courage, which, including the playoffs, had a 19-1-6 record last year.

International matches, Courage midfielder Heather O’Reilly said, will help U.S. teams and players broaden their perspective.

“We have the luxury of having our blinders on in the U.S. in terms of women’s global football because the women’s national team has been so successful,” said O’Reilly, 34, who won three Olympic gold medals and a World Cup title.

“We think what we are doing is the best and we have the best clubs and the best players, and it shows on the national team. But there are a lot of great things happening across the globe. Everybody sees the huge crowds in Europe. The NWSL has to continue to grow to remain the best. In the grand scheme of things, this is huge for women’s football.”

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Last year, the Courage won the ICC title by defeating Olympique Lyonnais, 1-0, on O’Reilly’s early goal.

The 12-time defending French league winners have claimed the past three UEFA Women’s Champions League trophies, and this week advanced to the semifinals of the European competition by defeating Wolfsburg. Many of its players will feature at the Women’s World Cup this summer in France.

Manchester City is second in England’s top tier, one point behind Arsenal, while Atletico Madrid leads the Spanish race by three points over Barcelona.

“In the women’s game, we are still fighting to make the games visible around the world,” O’Reilly said. “There is a bit of a black hole. In general, fans are in the dark what is going in the French league, in England, in Germany. The ICC is a step in the right direction. It’s not going to solve all of those problems, but I think it raises visibility and awareness of players and teams.”

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Such exposure might grow next year; Relevent Sports Group, which operates the ICC, is exploring an eight-team tournament at multiple U.S. venues.

WakeMed Soccer Park, located in the Raleigh suburbs, is no stranger to marquee events. It has hosted U.S. men’s and women’s national team matches, Women’s World Cup qualifiers, College Cups and ACC tournaments.

The Courage — who relocated from Rochester, N.Y., after the 2016 season — averaged 5,129 fans last year, a 17 percent increase from 2017.

To accommodate the ICC tournament, the team will have to reschedule an Aug. 16 home match against the Houston Dash.

The Courage shares the Cary stadium with North Carolina FC, a men’s second-division outfit. NCFC’s Aug. 17 home game against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds — a day before the ICC third-place game and final — is unaffected by the women’s tournament.