Orlando Pride

Barbra Banda: 4 years, reportedly worth $2.1 million

After joining the Pride a few games into the regular season, Barbra Banda really needed very little time to acclimate and fit right in with the Pride. In just seven games, Banda has scored an astonishing eight goals and had two assists putting her even with current Golden Boot leader Sophia Smith but second due to the assist tiebreaker—Smith currently has six. This puts Banda at the slightly ridiculous and impressive statistic of averaging 1.4 goals per 90 minutes played. 

Kansas City Current

Temwa Chawinga AND Bia Zaneratto (You can’t really choose a favorite here)

Temwa Chawinga: 2 years

Bia Zaneratto: 1 year plus 2025 Club Option

Although Zaneratto missed four games due to a foot injury, she has still tallied four goals and three assists in the seven games she did play in averaging 0.81 goals per 90 and 0.61 assists per 90. In Zaneratto’s return to play, she did get ten minutes in during the Current’s last weekend game against Utah but the Brazilian stayed in KC during the current international break to continue her rehab on her injury. Zaneratto’s pairing with striker Temwa Chawinga up top makes defending the Kansas City attack nearly unstoppable. Chawinga has five goals and four assists so far this season. Six of their combined nine goals, and four of their combined seven assists occurring when both players are on the pitch. 

NJNY Gotham FC

Ann-Katrin Berger: 1 year plus 2025 Club Option

Joining Gotham a few games into the season, Berger stepped right into the starting goalkeeper position and in six starts had three clean sheets, only three goals against—even with a 7.9 expected goals against—23 saves, and an 88.5% save percentage. Gotham has not lost a game since the German national team player took to the pitch, earning four wins and two draws over her six matches. 

North Carolina Courage

Feli Rauch: 2 years

Rauch has been the Courage’s starting left back for all 11 of their matches, both when the team executed a four-back and three-back formation. She has sustained a 78.6% passing accuracy and had 23 tackles, 11 interceptions, and 20 clearances across her matches. On the attacking side, she has sent in 31 crosses for North Carolina, been one of the players to take corners for the squad, and had six shot creating actions.

Chicago Red Stars

Maximiliane Rall: 1 year plus 2025 Mutual Option

Starting nine matches for the Red Stars at right back, the German defender helped Chicago secure three points against Seattle in Week 2 play with her 68th minute goal. She has 23 tackles, nine interceptions, and 36 clearances thus far this season. The transition from a possession-based game to a transition-based game has been a big challenge according to Rall, but she has been focused on just continuously progressing. 

Houston Dash

Ramona Bachmann: 3 years 

The Swiss attacker joined the Dash in late April, but has started six games since and tallied a goal in the Houston 3–0 win against the Courage last weekend. Bachman has gone an impressive 10 for 10 on tackles, and has an additional seven blocks. She has sent 25 crosses into the box, with 11 shot creating actions, and 19 recoveries. 

Keep an eye out for: Brazilian centerback Tarciane only has one match under her belt but had six clearances, three interceptions, three fouls won, and six possessions won. 

Portland Thorns

Marie Müller: 2 years plus 2026 Mutual Option

Müller has started all but Portland’s sole mid-week match, most of the time playing left back, with zero errors leading to an opponent shot and one assist. Across 11 games, the German defender has 33 tackles, 34 interceptions, and 32 clearances. Additionally, she has had 34 crosses and 26 shot creating actions. 

Racing Louisville

Elexa Bahr: 2 years

The Colombian attacker started off with a bang, with a goal and an assist in her NWSL debut. She has since started every match for Racing while having a 75.4% passing accuracy. Although she hasn’t found the net herself since the season opener, Bahr has had 21 shot creating actions, and 15 completed passes that led to a shot. 

San Diego Wave

Hanna Lundkvist: 1 year plus 2025 Mutual Option 

The Swedish defender has started all but one of the Wave’s matches, with games playing on both the left and right wings. Lundkvist scored a goal to tie up the match in the 64th minute of  San Diego’s 1–1 draw against Gotham earlier this month. She has a 76.5% passing accuracy with 25 tackles, 8 interceptions, 33 clearances, and 17 blocks. 

Seattle Reign

Ji So-Yun: 2 years 

With 10 starts in the Reign’s 11 matches, Ji So-Yun has played a mix of attacking midfielder and forward, and in the process scored one goal—becoming the first Korean player to score in the NWSL—and three assists. So-Yun holds a 80.9% passing accuracy with 37 shot creating actions, and 26 completed passes leading to a shot. 

Bay FC

Racheal Kundananji: 4 years, reportedly worth $2 million plus 2028 Club Option

Kundananji has started seven matches for expansion-side Bay FC and in that time has scored two goals and earned an additional assist. Bay FC has struggled defensively in the first half of the season, but that hasn’t stopped its attacking players from applying persistent pressure to the opponent's backlines. Kundananji has also had 23 shot creating actions, 13 completed passes leading to shots, 17 tackles, 11 blocks, and 7 clearances. Earlier this month the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) awarded the Zambian forward with the 2023 Women’s Player of the Year Award.  

Utah Royals

Dana Foederer: 2 years

The 21 year old Netherlands midfielder has had nine starts for the Utah Royals thus far this season and has netted a goal and an assist in the process. Foederer has had 18 tackles, seven blocks, and four interceptions thus far this season. 

Keep an eye out : Just arrived in Utah, New Zealand midfielder Macey Leigh Fraser and Spanish defender Ana Tejada

Washington Spirit

Leicy Santos: 3 years 

Santos has yet to arrive in D.C. but is expected to arrive soon. The Colombian superstar has thus far been the Spirit’s sole external addition, but was awaiting the end of the Liga F season to head stateside. Santos scored six goals and had three assists in the 2023-24 Liga F season with Atlético Madrid. It will be interesting to see how the midfielder will fit in with the current Spirit midfield of Andi Sullivan, Hal Hershfelt, and Croix Bethune and the cohesion that group has already built.  

