Nine days ahead of the Secondary Trade window opening, the Kansas City Current and the Seattle Reign have agreed to a trade which will send defender Alana Cook to Kansas City and cash back to the Reign. Although Cook will begin training with the Current this week, she will not be available for selection until the window opens August 1st. 

Kansas City acquires: defender Alana Cook

Seattle Reign acquire: $40k allocation money, $75k intra-league transfer funds (+$25k if incentive-based requirements met)

This past week, the Reign announced the signing of two U18 signings with long-term contracts, putting their active roster players up to 28 once their two Canadians return from the Olympics. Cook’s trade gives the Reign cash to spend, and they now will only be one player over the NWSL roster rules maximum of 26 once the Olympians return. 

Kansas City is currently second in the NWSL regular season with an explosive attack and a league high 40 goals, however they also have 22 goals against. Defender Gabrielle Robinson tore her ACL in late May, and so the addition of Cook in terms of centerback depth will be very important for the final ten games of the regular season. Cook is a two-time defender of the year finalist and will be reunited with Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski who spoke highly of Cook during his time as the USWNT head coach.

In the last month, a majority of the team announcements have been new player signings ahead of the transfer window opening August 1st and mutual agreements for players to be released as the European leagues prepare for the new season. 

Top of the NWSL Orlando on the other hand, spent the last month signing five players to contract extensions: Brianna Martinez, Cori Dyke, Summer Yates, Viviana Villacorta, and Ally Watt. Four of the five signings were through 2025 with mutual options for 2026, while Martinez’s new contract doesn’t have the 2026 option. The additional contract extensions puts Orlando firmly in second when it comes to teams with players signed through 2025. 

Current look at the 2024-25 offseason contract statuses

North Carolina looks to be in the best position to minimize roster turnover next year as they have 23 of the maximum 26 roster spots occupied, signing forward Kerolin who is coming off an end-of-season ACL tear from last year should be the top priority ahead of the roster freeze October 10th where free agents can begin negotiations with different teams. Last season, the existence of an NWSL Expansion Draft in December meant that although free agents could’ve started signing contracts as soon as the season completed, that would’ve been one more asset to protect or leverage for the Expansion teams when it came to trading for protections. 

Kansas City, who will host the NWSL Championship this year and currently is only three points out of first place in the table surprisingly has only nine players signed through 2025 and a league–high nine unrestricted free agents. In the coming months, they’ll need to sign key extensions with players in order to cover themselves from having their current cohesion disrupted by free agency. Additionally, four of their nine 2025 options will lead to some form of free agency if the 2025 options aren’t exercised ahead of the roster freeze deadline. 

Seattle has been of the teams who has been more active than most to give extensions to potential free agents with three extensions already signed since the beginning of the season, but they remain in a precarious position. After losing key pieces like Emily Sonnett, Angelina, and Rose Lavelle via free agency last season the team who made it to the 2023 NWSL Championship has been struggling in the 2024 season. Unfortunately, even with the moves they only have 12 players under contract for 2025 and 11 potential free agents looking toward the upcoming offseason. With the team’s sale being up in the air throughout the offseason and only finalized in June, ideally the new ownership group is ready to invest quickly to bring in new talent in the secondary window and keep continuity into 2025. 

More details on 2024-25 Free Agency:

https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/2348/roundup-nwsl-teams-limiting-exposure-to-free-agency 

Today Angel City Football Club announced officially what was originally rumored two weeks ago, that Willow Bay and Bob Iger were close to purchasing control in the club. The transaction is still awaiting closing conditions, and approval by the NWSL Board of Directors, but the deal valued Angel City as the most valuable women’s sports team in the world with an enterprise value of $250 million.

RELATED: Current Angel City FC Roster

Last year, a Sportico valuation of the NWSL teams had Angel City at the top of the table worth $180 million with a $31 million revenue for 2023. Most recently, the Seattle Reign were sold for $58 million earlier this year and it was reported that the San Diego Wave were being sold in a phased approach for a total of $113 million.

