The new CBA might still be MIA, but the NWSL released the 59-page 2025 Competition Manual, and here is everything you need to know:

Roster Size

Still expecting 22-26 players on active roster during the season

Changes: Non-active roster - Mental Health leave added

Roster Relief Contracts

Roster Relief Contracts should be aligned with the length of the replaced Player’s absence with a minimum duration of one month and a maximum duration through the end of the calendar year.

Roster Relief situations: 45-day injury list, Season-Ending Injury, Goalkeeper Injury to maintain at least two goalkeepers, maternal/parental leave, mental health leave, national team duty

If the replaced player returns to the team prior to the expiration of the contract, the team doesn’t have to use a roster spot for the roster relief player and can either list the player as ‘unavailable’ or allow said player to remain on the roster if there is a roster spot available. If both players are on the roster at the same time, both will count towards the roster cap. 

National team replacement players (NTRPs) are domestic players paid the league minimum and do not count toward the team salary cap unless the NTRP remains rostered after the return of the player called up to National Team duty. 

In the case of an inbound loan NTRP, FIFA requires a minimum loan length equal to the duration between the Primary and Secondary Transfer Windows, for 2025, NWSL’s minimum loan length is 99 days. Any loan that is not recalled by their parent club upon the national team player’s return to market will be treated as a traditional loan and will not received roster or salary cap relief.

No loan fee may be paid for an inbound loan NTRP, unless the loan involved an inbound player from the USL, in which case, the team may pay a loan fee as a reimbursement for Player’s salary.

Season-Ending Injuries

For Season-Ending Injuries, a player may be listed on the SEI list retroactively to the date-of-injury. When approving adding a player to the SEI list, the league takes into account the severity of the injury and the remaining time in the season. A player placed on the SEI list at the conclusion of the league season may remain on the SEI list into the next league season and continue to accrue base salary cap relief and roster relief. 

A maximum of two players may unexpectedly recover from the SEI list during the season in which they went on the SEI list, as long as the team did not accept either roster or salary cap relief for the player. 

To join the active roster, a player must be cleared for full activity and participation – full participation means the ability to play in a league game. If at the end of the 30 days, the player is not ready, the team Medical must provide a letter to the league stating why the player is not cleared. 

Salary Cap Exempt Contracts

Salary Cap Exempt Contracts are a new addition this year. They are contracts for the league minimum salary and have a minimum length of two months and a maximum duration through the end of the calendar year. 

They are permitted to have Agent fees calculated that do not count against the salary cap — said fees may not be more than 10% of the Player’s salary.

Teams may sign an International Player to a Salary Cap Exempt Contract, however, the contract cannot be conditional on said player receiving their visa in a specific timeline. 

Trialists 

Teams are able to have trialists at any point in the season. The maximum trial duration for a Trialist who is 21 and under is 56 days, consecutive or nonconsecutive, per team in any one league season. The maximum trial duration for any Trialist over 21 is 21 days, consecutive or nonconsecutive. For the duration of a trial, trialists may participate in any preseason game or practice games only.

Amateurs 

Amateurs are not included in team roster size calculations, but may participate in Preseason Games; and Unofficial Tournaments only. No more than three amateur players may train with any one NWSL team at any given time. 

Should an NWSL team create, maintain, or partner with a reserve team or lower division team, the NWSL and NWSLPA shall meet to bargain over whether players from the reserve teams or lower division teams may be Loaned or “called-up” to train and/or play with an NWSL team or players loaned or “called down” to reserve teams. 

Standard Player Contract Terms/Benefits

The maximum length of a contract for a player over 18 is five years including any options. For players under the age of 18, the maximum term is three years, including any options.

Options in Standard Player Agreements (SPA) may be unilateral (team or player) or mutual. Option years may not exceed the length of the guaranteed contract. 

Example: 2+2 or 2+1+1 are okay, but 2+3 or 2+1+1+1 are not. 

If a mutual option is exercised on the team side, the mutual option can be rescinded at any time if the player has not yet executed their part of the mutual option. Clubs have no obligation to keep a mutual option open for a specific length of time to allow a player to accept.