Angel City

The LA-based squad’s sole external signing/transfer was goalkeeper Hannah Stambaugh who has yet to play any minutes and currently sits in third in the goalkeeper depth chart between DiDi Haracic and Angelina Anderson. 

“This group is really on the cusp of something special and if we can get the whole group together and on the field, which we hope to do for Houston we'll be in a really good spot,” Racing general manager Ryan Dell said this week. Dell spoke to Spotrac about Racing’s big re-signing and their approach to the roster, free agency, international signings, and the collegiate draft/youth development. 

This week’s big re-signing: Emma Sears

Just yesterday Racing announced that they had re-signed rookie forward Emma Sears to a new contract, keeping her in Louisville through the 2026 season. Her previous contract was through 2024 with a mutual option for 2025. 

Sears’s previous contract had some triggers in it where she was about to hit them, Dell spoke of the new contract, “We felt it was important to lock her up early.”

“Emma was obviously somebody who's come in, had a one year contract, a potential year two on it and you look at her success, two goals over three starts, 101 yard dribble right against Gotham that ultimately changed the game,” Dell continued. “It probably put Emma Sears on a lot of people's maps in this league.”

Sears additionally set the speed record for Louisville, which is quite an achievement when you think about Thembi Kgatlana and the other players which have been at Racing. “For us, it was a player who's been great in our environment, has grown already and somebody who we wanted to lock up into the future as she continues to have success.”

Racing’s Overarching Approach

Racing Louisville finished ninth in the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) regular season, just four points below the playoff line, and tied for first in draws. Dell was hired right at the start of the 2023 season, and this year the team’s goal is to get out of the nine spot, “continue to grow our roster and get our staff to push into a playoff position.” Alongside the league growth from 12 to 14 teams, the playoffs also extend this season from six to eight. 

“Our biggest goal this offseason was to increase competition across the entire roster,” stated Dell. “We wanted to make our 1 through 26 very competitive [because] the starting group may or may not be the same game to game. We wanted to bring in the most competitive players. We felt bringing in a lot of NWSL experience was important, which is why we brought in Arin Wright. But ultimately, the best word to describe this is depth. We wanted to make sure we provided depth when we had injuries and when you look at our injury report now six players on injury report the last two weeks and the depth that have stepped in and not missed a beat.”

Looking at the minutes played spread from 2023, 74% of Racing’s minutes returned to the squad in 2024, ranking them third in the league in returning minutes.  “It's a young squad,” Dell said in response to keeping the turnover low. “Looking at the team, there's only three players over the age of 30. This team, this club itself is in its fourth season. So for us it was continuing to build on what was successful and then bring in players to compete day to day.”

The philosophy in some sense for Racing is to secure players early in their careers and identify players in the draft. Dell continued, “obviously, we all know Louisville doesn't have the deepest pocketbooks and we're not pretending we do, but having to be very smart because of that is important.”

This offseason wasn’t solely about the player acquisitions, Racing also announced that head coach Kim Björkegren was mutually parting ways with the club just two weeks after the regular season ended. After an exhaustive month-long global search for a new head coach, Racing decided to appoint then-assistant coach Bev Yanez as the new head coach. 

“We've had a great relationship with the players…It starts with trust,” Dell responded when asked how he instilled faith in the players about the transition. “Once you can build that foundation you can go. Obviously, Bev was an assistant here so a lot of people were obviously familiar with her as a coach, as an assistant coach, but it's different being a head coach.We have a great foundation of trust within our group and within our players, and a great line of communication. That's what we pride ourselves on, is creating a player first environment here in Louisville. I think that's helped us attract players from around the league.”

Free Agency

Along with keeping a low turnover rate year over year, Racing has simultaneously done a really good job of getting key re-signings so that defending free agency bidding wars doesn’t come into play, last season giving extensions or new contracts to three players ahead of the free agency roster freeze. Currently, defenders Arin Wright and Abby Erceg both have contracts expiring and potential offseason free agency looming. 

When asked whether there are plans for extensions for Wright and Erceg Dell responded, “[i]t’s something we obviously talked about on a weekly if not daily basis.” 

“We’re trying to figure out right now what our overall roster kind of plan for 2025 is going to be,” he continued. “We've got a plan for the summer that we hope is achievable and we'll go from there.”

Racing was the least active in signing free agents during the offseason, only attaining midfielder Marisa DiGrande, an unrestricted free agent who had previously been playing with Houston and signing her to a two-year contract. “Marisa has been an absolute incredible asset for us,” Dell stated. “She's great in the locker room. Great on the field. You seem to really step in and play well the last few weeks.

“When you go into free agency, it's more expensive and there's bidding wars to re-sign players. So our philosophy is to create that roster a little bit earlier, and then have a plan and go in and execute the plan. We still see value in the draft. This team has been built a lot through the draft, but it's not something we obviously rely on.”

Youth Pipeline - Collegiate Draft, USL-W League, and Racing Academy

Racing is just one of two clubs in the NWSL to have both an academy and an USL-W League team. When asked how the USL-W league team—a pre-professional league—and the academy play into the future plans of the team, Dell responded that in some senses it already had, whereas in other senses it hadn’t.

This past March, as a part of the preseason ramp up, Racing Louisville played in The Women’s Cup tournament in Colombia. Racing used the opportunity to bring two academy players with the squad, both of whom are heading to college this fall. 

The existence of the academy and close relationship gives Racing the opportunity to see players as they develop. Dell stated, “the longer the academy goes, when we look at the infrastructure that’s here, the fields, the growth, the ability for our players, our coaches to go out and see players whether it be in the W-league or the academy on a daily basis.”