In early July the pitch deck which Bay and Iger used to present to the ACFC Board of Directors was leaked by Semafor with the original story, which did include a new practice facility as an opportunity for growth. Since joining the league in 2022, Angel City has been practicing at Cal Lutheran's Thousand Oaks campus??, which is about a 50 mile drive from BMO Stadium—where ACFC plays its home matches. Originally it was announced that ACFC would only spend two seasons at Cal Lutheran and the club has extended the deal likely until a more permanent practice facility can be built.

Source: https://www.semafor.com/article/07/02/2024/disney-ceo-bob-iger-and-willow-bay-to-by-soccer-team

As a part of the purchasing agreement for the team, Bay and Iger will invest $50 million to support the Club’s future growth. Bay will also serve on and have full control of the ACFC Board of Directors as well as be the team representative on the NWSL Board of Governors. The sale was unanimously approved by the ACFC Board of Directors, and is hoping to close in the next 30-60 days.

Bay stated in a team press release, “As fans and friends of ACFC, we are thrilled to join this team as owners at this historic moment in sports. ACFC and these incredible athletes have already had a tremendous impact on the NWSL, women’s soccer, and the Los Angeles community. With this investment of resources and capital, we hope to accelerate the growth of the Club and the NWSL. Working with the team and Board, and the incredible community of ACFC fans, we are committed to advancing the Club’s mission of driving equity on and off the field.

Angel City currently sits 11th in the NWSL standings table, and has really struggled in the first half of the season, with only four wins and three draws in their 16 matches. They currently sit only three points below the playoff line of eighth place.

While players were released for the Olympics and Olympic prep on Monday, the Olympics group stage will begin on July 25th and the Gold Medal match will take place on August 10th. In previous years, summer international tournaments like the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics have meant that teams play regular season games while missing key players, to combat it this year there will be the inaugural NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup. 

The 33 match tournament kicks off July 19th and includes all 14 NWSL teams as well as the six teams with the most points achieved in Liga MX Femenil Clausura and Apertura during 2023. The Liga MX Femenil season consists of two tournaments: an Apertura tournament, which takes place from July to December, and a Clausura tournament, which takes place from January to May. The six teams which qualified for the Summer Cup are: Tigres UANL, Club América, Chivas de Guadalajara, Rayadas de Monterrey, Pachuca and Tijuana.

The Summer Cup will not only allow teams an opportunity to bring home some extra hardware, it also allows players who might not have as many minutes in the regular season to see game time, and it allows domestic players to potentially sign to NWSL teams as a National Team Replacement Player (NTRP) and give them an opportunity to fight for a potential contract through the end of the year. 

Breakdown of players who will be missing the Summer tournament due to participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yellow means the player has not yet played a game with the squad

Gotham will be missing the most players from their current starting rotation during the Summer Cup with seven players, while Orlando, Portland, and Washington all are missing five players — six if you count the players who have signed and not yet played a game with the team. 

On the low side, Angel City is only missing one player for the Olympics, and Louisville, Seattle, and Kansas City are only missing two. With Ali Riley dealing with injury in the first half of the NWSL season and only playing in five of the team’s 16 matches, Angel City is definitely the team who will be the least impacted by missing players. They’ll need to take advantage of San Diego’s recent rough patch, and Bay FC losing their primary attacking/pressing strikers. 

The Red Stars are the other NWSL-side in a group with both Gotham and Washington—both of whom are ahead of Chicago in the regular season table, and missing a large number of starters. Chicago will have a good opportunity to be the top NWSL team in Group D, although missing captain/goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and forward Mallory Swanson will likely change the structure of their attack and defense. 

A little more than halfway through the regular season and on the eve of the 2024 Paris Olympics summer break, it’s a good time to look into the individual performance awards and who the front-runners are at the moment. 