An SPA offered to a player expires and will no longer be valid after 30 days if it is neither executed nor expressly rejected in writing. 

Salary Cap Regulations & Player Compensation

The league has established a $3.3 million base salary cap to be used against a 22-26 player roster for the 2025 season, with additional monies from the league’s new revenue sharing mechanism bringing the cap to $3.5 million.

The salary cap charges include: Bonuses (Performance, Roster, Signing, One-Time), Fees (going over the transfer fee threshold), Excess benefits above the amounts required by the terms of the CBA (housing, childcare, player benefits), and Excess additional work. 

Things not counted toward the player Salary Cap: Payment for additional work up to $15,000, travel and transportation reimbursements as set in the CBA, Parental/dependent care up to 2x the IRS maximum, Housing, automobile, relocation, and per diem per the CBA, Standard Player benefits provided by the league (insurance, dental, life insurance, 401k employer contributions). 

Achieved performance bonuses are paid out in the year achieved but count towards the salary cap for the following NWSL league season. The bonus amount earned in 2024 will count toward a team’s salary cap in 2025 regardless of whether or not the player remains on the team roster for 2025. 

Signing bonuses and one-time bonuses will be paid out in the current year, and count against the team’s current year salary cap. Team-provided player bonus packets cannot exceed 50% of a player’s total base salary across the term of the SPA. 

League-provided post-season and award bonuses will not count against the team’s salary cap. Prize money earned for competition in an official tournament will not count against the team’s salary cap. 

Salary Cap cash and charges are not tradable assets and cannot be included in transactions between teams. 

Teams may pay Transfer and/or Loan fees in excess of the Transfer Fee Threshold but will incur a Salary Cap charge at twenty-five percent (25%) of the excess amount over the Transfer Fee Threshold. For example, if a Team pays net Transfer fees of $600,000, the Team will incur a $12,500 Salary Cap charge (i.e., 25% of the excess $50,000).

A team may also receive Salary Cap relief for a Player’s Agent fee at the daily rate for the duration of time the Player is on the SEI/Maternity List. However, a team may only receive Salary Cap relief in the calendar year the player is initially placed on said lists. Relief does not roll over to the next calendar year, even if the player remains on the list in the new year. 

Mutual Termination (Buyout)

Teams have the ability to buy out one SPA per league season with no impact to their Salary Cap from the point of the buyout. Teams may buy out additional SPA(s) but the full amount will count towards the team salary cap. 

Buyout regulations apply to both SPAs and Salary Cap Exempt Contracts. 

Teams and Players may agree to Mutually Terminate a Guaranteed SPA. Mutual Terminations may include financial compensation terms (e.g., a Buyout), but they are not required to include financial compensation so long as the Player is in agreement

Related Party Transactions

This was introduced ahead of the 2024 NWSL season, and has a lot of clarifications in the 2025 Competition Manual, it is specifically around teams in different leagues which share ownerships. 

Clarifying rules:
No exclusivity agreements can exist between an NWSL team and a related party club. 
The number of players loaned or transferred to or from an NWSL by its related party club must not exceed three players at any given time during a league season. 
The loan period for all inbound loans between an NWSL team and the related party club must be for a minimum of one year.

If the League determines that the Related Party NWSL Team did not pay fair market value and the Related Party Club had previously acquired the Player for a $500,000 Transfer fee and signed the Player to a two (2) year contract, the NWSL may count up to $250,000 towards the Transfer Fee Threshold.

In the event that the League determines that an outbound Transfer fee is being used to manipulate the Transfer Fee Threshold, then the League may, in its discretion, determine that such outbound Transfer may not be used to offset the Transfer Fee Threshold.

Salary Cap implications :
For an inbound loan, a player’s salary cap charge will be equal to to the amount of compensation paid by the NWSL Club and the Related Party Club during the term of the Loan.