“Our Academy is just down the hall from my office, so we're able to communicate with them quite regularly on high performers,” said Dell. “We feel like we're getting a really good run in developing both an academy and a w-league team and utilizing that. Once the draft does go away—I don't think anybody is naive enough to think it's not going to eventually go away—having the w-league here is gonna be a major asset for us.”

Racing’s limited reliance on draft picks has been fairly consistent year-to-year signing three players in 2022 (Jaelin Howell, Savannah DeMelo, Jordyn Bloomer), two players in 2023 (Kayla Fischer, Riley Parker), and two players in 2024 (Reilyn Turner, Emma Sears). Of their five 2022-23 draft signings, four are still in the squad in 2024. 

When it comes to Racing’s choice of players, a lot of research goes into where players that are drafted from certain schools have been successful and they “cast a very wide net.” This past offseason, Racing became the first NWSL team to have a pro day. 

“We brought in players that we felt could help us and we also have our W League, which we see a lot of college players come through that expose them to our facility. So those are all really positive for us. From a draft perspective, first and second round picks are picks that we've seen are incredibly valuable. That's kind of how we've crafted some of our decision making processes.”

International Signings

Last season Louisville became the first team in the NWSL to field a squad with players from six continents, and in general has been acquiring international players from non-traditional locations. With the league expanding the international spots from five to seven, more teams are investing in finding talent abroad. 

“In some senses it's not a perfect process right now on internationals,” stated Dell. “It's something that still requires a lot of work and it's something where, especially with the new technical staff, we've really dove into and it's something we need to dive into further. 

As to how Racing identifies international players, a lot of it comes down to existing relationships that exist between staff and outside of the NWSL. “A lot of it is relationships, whether it's my relationships internationally, whether it's [assistant coach] Carmelina [Moscato] obviously has come from Mexico where her relationships, and what she's seen in that league,” continued Dell. “[Head coach] Bev [Yanez] obviously has played in Japan and other areas. A lot of those are coming from long term relationships that have existed and that we're working to continue to grow.”

Racing’s roster at the moment sits at 24 active players out of the allowed 26, and forward Kirsten Wright can technically come off the 45-Day Injury/Illness list at her earliest convenience as the 45 days expired Monday May 20th. The transfer/trade window doesn’t reopen until August 1st but it will be interesting to see Racing’s summer plan and whether the team can find that final 5% to get them really rolling this season. 

Related

Racing Louisville 2024 Roster

Racing Louisville Transactions

Racing Louisville Draft History

What is the U18 Entry Mechanism?

The U18 Entry Mechanism was new to the NWSL for the 2023 season, and expanded upon in the 2024 offseason as seven players joined squads using the mechanism compared to three for the entirety of the 2023 offseason and regular season. 

Any player 17 years old or younger can enter the NWSL via the U18 Entry Mechanism. The league maintains a non-public U18 Entry List. Each team is limited to four players between their U18 Entry List and Roster. Once a player turns 18, they no longer count towards that total of four. These spots are not tradeable and a player must be signed to a guaranteed contract within 30 days of being placed on the Entry List.

Most Impactful 2024 Signings

1. Claire Hutton

Signed Team: Kansas City Current

Current Age: 18 years old

Contract: Through the 2026 season

Hutton is the sole U18 player signed this offseason who has started in every single regular season match for her team, earning 10 starts and playing 9 full matches for the Kansas City Current. Hutton’s outstanding play during the season has led to her earning a callup to the U.S. Under-20’s Youth National Team who will play two games against South Korea in the coming weeks. Last year Hutton helped the U.S. U19 WNT win the bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games. 

2. Emeri Adames

Signed Team: Seattle Reign

Current Age: 18 years old

Contract: Through the 2027 season 

Adames wasn’t planning on going pro this year, but after spending some time during preseason training with the Reign, decided to make the leap. Since then she has played in all 10 games for the Reign and started in three. The Reign have had a rough start to the year, currently sitting in 13th out of 14 teams, but Adames has performed well when starting and been a boost of energy when she comes in off the bench. Prior to joining the Reign Adames won a bronze with the U.S. U-19’s in the Pan Am games, and played with for the U.S. in the 2022 U-17 Women’s World Cup. She also got a call up for the U20's friendlies against South Korea at the end of the month.

3. Kimmi Ascanio

Signed Team: San Diego Wave

Current Age: 16 years old

Contract: Through 2026 season 

The youngest of the U18 Entry players, Kimmi Ascanio’s limited minutes are no surprise with San Diego Wave head coach Casey Stoney’s view on making sure not to overburden young players and putting them in positions to challenge them but where they can succeed. This season she’s tallied 137 minutes over two starts and five games played. When she’s played Ascanio has shown her prowess on the ball with an 82.5% passing accuracy and an assist. In February, Ascanio was the youngest player on the U.S. U17 youth national team roster during the 2024 Concacaf Women’s U17 Championship. In the semifinal Ascanio scored three goals in eight minutes in the semifinal against Haiti and followed that performance with a goal in the final where the U.S. took home the Championship. 

4. Kennedy Fuller

Signed Team: Angel City FC

Current Age: 17 years old

Contract: Through 2026 season 

Fuller began the season with three straight starts for Angel City, and in their nine matches, she has started five and played in seven. Fuller played brilliantly for the LA-based side in the season opener but hasn’t had super consistent performances across matches, which is partially expected for a 17-year old. Angel City’s depth in the midfield position is especially low with the departure of Amandine Henry on Deadline Day back in April so for Fuller, the opportunity to get minutes and continue to grow and develop will continue. 