There are five individual awards: Most Valuable Player, Golden Boot, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. Additionally, there are Best XI First and Second team honors up for grabs. As per the current NWSL collective bargaining agreement (CBA), each of the previous awards comes with a $5,000 bonus. 

Reference previous award winners: here

With the surplus of Under-18 players who have joined the league and players from external leagues, in the next CBA it would be nice to see the expansion of awards to ones like Newcomer of the Year and Young Player of the Year. 

Golden Boot

Although Sophia Smith started the season off with a bang, Barbra Banda’s arrival in Orlando and the explosiveness of the Kansas City Current led by Temwa Chawinga has resulted in a crazy golden boot race this season. As a reminder, the Golden Boot goes to the NWSL’s highest scorer, and the tiebreaker is assists—so this one comes down purely to the numbers. In the 2023 regular season, Sophia Smith took home the trophy with 11 goals, and there might be a chance for someone to break the NWSL season-high of 18 goals set by Sam Kerr back in 2019. 

Current Golden Boot standings 

Most Valuable Player

Coming off of the crazy scoring frenzy, it’s easy to see the impressive impact of Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns), Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current) and how they are also at the forefront of the MVP race. Looking at the award historically, forwards have received the award the last two seasons, six of the ten years the award has been given out—the other four have been given to midfielders—and six out of ten years the winner has also been the Golden Boot winner. 

Keep an eye on: Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit, Forward), Croix Bethune(Washington Spirit, Midfielder), Ashley Sanchez (North Carolina Courage, Midfielder)

Defender of the Year

Taking full advantage of free agency, Casey Krueger signed with the Washington Spirit this offseason and has immediately made an impact. She’s had three assists, one goal, and 75 possessions won along the wing. After being just a few minutes short of having an Ironwoman season Orlando’s Emily Sams came into year two and earned her first NWSL goal, and her first assist—not often things you see from a center back. She has had an 88% passing accuracy, 86 possessions won, and her performance earned her a call-up to the USWNT training camp ahead of the Olympics. San Diego Wave defender Naomi Girma is coming off back to back years winning this award, taking it home in both her rookie (2022) and second season (2023) in the league. This year she is showing her consistency boasting a 91% passing accuracy and 70 possessions won. 

Keep an eye on: Isabella Obaze (Portland Thorns), Sam Staab (Chicago Red Stars), Sarah Gorden (Angel City)

Goalkeeper of the Year

Currently only two goalkeepers have conceded less than one goal per 90, with Orlando’s Anna Moorhouse and Gotham’s Ann-Katrin Berger boasting 0.73 goals against/game. Berger is leading the league in save percentage with an impressive 83% rate, while Moorhouse is a close second at 81%. Moorhouse is also leading the league in clean sheets with seven. It will truly come down to the backend of the season to see who ends up ahead. 

Keep an eye on: Kailen Sheridan (San Diego Wave), Jane Campbell (Houston Dash)

Rookie of the Year

Right now, Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune is by far the front runner in the Rookie of the Year race. With five goals and nine assists, she is currently leading the entire league in assists and on trend to break the single season record of 10 set by Tobin Heath in 2016 for the Portland Thorns. If she continues to score as she has, Bethune also has the chance to break the record for most goals in a regular season by a rookie which currently sits at 11—set by Diana Ordonez back in 2022. 

Keep an eye on: Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit, midfielder), Madison Curry (Angel City, defender)

With the NWSL secondary transfer window opening in a little over a month, but a majority of european seasons at an end, teams are already being active with their mid-season acquisitions. Although players can be signed and begin practicing at any time, they will be unable to play in any games with their new teams until the window officially opens on August 1st. 

The Orlando Pride kicked off the mid-summer signings adding in Zambian midfielder Grace Chanda who was recently shortlisted for African Women's Footballer of the Year in 2022. Chanda will join the Pride after the 2024 Paris Olympics. Then the Washington Spirit jumped in the mix, transferring English defender Esme Morgan from Women’s Super League (WSL) side Manchester City. North Carolina Courage is the final team who has jumped into the fray, adding a pair of Australians in forward Cortnee Vine and defender Charlotte McLean.