For example, if a Player is earning a $2,000 Salary per month from the Related Party Club, is brought in on a Loan, and will be earning an additional $3,000 per month from the related-NWSL Team, the Salary Cap charge to the NWSL Team for the Player will total $5,000 per month for the duration of the Loan (i.e., $2,000 + $3,000 = $5,000).

For an outbound loan, a player’s salary cap charge will be equal to the full compensation paid to the player by both the NWSL team and the related party club. 

For example, if the NWSL Team pays a Player $100,000 in Salary and subsequently Loans the Player at the end of the year to the Related Party Club, which agrees to pay the Player $800,000 in Salary, the Player’s Salary Cap charge will be $900,000 (i.e., $100,000 + $800,00 = $900,000). If the Related Party Club pays the Player an amount less than or equal to the Player’s NWSL Salary, the NWSL Team may offset the Player’s Salary against the Salary Cap.

Trades and Transfers

Beginning January 15, 2025, Players may be acquired in Trades and Intraleague Transfers with League and Player approval at any time during the calendar year.

Player Trades and Intraleague Transfers cannot be made for finite periods (i.e., Players may not be “loaned” from one Team to another), nor may a Team structure a Trade or Intraleague Transfer such that a Player may not play against their previous Team.

Players currently on Loan outside the League can be Traded, however Player’s Registration cannot be transferred to a new Team until Player returns or is recalled from Loan.

Trades and Intraleague Transfers may not be conditioned upon a Player passing a physical examination or voided because they failed to do so, unless the trading Team acts in bad faith regarding the details of a Player’s medical condition. 

Restricted Free Agency is not completely gone, but is only applicable to six players (not disclosed by the league who the six are). 

At any given time during the League Season, a Team may only have a maximum of three (3) Players Loaned in from a single foreign Club and have a maximum of three (3) Players Loaned out to a single foreign Club.

A Team may have no more than a total of six (6) Players Loaned in or out at any given time.

Transfers to and from USL Super League 

Because the Player’s ITC is already with USSF, Loans to and from the USL Super League may take place at any time during the calendar year. The Loan does not need to begin or end during a Registration Window to be approved, as long as the Loan meets the minimum and maximum length requirements from above. 

For outbound Loans from the NWSL to USL Super League, Teams will receive Salary Cap relief for the portion of the Salary reimbursed by the USL Club as the Loan Fee. The Loan fee would not be counted toward a Team’s Transfer Fee Threshold.

For inbound Loans from the USL Super League to NWSL, the Player’s Salary that is being reimbursed by the Team will hit the Salary Cap at the prorated daily rate for the duration of the Loan.

Removing a Player From a Roster

Player-Elected Leave
A Player may request a leave of absence from services required under the SPA. If approved by the League, the Player’s Rights will continue to be held by the Team for whom they last played, through the term of their SPA. Player-Elected Leave is an unpaid leave of absence, and the Player would not receive any SPA-provided compensation or benefits for the duration of the leave. The Player’s Team will also receive Salary Cap relief for the duration of Player’s leave of absence.

Retirement
Retirement shall mean that a Player shall not play soccer for any other professional soccer team following the date of retirement. The Team holding the Player’s rights pursuant to an SPA that is being terminated due to Retirement shall continue to hold the player’s playing rights for 30 months from the date of the Player’s retirement. The NWSL shall have no obligation to release a player’s International Transfer Certificate for the duration of this thirty (30) month period

Players with 10 or more Service Years who officially retire(d) from the NWSL between 2023 and 2030, will receive a one-time founding Player contribution payment of $5,000. 

Player Registration

For any weekday game (Monday-Friday), the PAF and required US Soccer registration materials must be received by the League by 6:00 pm ET on the day before the game (e.g., if the game is on Wednesday, the PAF must be received by the League before 6:00pm ET on Tuesday).

For Saturday and Sunday games, the PAF and required US Soccer registration materials must be received by the League by 1:00 pm ET on the Friday prior to the weekend (e.g., if the game is on Sunday, the PAF must be received by the League before 1:00 pm ET on Friday).