5. Alex Pfeiffer

Signed Team: Kansas City Current

Current Age: 16 years old

Contract: Through 2026 season 

The sole of this year’s class of U-18 Entries with a goal this season, Pfeiffer scored in her professional debut in the season opener. She may not have a start yet for the unbeaten Kansas City but she has played in seven of their ten matches. Pfeiffer joined Ascanio on the U17’s at the Concacaf U17 Championship in February and scored in both the semifinal and the final, tallying six goals throughout the tournament. 

Wait and See: 

Gisele Thompson

Signed Team: Angel City FC

Current Age: 18 years old

Contract: Through 2025 season 

Thompson’s season began with a rocky start as after getting in a late game debut in the season opener, she picked up a knock on her ankle and would proceed to be mentioned as ‘OUT’ on the Angel City availability report for the next four matches. Thus far this year, the young defender has only tallied 100 minutes and one start in four matches. Her sole start was this past weekend against the Washington Spirit where she played a solid 76 until a collision in the box that led to treatment on the pitch and then being subbed out. Thompson got the call for the U20’s end of the month friendlies against South Korea, helped the USA qualify for the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup last summer as well as aiding the U19’s win the bronze at the 2023 Pan Am Games.

Casey Phair

Signed Team: Angel City FC

Current Age: 16 years old

Contract : Through 2026 season 

Casey Phair is the sole U18 player who has yet to appear in a single regular season match and simultaneously has not been injured. She has however been away with the South Korean U17 women’s national team at the U17 Asian Cup since the beginning of the month, and scored a brace in the third medal match to put her side up 2-1 over China and take home a medal. Phair was the youngest player in history to appear in a FIFA Women’s World Cup last summer, but is still awaiting her NWSL debut. 

1. Sam Staab to Chicago

Trade Details

Chicago acquires: Sam Staab

Washington acquires: 2024 1st round pick (#1 overall, selected Croix Bethune)

Contract Status

Signed thru 2026; UFA 2027

Analysis

Hours before the 2024 Collegiate Draft began, it was announced that defender Sam Staab had been traded from the Washington Spirit to the Chicago Red Stars, and in return the Spirit received Chicago’s third overall draft pick. 

Staab was originally drafted fourth overall in the 2019 Collegiate Draft by the Washington Spirit, and in her time with the Spirit, was a three-time NWSL Ironwoman (someone who plays every available regular-season minute), and in 2023 she set a new league record for the most consecutive regular season-starts. On top of all that, she earned Best XI of the Month six times in her career including the March/April Best XI last month with Chicago. After arriving in the Windy City, Staab also signed a three-year extension with Red Stars, keeping her with the squad through 2026. 

The Spirit used their newly acquired third overall draft pick to pick midfielder Croix Bethune. As well as winning the March/April NWSL Rookie of the Month, Bethune was also named to the Best XI of the Month. The rookie is also in fourth place in the Golden Boot race with four goals and four assists in her nine matches. 

2. Ashley Sanchez to North Carolina

Trade Details

North Carolina acquires: Ashley Sanchez

Washington acquires: 2024 1st round pick (#5 overall, selected Hal Hershfelt), $250,000 Allocation Money

Contract Status

Signed thru 2026; UFA 2027

Analysis

In the midst of the Collegiate Draft, midfielder Ashley Sanchez was traded from the Washington Spirit to the North Carolina Courage in return for $250,000 in allocation money and the fifth overall draft pick.

Sanchez was drafted by the Washington Spirit in 2020 and was a highly impactful player for the team, got her first cap for the US Women’s National Team in 2021, and was named to the USWNT roster for the 2023 FIFA World Cup. In 2023, Sanchez played over 1600 minutes for the Spirit, scoring five goals and an assist. Since joining the Courage, Sanchez has played in 770 minutes over nine games, with a goal, three assists, and an 80% passing accuracy. 

With the fifth overall draft pick that they acquired, the Washington Spirit picked midfielder Hal Hershfelt. Hershfelt has played in all nine matches for the Spirit this year, with two goals and an 81% passing accuracy. 

3. Rocky Rodriguez to Angel City

Trade Details

Angel City acquires: Rocky Rodriguez

Portland acquires: $275,000 Allocation Money

Contract Status

Signed thru 2025; UFA 2026

Analysis

In its first two seasons, Angel City’s midfield struggled to really find its identity and create a consistent flow between the lines. A large part of this was the lack of depth in the midfield. After midfielder Savannah McCaskill signed with the San Diego Wave as a part of her free agency during the 2023-24 offseason, ACFC was in further need of some added numbers in the midfield. And so, Angel City traded $275,000 in allocation money—and potentially some conditional funds toward the transfer fee threshold—for Portland Thorns midfielder Rocky Rodriguez. 

Although a concussion kept the Costa Rican national team player out of the first two games of the season, Rodriguez has seen playing time in every Angel City game since then with a 78% passing accuracy. 

4. Mandy Haught to Utah

Trade Details

Utah acquires: Mandy Haught

NJ/NY Gotham acquires: $150,000 Allocation Money, protection from UTAH in 2024 Expansion Draft

Contract Status

Signed thru 2024; 2025 Mutual Option (RFA if declined)

Analysis

Ahead of the trade window closing for the 2024 Expansion Draft, NJ/NY Gotham goalkeeper Mandy Haught was traded to the Utah Royals for expansion protection and $150,000 in allocation money. 

During the 2023 season, following injuries to goalkeepers Abby Smith and Michelle Betos, Haught stepped in the starting role without a hitch, aiding Gotham in its final run into playoff qualification—making it above the cutline thanks to having a two goal differential over Orlando. Haught then held clean sheets in the quarterfinals and semifinals to get Gotham to the NWSL Championship which they would go on to win. Haught has thus far played in every single minute for the Royals this year.