As a reminder, teams are required to have an active roster of between 22 and 26 players. Teams with less than 26 players are able to add players until they hit 26, but it’s important to plan for some of the non-active players to join the active roster in the latter half of the season. 

An in-depth look at the current state of active and non-active rosters

Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), player salaries cannot be disclosed and so attempting to see where teams sit in their salary cap and whether they can afford certain free agents is almost impossible to predict. The other half of this is the lack of clarity on guaranteed versus semi-guaranteed contracts. 

If teams are looking to add players but are already at 26, they can waive players signed to semi-guaranteed contracts until the official Roster Freeze in October. However, if a player is signed to a guaranteed contract, teams can only waive one of those per season without the buy-out impacting their salary cap. 

Note: North Carolina midfielder Manaka Matsukubo was originally on loan through June 30th, yesterday the Courage announced that the 19-year-old Japanese national had been permanently acquired and signed through the 2025 season. NWSL active roster compliance requires that teams are at or below 26 active players when a player is signed, but in this case Charlotte McLean’s contract doesn’t begin until July 10th, at which point the Courage will have already released national team players to prepare for the Olympics, thereby dropping them back below the limit. Once the national team players return from the Olympics, the Courage will have to make sure they are back at or below 26. 

There isn’t one statistic that tells the entire story of all of the team’s season thus far, and where the midseason investment should come into play, but looking at expected goals against actual goals scored will roughly answer the question of ‘is the attack finishing chances?’ Looking at the expected goals against versus the goals conceded and overall clean sheets roughly answers the question, 'are we letting in more goals than we are expected to?’ 

Team scoring data after match 14 of the regular season

Kansas City is currently leading the league in goals scored and has a positive goals to expected goals, but on the other side of the pitch is also conceding goals more often than they are expected to. Their +17 goal differential is currently only one more than second place in the table Orlando, who is tied on points with only a +16 goal differential. As we saw last season, goal differential can make the difference between whether you have a postseason or not. 

The Courage through game 14 have the greatest differential between how many goals they’ve scored and how many they were expected to, and—with their three signings in the last few weeks—look to be already addressing that.

Seattle is bottom three in both xGA-GA and G-xG which does align with the rough start of the season they have had. Currently 13th out of 14 teams, the hope is that the finalization of the sale boosts how active the Reign can be in the upcoming window. There are already reported rumors from CBS Sports that the team is transferring and signing forward and captain of Haiti Nerilia Mondesir—such an addition would greatly aid a struggling Reign side.

Related:

NWSL Transactions Tracker

Exactly midway through the NWSL regular season and just a couple of weeks away from the regular season break for the 2024 Paris Olympics, it’s the perfect time to take a look back at how rosters have continued to evolve through the first 12 weeks of play. 

Thirteen games in and the NWSL still has two unbeaten teams – Kansas City and Orlando — while both Washington and Gotham are nipping at their heels. Gotham is on a five game winning streak and a nine game unbeaten streak—their last loss being 2–0 against Washington back on April 20th. Washington has been fairly consistent through the first half of the season, and head coach Jonatan Giráldez officially arrived yesterday from Barcelona. 

Since the regular season began on March 16th, there have been 36 player transactions. The Houston Dash have been the most active with 11 transactions in the span of three months while eight of the fourteen teams were involved in two or less moves. Not included below are the three international signings teams have made where players won’t be available to play in a game until the Secondary Trade/Transfer Window opens up on August 1st. 

To see all transactions: https://www.spotrac.com/nwsl/transactions/_/start/2024-03-16/end/2024-06-21 

Overall team breakdown of transactions

When you break it down positionally, teams have been the most active in adding defenders to their roster and then goalkeepers. Gotham late addition Ann-Katrin Berger has thus far been the most influential of the additions, with four clean sheets and only five goals allowed in her nine matches played with the team. 

With the upcoming transfer/trade window coming up and the official end to the majority of the European seasons—which run from September to June—teams throughout the table will look to add talent and or depth in the coming months. Positions six through twelve in the current standings are only separated by six points and as fans learned during last season’s Decision Day (the final regular season day of the regular season), every point and goal likely will count when it comes to whether a team makes it to the playoffs. 

Following the March 18th announcement of the Reign, fans have waited almost three months for the deal to be approved by the NWSL and MLS Board of Directors, but the day has finally come. In a release early this morning, Eagle Football Group–the controlling 97% stake in the Reign–announced the completion of the sale of its entire stake in the NWSL squad to a group including MLS-side Seattle Sounders and global investment firm Carlyle. 

It has since been confirmed by the Reign in a team release as well. 

Reporting from Sounder At Heart states that Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer will serve as the Reign representative on the Board of Governors while Alex Popov from Carlyle will be the alternate. Additionally, Maya Mendoza-Exstrom will be the Reign’s new chief business officer, leaving her job as CEO from within the Sounders organization. 

“My commitment and one I make alongside two incredible teammates in Lesle Gallimore and Laura Harvey, is simple: to accelerate the growth of our business and build our brand and fanbase to meet the opportunity of this global movement in women's sports,” Mendoza said in a released statement. “I believe in this club, its brand, and in the profound ability for soccer to impact our community off the pitch. I look forward to working hard along with our players, staff, partners and fans to build upon the strong foundation that has been laid. Together we strive to grow Reign FC into a globally renowned club that wins championships and leaves our sport better than we found it for the next generation."

The $58 million price tag gave the new ownership group 97% of the club’s share capital, with the other 3% remaining with Tony Parker, who invested in the club prior to the OL Groupe buy-out in 2021. For the OL Groupe, the sale price gives the group a 16x return over four years on their purchase price. 

NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman commented on the sale, ““On behalf of the NWSL and its Board of Governors, we’re thrilled to welcome this new ownership group into the NWSL. Combining the operational expertise and long-term community leadership of the group led by Adrian Hanauer, with the financial investment of one of the world’s leading investment firms in Carlyle, this group positions Seattle Reign FC for success. We look forward to the continued growth of the club.” 

The timing of the sale becoming complete is coming at a good time for the Reign, as they see themselves in 13th place–2nd to last in the NWSL table—and the secondary trade/transfer window is quickly approaching. Although any new signed players cannot play in a game until the window officially opens August 1st, that hasn’t stopped other NWSL teams from getting new talent signed and added to practices ahead of the window. With the European calendar officially coming to a close, this is the perfect time for squads to pick up free agents. 

“We’re thrilled to welcome this new ownership group to our club,” stated head coach Laura Harvey. “Their commitment and dedication to investing in the future of the Reign, here in the Pacific Northwest, is what we all wanted and we are so happy that it is finally over the line. Our coaches, players and staff are eager to embrace this new chapter and continue raising the bar in making this a world-class club, both on and off the field. Lastly, I’d like to recognize our fans, an invaluable part of our story, for their unwavering support toward this club.”

Reign General Manager Lesle Gallimore, Chief Business Officer Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, head coach Laura Harvey, photo courtesy of Seattle Reign FC

A day ahead of the roster freeze in October, teams will have the deadline of their last day to take options on free agents. After the roster freeze, free agents—restricted and unrestricted alike—will be free to negotiate with other teams. Last season, a little over a quarter of players who potentially might become free agents had their options exercised or were given extensions ahead of the deadline. 

Breakdown of 2023/24 Extensions

Thus far this season, only four potential free agents have signed extensions, although right now they are isolated solely to teams in the pacific northwest. The Portland Thorns have re-signed forward Sophia Smith through 2025 with a player option for 2026 while the Seattle Reign has extended defender Phoebe McClernon, defender Sofia Huerta, and defender Julia Lester.