5. Arin Wright to Louisville

Trade Details

Louisville acquires: Arin Wright

Chicago acquires: $125,000 Allocation Money, 2024 2nd round pick (#15 overall, Jameese Joseph)

Contract Status

Signed thru 2024, UFA 2025

Analysis

Just 30 minutes before the Collegiate Draft began, it was announced that long-time Chicago defender Arin Wright was traded to Racing Louisville in return for the 15th overall pick and $125,000 in allocation money.

Wright was picked eighth overall in the 2015 NWSL Collegiate Draft by Chicago and last year set a new record for the player with the most starts in Red Stars history. Wright requested the trade to return to her home state of Kentucky. Wright’s ability to play outside back and center back has been very useful for Racing, especially after defender Elli Pikkujämsä tore her ACL and ended up on the Season-Ending Injury list back in March. 

With the acquired draft pick, the Red Stars chose midfielder Jameese Joseph. Joseph has found playing time in six matches for Chicago thus far and has gotten one assist and had nine tackles won. 

Related:

NWSL Trade Tracker

Almost one-third done with the 2024 NWSL season, it’s a good time to take a look at the 2024 Collegiate Draft, how things panned out contract wise, the impact of teams' draft classes, and the most/least impactful trades of draft day. 

Contract Length Breakdown

The 2024 NWSL Draft had the most players drafted with expansion sides Bay FC and Utah Royals increasing the total teams involved up to 14. Of the 56 players drafted, 25% of the players drafted didn’t end up signing with the NWSL team that drafted them. Another quarter of the draftees were signed to contracts of at least three years, while the largest percentage of draftees were signed to a one year contract with an option year for 2025. 

A breakdown of the contract length given per round of draft picks can be seen below. As is roughly expected, a majority of the first round picks were signed to contracts of at least three years guaranteed. As the rounds continue, the average contract lengths reduce until the fourth and final round where a majority of the players were not signed to their drafting teams. 

The 2024 NWSL draft picks and the specific contracts per player can be found: https://www.spotrac.com/nwsl/draft/_/year/2024 

Team Breakdown of Draft Picks

Reminder: The mode is the most frequent number that appears in a set of data. It is used here to highlight the trend of teams in the length of the contracts they signed draftees. In the case of Chicago and Louisville, there was an even split so both numbers were included. 

Both Seattle and North Carolina have had 0 official minutes played by their draft picks thus far. This is more surprising for the Courage than the Reign because of the fact that all three of the Courage’s picks were signed for three year contracts compared to the fact that neither of Seattle’s signed picks were longer than a 1 year contract with an option. Maddie Mercado did play in roughly 2 minutes of stoppage time for the Reign in their latest match against Kansas City, but stoppage time minutes don’t count toward official minute stats.

Signing only one draft pick, Angel City outside back Madison Curry has truly been the most impactful draft pick of the later rounds in the draft, filling in almost seamlessly for the LA-based side after M.A. Vignola (NWSL 2023 Best XI Second team) went down injured in ACFC’s week two matchup against Orlando.

Of teams with more than one draft pick, the draftees of the Washington Spirit have averaged the most minutes played, led by midfielders Croix Bethune and Hal Hershfelt who both have played in a majority of the Spirit’s minutes. In eight games, Bethune has already scored three goals in addition to her four assists, while Hershfelt has two goals of her own and an impressive 81% passing accuracy. The Spirit currently sit in third place in the table through eight games. 

The Kansas City Current signed two draft picks, although one is a goalkeeper—and none of the four signed drafted goalkeepers across the league have played a single minute so far—the other drafted player was defender Ellie Wheeler who started in Kansas City’s first six matches, and scored a goal in her professional debut, aiding to KC’s current unbeaten run. With defender Hailie Mace building back her minutes after missing the first few games with a knock, Kansas City has good depth of outside backs as the team marches toward the mid-season break in July. 

Racing Louisville and the Utah Royals are the other two squads whose signed rookies have an average of at least 300 minutes per person, even with Racing being one of four squads with only seven matches played rather than eight. 

Both of Racing’s signings—forwards Emma Sears and Reilyn Turner—have been impactful both when starting and when coming off the bench, with Turner having two goals and two assists and Sears having a goal of her own. 

Utah’s roster as an expansion team has the most draftees signed of any squad at six, and although number one overall draft pick Ally Sentnor is leading both the Utah draftees and all of the draftees in general in playing time with 720 min, and has two goals and two assists. Four of Utah’s six signed draft picks have over 300 minutes played. 

Of teams who have utilized their draft classes less, Portland forward Payton Linnehan and San Diego defender Kennedy Wesley have really stepped up in the last few weeks filling in for injured teammates. They’ll also be players to watch develop through the year. 

Breakdown of Draft-Day Trades

Most Impactful: Washington Spirit

What will likely be the most impactful trade of Draft Day was the Chicago Red Stars trading the number three overall pick to the Washington Spirit in return for centerback Sam Staab—who recently was named to the NWSL’s March/April Best XI. With that number three pick, the Spirit chose Croix Bethune, who is currently leading the draftees in minutes played thus far this season, won March/April Rookie of the Month and made the NWSL Best XI for March/April. In hindsight, both teams have greatly benefited from the outcome of the trade. 

Least Impactful: Angel City FC

There were six trades during the draft itself, however only one team traded for a draft pick then didn’t end up signing the player: Angel City FC. The LA-based club sent $15k in allocation money to Utah for the 44th overall pick, proceeded to pick midfielder Jessica Garziano from St. Johns, but didn’t end up signing her. 

A Changing Free Agency

Compared to the 2023 to 2024 offseason where the NWSL’s version of free agency was introduced, there were three big differences that impacted free agency in the 2023-24 offseason. 

First, for unrestricted free agents—think traditional free agency—the required years of service were reduced from six down to five, creating a bigger pool of players. 

Second, the NWSL introduced a new process, restricted free agency, which would apply to players with three or four years of service where said player could negotiate with other teams, but the originating team would have seven days to match the offer. If the originating team doesn’t make an offer to a restricted free agent by New Years Eve, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Third, there was a NWSL Expansion Draft. During an Expansion Draft, teams are able to protect nine players from being picked by one of the expansion sides or to avoid the process, teams trade with the expansion team for protection in the draft. If teams sign free agents before the draft or gaining protection it either impacts who you are able to protect or gives the expansion side more leverage when negotiating for protection. 

Trends versus 2022-23

There were 75 free agents between unrestricted and restricted free agency in the 2023-24 offseason as compared to 45 free agents in the 2022-23 offseason. Whereas in the first year of free agency players largely stayed with their originating team, this past offseason saw a significant increase in players using the newfound freedom to switch teams. In year one, there were almost twice as many players staying with their previous team compared to an almost even split in year two. 

Contract Length also saw changes this season, while the ratio between 1 or 1+1 year contracts and 2+ year contracts stayed at 1:2, there was the introduction of shorter contracts for players switching teams and because of the increase in player movement a larger percentage of the 2+ year contracts were from players switching teams. 

One other change that did indirectly affect free agency was the NWSL extending the maximum contract length a player is allowed to sign up to five years. The below table shows the overall breakdown of all contracts signed by free agents. The biggest bucket which saw a dramatic increase was contracts 3 years long, while there were two 3+1 year contracts—Angel City FC defender Sarah Gorden and Houston Dash forward Maria Sanchez (now playing for San Diego)—and there was one five year contract—Chicago Red Stars forward Mal Swanson. 

Before looking into team breakdowns for the 2023-24 offseason, here is the summary of how teams did in the 2022-23 offseason as a reference:

Breaking Down 2023-24 Free Agency Per Team

Overall, 51 out of the 75 free agents signed with teams over the offseason, and nine players officially announced their retirement from professional soccer ahead of the 2024 season starting. Free agency is just one mechanism for attaining player’s, teams also use the Under 18 mechanism for youth players, draft collegiate players, transfer players from other leagues, trade within the NWSL, or sign free agents from other leagues to make up their roster composition. 

Most Active: NJ/NY Gotham FC

Once again, NJNY Gotham FC was the most active in signing free agents this offseason, re-signing three free agents from its NWSL Championship winning roster, and adding in five additional players including: Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, Tierna Davidson, and Ella Stevens. Only time will tell if the offseason movement has paid off as Gotham currently has 12 players on the injury report in some form or another and currently sits in 11th place out of 14 teams in the table, with only one win in six matches. 

Most Players Lost: Chicago Red Stars

In back-to-back years, the Chicago Red Stars have had the most players originating from their team sign with new teams. That being said, the other offseason acquisitions and Mal Swanson’s resigning has left Chicago in a good place as they sit fifth in the table six matches into the 2024 season. With the new ownership, coaching, and front office staff, it would be surprising to see a similar trend in the upcoming offseason. 

Least Active in Free Agency: Racing Louisville

Racing has done a good job consistently managing their roster to limit any potential player losses due to free agency. In the 2023 season, they gave extensions to three players who would’ve become unrestricted free agents. They also have been fairly successful in their international player signings, requiring less stress on the free agency mechanism as a part of their roster building. 

Just over a year ago, OL Groupe, the business group that owns French side Olympique Lyonnais men’s and women’s sides, and the Seattle–based then OL Reign, announced that the American sister club would be put up for sale. This is largely due to the fact that Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang was purchasing Lyon’s women’s team from new OL Groupe owner American John Textor and NWSL rules state that owners are not allowed to have a stake in multiple teams. 

The Reign going up for sale made them the third team up for sale during the 2023 NWSL season, joining the Portland Thorns and the Chicago Red Stars, both of which were put up for sale in the fallout from the U.S. Soccer investigation (Yates Report). 

Additionally, in the week ahead of the 2024 NWSL season kicking off, Sportico reported potential ownership changes for both Angel City and San Diego. 

Chicago Red Stars

Sale: $60 million ($35.5mil toward sale, $25.5mil toward investment)

Arnim Whisler was one of the founding owners of the Red Stars back when the Women’s Professional Soccer—a predecessor to the NWSL—was created in 2007. Following the U.S. Soccer investigation led by former attorney general Sally Yates, on October 4th, 2022 Whisler removed himself from the NWSL board of governors, and gave operations control of the club to the executive team. 

This was followed quickly by the Chicago Red Stars board voting to remove Whisler as chairman and, “to transition him out of his board seat immediately with the Chicago Red Stars and to codify his removal from any further participation with either club or board operations.” 

Less than two months later, in early December 2022, Whisler confirmed that he was selling his stake in the team. 

Although players were told that the sale was in its closing stages in April, the sale wasn’t finalized until September 1st, 2023. A group of investors led by Laura Ricketts (co-owner of the Chicago Cubs) paid a total of $60 million toward the sale, with $35.5 million going toward the sale, and $25.5 million earmarked for future investment.

Chicago finished the 2023 NWSL season in last place, but following the ownership change, the hiring of Richard Feuz as general manager, and the hiring head coach Lorne Donaldson in the offseason, the club has hit the ground running during the 2024 season and currently sits in fifth place in the table with only two losses in six games. 