Teams which gave restricted free agents (RFA) and unrestricted free agents (UFA) extensions in 2023 and thus far in 2024. 

Last season, numerous teams were active in giving their potential free agents extensions, with Seattle, Angel City, Louisville, Gotham, and Washington being the most active. On the other hand six teams signed either no or only one extension including Portland, San Diego, Chicago, Kansas City, Houston, and North Carolina. Portland, Houston, and Chicago had league highs of free agents at eight when the roster freeze hit. 

Free Agents given extensions—in chronological order

The majority of 2023 almost-free agents were given contracts through 2024 via the exercising of their options, however, if you break down the contract length by position, it is interesting to see the long-term investment favors defenders and forwards more so than midfielders. 


New contract length breakdown for almost free agents last season.

Overview of 2025 Free Agents (and potential free agents)

Looking ahead at the upcoming 2024-25 offseason, teams range from 12 definite free agents to only two free agents with North Carolina or Washington. Following the 2023-24 offseason bidding wars which occurred and the expanded player movement compared with 2022-23, a large number of teams need to start looking ahead at their plans for 2025 and 2026 and get key extensions in place. 

Breakdown of potential 2024-25 free agency per team

Seattle has been the most active thus far, but their free agency picture still remains the most dire with six restricted free agents and six unrestricted free agents expected this fall. Orlando, Houston, and Kansas City all have eight guaranteed free agents, and with Orlando and Kansas City’s success on the pitch, locking down talent to reduce yearly turnover on high-performing teams will be important. Chicago has had multiple years with offseason exoduses, only has two definite free agents, but a league high of seven 2025 options on potential free agents to focus on. 

Players to watch:

9 NWSL UFA Extension Candidates To Watch

6 NWSL RFA Extension Candidates To Watch

1. Sophia Smith – Portland Thorns

Previous Contract: Thru 2024 

New Contract: Thru 2025 + 2026 Player Option

With Sophia Smith’s contract expiring at the end of the season—which would’ve left Portland in a free agency bidding war—getting Smith signed to an extension was a big win for the new Portland ownership group. Smith is the current Golden Boot leader thanks to the assist tiebreaker as she has eight goals and six assists on the year thus far and has been involved in 58% of all of Portland’s goals. After a rough start to the season, a coaching change and a refocus on finding joy in play has revamped the Thorns’s energy and lifted them back up into fourth place in the table.

2. Mal Swanson – Chicago Red Stars

Previous Contract: Expired - Unrestricted Free Agent

New Contract: Thru 2028

After an offseason exodus in the last three offseasons, locking down the attacking threat of Mal Swanson, especially on such a long contract was a big win for the new Chicago ownership. Swanson tore her patellar tendon in a USWNT game last April, leaving the Red Stars without their main goal scorer for the rest of the season. The team wasn’t able to adjust without Swanson and finished the 2023 regular season in last place. Even though Swanson only has three goals and two assists this season, her work off the ball, and her ability to draw defenders has been paramount in the Chicago attack and the fact that the Red Stars currently sit in sixth in the NWSL table. 

3. Sarah Gorden – Angel City FC

Previous Contract: Expired - Unrestricted Free Agent

New Contract: Thru 2026 + 2027 Mutual

Sarah Gorden was Angel City’s sole ironwoman—a player who plays every single minute of the NWSL regular season—in 2023 and is unquestionably one of the team’s most important players.  Especially with the decision day trade of centerback Paige Nielsen, the fact that the LA-based squad has Gorden leading the backline all the more important. Until her ankle sprain in the week 10 matchup against Washington Spirit, Gorden was on track for another ironwoman season. Despite missing almost two games, Gordon still leads ACFC in blocks, tackle success (with at least 10 tackles) and sits in the top four in interceptions and clearances. 