Portland Thorns FC

Sale: $63 million 

The Portland Thorns were established in 2012 ahead of the inaugural season of the NWSL in 2013, under the umbrella of MLS-side Portland Timbers, which Merritt Paulson also owned. Like Whisler, following the release of the Yates Report, Paulson removed himself as CEO of the Portland Thorns and Timbers. On December 1, 2022 Paulson announced he was selling the Thorns, but would maintain ownership of the Timbers and from The Oregonian it was rumored that he was seeking upwards of $60 million for the NWSL-side which had just won its third NWSL Championship. 

Compared to the Chicago sale, the Portland one drew out longer, and the sale wasn’t finalized until January 3, 2024, leaving new ownership with a short runway into the 2024 season. RAJ Sports (Sacramento Kings, AAA baseball club Sacramento Rivercats), led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal reportedly purchased the team for $63 million — setting a new NWSL record.

Following the sale, the team struggled in the first few games of the season with three losses and 1 draw in the first four matches of the season. Ahead of week 5 play, it was announced head coach Mike Norris would serve as technical director and assistant coach Rob Gale would become interim head coach as the team conducted a global search for the new head coach. Since the transition, Portland has won their last two matches and moved from bottom of the table to seventh. 

Seattle Reign FC

Sale: $58 million 

Back in 2019, the OL Groupe purchased an 89.5% stake in the Seattle-based NWSL club for $3.125 million. March 18th, it was announced by the OL Groupe that it had signed an agreement with a group that includes MLS team Seattle Sounders and global investment firm Carlyle for the sale of Seattle Reign for a reported $58 million for 100% of the shares. That return is 16x what they purchased the team for, just over four years later. 

The transaction is still not technically closed, pending approval by NWSL and MLS Board of Governors. 

San Diego Wave FC

Sale: $113 million ($35mil for 35% stake, $78mil for 65% stake later)

In 2021, Ron Burkle paid the NWSL an expansion fee of $2 million ahead of the team’s inaugural season in 2022. Since then, the team has set attendance records, became the first expansion team to make it to the playoffs in their inaugural season, and won the NWSL Shield in 2023—in only their second year. 

Ahead of the 2024 season opener, Sportico reported that the team was being sold in a two part deal which would value the Wave at $113 million. Lauren Leichtman and husband Arthur Levine, the founding partners of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners reportedly purchased a 35% stake in the club for $35 million now, with a second part of the deal where the remaining 65% will be sold for $78 million after the 2024 season. 

Angel City FC

Sale: TBD

March 15th, Sportico reported that the board of Angel City FC had hired Moelis & Company, a global investment bank, to explore a sale of the franchise following some reported tension among board members over team governance. 

In a unique team setup, there are four main founders (Alexis Ohanian, Kara Nortman, Natalie Portman, and Julie Uhrman) alongside a number of smaller investors. Although Ohanian is the team’s largest shareholder, he does not control the board, but does serve as the team representative on the NWSL Board of Directors while Julie Uhrman is the acting president. 

Last year, at the highest spot in the league, Sportico valued Angel City FC at $180 million. With San Diego’s sale for roughly $113 million almost doubling the sale value of the Seattle Reign and almost 1.8x the sale value of the Thorns, it will be interesting to see what happens with Angel City in the coming months. 

Most Recent Sportico Valuations

As of Oct 4, 2023; Reference Article

Angel City FC: $180 million

San Diego Wave FC: $90 million

Kansas City Current: $75 million

Portland Thorns FC: $65 million

Washington Spirit: $54 million

North Carolina Courage: $52 million

Houston Dash: $50 million

OL Reign: $49 million

NJ/NY Gotham FC: $48 million

Racing Louisville FC: $47 million

Orlando Pride: $45 million

Chicago Red Stars: $40 million

Details

San Diego acquires: María Sánchez

Houston acquires: $300,000 in intra-league Transfer Funds, $200,000 in Allocation Money, a 2024 International Slot and a 2025 International Slot

Analysis

Although requested back in March, Houston Dash forward María Sánchez’s move to San Diego was finalized just hours before the deadline of the NWSL Primary Window Closing on Friday. The Wave will pick up Sánchez’s current contract which will keep her in San Diego through the 2026 season with an option for 2027. In exchange for Sánchez, San Diego is sending $300,000 in intra-league transfer funds, $200,000 in allocation money, and an international slot in 2024 and 2025 to the Dash. 

Prior to the Sánchez trade, the biggest sum of money that passed between two NWSL teams on a single deal was $350,000 in allocation money being sent along with a fourth round future pick from NJ/NY Gotham FC to the Orlando Pride for the 2023 No. 2 overall pick. Gotham ended up flipping the pick—which would become forward Michelle Cooper—to Kansas City for forward Lynn Williams. 

The Wave played yesterday against Orlando in a rough 1-0 loss that could’ve easily seen Orlando score three or more goals, while the Wave were held to just four shots and one on target.  They will head home today after two weeks on the road to host expansion side Bay FC next weekend. 

“We are thrilled to bring María to San Diego and offer her a warm welcome to our club and

community,” said San Diego Wave FC President Jill Ellis said in a release. “For club and country, María has been an integral part of every team she has been on and her talent will be a wonderful addition to the club.”

It will be really interesting to see how Sánchez fits in a San Diego side which is stacked up top, with nine forwards currently on the roster, or whether Sánchez will drop back into the midfield. 

Houston is already in Portland ahead of their evening matchup against the Thorns and then will continue their road series facing Utah next weekend. Currently sitting 11th in the table, the Dash only have four points through four games, and have been really struggling to find their footing under new head coach Fran Alonso. They will be facing a bottom of the table Portland Thorns who are currently under the direction of a new interim head coach as of Tuesday. Sanchez has played all but 12 minutes of the Dash’s regular season thus far, and it will be interesting to see who steps up in her absence. 