4. Emily Sams (neé Madril) – Orlando Pride

Previous Contract: Thru 2025

New Contract: Thru 2026

When Emily Sams was drafted in the 2023 NWSL Draft, she was the sole draftee who already had a contract with the league—all players' contracts are technically with the league. Sams wanted to play professionally in the fall of 2022, but the mechanism didn’t really exist for a collegiate player to join an NWSL team midway through the season. So Sams signed a contract with the NWSL through 2025 and then she was sent on loan to Sweden’s BK Häcken before coming back and entering the league via the draft. Orlando drafted Sams third overall. Sams would almost complete an ironwoman season her rookie year, just three minutes short, and was a finalist for Rookie of the Year. Receiving a new contract not only extended Sams’s stay in Orlando, but it also allowed for restructuring of pay. In 2024 Sams leads Orlando in clearances, blocks, and is tied for second in interceptions, she even has a goal (an unlikely occurrence for a centerback), and an assist so far this season. 

5. Emily van Egmond – San Diego Wave

Previous Contract: Expired - Unrestricted Free Agent

New Contract: Thru 2025

Van Egmond joined the Wave ahead of their inaugural season and played an important role in the team’s offseason run as an expansion side and San Diego’s lifting of the NWSL Shield in 2024. Head coach Casey Stoney called van Egmond “outstanding” and has lauded her ability to stay calm under pressure, her work out of possession, and her leadership in the midfield. During the offseason, van Egmond joined A-league side Newcastle Jets on a four game guest stint but a few months later signed a two year contract to keep her in San Diego. The Aussie midfielder was recently named to the Australian women’s national team roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

6. Hina Sugita – Portland Thorns

Previous Contract: Thru 2024

New Contract: Thru 2026

Over her first two seasons with the Thorns, Hina Sugita scored 13 goals and had seven assists over 48 appearances and 41 starts. Prior to the extension, at the end of the 2024 season, Sugita’s contract would’ve expired and left her as a restricted free agent—if she chose to stay in the NWSL. Sugita has one goal and three assists on the season thus far, and is in the Thorns top five in possessions won, interceptions, tackles won, and passing accuracy. 

7. Bethany Balcer – Seattle Reign

Previous Contract: Thru 2024 + 2025 Team Option

New Contract: Thru 2025

After scoring six goals in the 2023 NWSL season, Balcer is currently the leading Reign goalscorer with four goals to her name in just ten games played. The new contract keeps the option of potentially losing Balcer to free agency off the table. The Reign are coming off a 2023 season that found them in the NWSL Championship game, but are currently sitting second to last with only two wins in 11 matches. The loss of Emily Sonnett and Sam Hiatt in defense as well as Rose Lavelle and Angelina in the midfield, Elyse Bennett and Megan Rapinoe up top has been hard for the Reign to recover in a league that is constantly raising the bar. 

8. Ashley Hatch – Washington Spirit

Previous Contract: Thru 2024

New Contract: Thru 2026 + 2027 Team Option

Ashley Hatch was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the upcoming offseason if not for the timely extension from the Washington Spirit. Hatch led the Spirit in goals in 2023 with nine, but also impressively was in the team’s top ten for clearances. So far this season, Hatch has only seven starts of the Spirit’s 11 matches with two goals and one assist. Under the new coaching style of interim-head coach Adrián González ahead of Jona Giráldez’s arrival—which should be any day now—Hatch has been playing wider than in previous years and it’s not exactly clear how she fits into the current system.  

9. Tyler Lussi – NC Courage

Previous Contract: Thru 2024 + 2025 Team Option

New Contract: Thru 2025 + 2026 Mutual Option

Lussi joined the Courage via a trade with Angel City ahead of the start of the 2023 season, and then proceeded to play 19 regular season matches for North Carolina and was ranked second on the team with six goals—five which were game winners. After Kerolin’s ACL injury in the 2023 regular season finale, Lussi has now taken over the mantle and is leading the Courage in goals scored with three, and has an additional assist. The extension keeps Lussi from potentially entering the foray of free agency this October if her original option hadn’t been exercised by then.