In what the team called two ‘strategic trades’ prior to the closing of the NWSL Trade Window, Angel City sent defender Paige Nielsen to the Houston Dash for $50,000 in allocation money and $50,000 in transfer funds and midfielder Amandine Henry was sent to the Utah Royals in exchange for $75,000 in allocation money.

Seeing that Angel City was at 26 active players and Christen Press continues to progress in her return to play journey, most people expected the Los Angeles based side would need to do something to make sure that there was an active roster spot for Press to drop into but most expected it to be as simple as waiving a player.

Without any clarity into salaries and where the team sits on the salary cap, this reads like Angel City didn’t have a plan for the cap space that Press takes up once she’s on the active roster, and was left scrambling to make sure that it existed at the 11th hour, and they do get some cash back to potentially sign an additional player in the secondary window. 

The loss of Henry and Nielsen on the pitch for Angel City will be hard felt by the team who is currently sitting in tenth in the table, only getting four points out of the first four games.

Houston Acquires Paige Nielsen

Houston acquires: Paige Nielsen

Angel City acquires: $50,000 in Allocation Money and $50,000 in Transfer Funds

Trading away Nielsen, a player who started 21 matches for ACFC last year and has started three of the four matches this season and was not on many people’s radar as how to get the roster space opened up and back under 26.

This is a good move for Houston, who reportedly received a large sum of money from San Diego in return for Maria Sanchez and who had two starting defenders move to non-active roster this year on maternity leave.

The real losers in this deal are the players who now have to quickly pack up their lives, move states, and prepare to transition onto a new team — having missed an important part of the team building process, preseason. Nielsen joined Angel City from their start in 2022 and was one of their most consistent performers the entirety of last season, and now just before week 5 of play finds herself packing up and heading to Houston. 

Utah Acquires Amandine Henry

Utah acquires: Amandine Henry

Angel City acquires: $75,000 in allocation money

The Nielsen trade was leaked yesterday, but the additional loss of French national team player Amandine Henry, who just joined the squad last summer and quickly became the lynchpin in the midfield, was definitely a surprise to most. Henry arrived less than a year ago and was signed on a three year contract with an option year, expecting to stay in Angel City through 2026 or potentially 2027 and now finds herself in Utah.

For Utah, it’s also a move that makes sense because Amandine Henry is the caliber of player any team would be lucky to have, and as seen in the opening few games, a defensive midfielder like Henry would have an immediate impact there.

The NWSL’s Primary Trade and Transfer window closes on Friday at midnight eastern time, and will remain closed until August 1st, covering a span of 11 regular season games. With the window closed, teams cannot add or sign any transfers, trades, or international transfer certificates (needed when players switch leagues even as free agents), so the rosters will be pretty much set for the coming months.

Something that is unique about the NWSL is that unlike a majority of the European leagues, the season runs from mid-March to mid-November, with a summer break for the Olympics and a winter offseason. The traditionally european schedule will have games run from mid-September to end of May, with a short break over the winter holidays and summer is off. The true impact of this misalignment in game schedule is that the transfer/trade windows don’t really align either.

In 2023, the Secondary NWSL Window went from the end of June to the end of July, better aligning with the end of the European season and leading into the FIFA World Cup. This season, the window won’t open until midway through the 2024 Paris Olympics, creating a significantly shorter ramp for any additional players to mesh and build cohesion with their new teammates heading into the backend of the season.

Currently, five of the fourteen teams are at the limit of 26 active players, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t add any additional players in the Secondary Window or upgrade any current players off of the non-active roster.

*Washington Spirit signing Leicy Santos was counted toward the active player count since she has already signed although she has not arrived yet.

Contract Structures

Contracts with players can be either guaranteed or semi-guaranteed, unfortunately, there really is no clarity on semi-guaranteed status of contracts of players. Teams may waive players with semi-guaranteed contracts at any time ahead of the yearly roster freeze date (this year it is October 10th), but for players with guaranteed contracts, there are limits. Teams are only able to buy-out one guaranteed contract per season before the buy-out starts impacting the salary cap.

Loaning Players

Unlike most soccer leagues, the NWSL does not allow players to be loaned out to other teams in the NWSL, i.e. inside the league you cannot trade a player for only a finite amount of time. When the windows are closed, what really matters is that new players cannot be added, however, players can be loaned out external to the NWSL while the windows are closed and get back that salary cap space and the active roster space. The issue with the outgoing loans and transfers is that when the NWSL is playing games, a large majority of leagues do not have their own windows open to be able to add an additional player thus limiting the options for loans and transfers through the first half of the season.

Teams to Watch

The teams to watch in the coming months will be those teams who don’t necessarily have the roster space currently available to absorb their 2022 or 2023 SEI’s rejoining the active roster — Angel City, Chicago, Kansas City, Gotham, and Orlando.  

By the time that the Secondary Window opens, the NWSL will be at 15 out of 26 regular season games. Last year, roughly 15 players were signed mid-year with the reigning NWSL Champions NJ/NY Gotham adding three players midyear who played a big role in their playoff run: Esther, Maitane, and Katie Stengel.

Transfers by Country

Looking back at 2023 as a whole, the USA once again completed the highest number of transfers in the world, showing a 33.9% increase in transfers compared to 2022. These 225 transfers (both internal and external) represented more than 10% of all international transfers in 2023.

Photo from 2023 FIFA Global Transfer Report

Of those, 73 were transfers into the league, with 14 of those players coming from Australia. Racing Louisville was the only NWSL side to make the list of top ten clubs by number of incoming transfers, ending up fifth with 12.

And just a reminder, that although the window will close on Friday, what matters most is that the deals are approved by the league by the cutoff time. Teams are not required to publicly announce any additions by any deadline so there is a chance that there are additional moves/additions to be announced.

Related:
NWSL Transactions