Submitting a PAF to the League does not guarantee a Player will be eligible to compete in the Team’s next competition. 

A maximum of four U18 players may be added to a team’s roster at a given time.

Tampering – Just don’t do it

Tampering was not in any of the previous competition rules. Clarifies that team representatives are not able to tamper with any player under contract with another team and that a team must contact a club prior to speaking to an individual under contract. If said individual has more than six months remaining on their contract, the team must get written permission to communicate with the individual from the current club. There was also a specific callout that ‘Expansion Team(s) must comply with the internal Tampering rule.’

WIth preseason fully in swing and next week’s 32-player roster compliance deadline coming up, it’s a great time to see how the 2024-25 free agency is going and how my December free agent’s to watch ended up playing out.

2024-25 Free Agency

New CBA under which all players with expiring contracts are unrestricted free agents: 142 Unrestricted Free Agents

If you look at how free agency was going in December, there were only 8 players who had announced their retirement or signed outside of the NWSL and that has exploded to 36 players now. In previous years, the bucket of not signed/left NWSL/retirements went from 22% of free agents in 2022-23 to 31% in 2023-24. Now that group of designations is almost at 50% of the free agents. The increase in part comes the fact that there are significantly more free agents this offseason than previous years due to the updates from the new CBA.  

You can track all of the 2024-25 Free Agents here

The other interesting trend is the division of free agency movement. In the NWSL’s first run at free agency, more than half of the free agents stayed with their previous team. Year two of free agency saw the pendulum swing back towards players landing with new  teams. The current iteration shows a dramatic switch in free agents remaining with their current teams and significantly less players switching teams—even with the increased number of free agents available. 

For more historic free agency trends, look here

December’s 14 Players to Watch Retro

Of the 14 players, eight remained with their 2024 teams, one player retired, one player signed with a club outside of the NWSL, and four players signed contracts with new clubs inside of the NWSL. 

Christen Press (Forward, Angel City)

Status: Re-signed with Angel City on a 1-year contract

Midge Purce (Forward, Gotham FC)

Status: Re-signed with Gotham FC on a one-year contract

Maitane Lopez (Defender, Gotham FC)

Status: Signed two-year contract with Chicago Stars

Amanda West (Forward, Houston Dash)

Status: Re-signed with Houston on a two-year contract with a 2027 option 

Kristen Hamilton (Forward, Kansas City Current)

Status: Re-signed with Kansas City on a one-year contract with a 2026 option

Elizabeth Ball (Defender, Kansas City Current)

Status: Re-signed with Kansas City on a two-year contract with a 2027 option

Nichelle Prince (Forward, Kansas City Current)

Status: Re-signed with Kansas City on a two-year contract with a 2027 option

Kerolin (Forward, North Carolina Courage)

Status: Signed with WSL side Manchester City on a 3.5 year contract

Narumi Miura (Midfielder, North Carolina Courage)

Status: Signed a two year contract with a 2027 option with the Washington Spirit

Marta (Forward, Orlando Pride)

Status: Re-signed with Orlando on a two-year contract

Becky Sauerbrunn (Defender, Portland Thorns)

Status: Announced her retirement

Elli Pikkujamsa (Defender, Racing Louisville)

Status: Exercised the player side of her 2025 option

Danielle Colaprico (Midfielder, San Diego Wave)

Status: Signed a one-year contract with the Houston Dash

Hannah Betfort (Forward, Utah Royals)

Status: Signed a two-year contract with a 2027 option with the North Carolina Courage

The NWSL’s 2023 secondary window included 16 player signings and just one intra-league trade (non-player related). Comparatively, 2024 exploded with movement, 31 new player signings—free agency, transfers, and loans—and 11 trades—most of which included player movement.

Chart 1: Incoming/Outgoing Player Movement

1. Utah Royals

After the Olympic restart, Utah won six, drew one, and lost four, a dramatic turn from their start to the season in which 16 matches they only won twice, drew thrice, and lost a lot more. During the secondary window the Royals added Japanese midfielder Mina Tanaka, Spanish midfielder Claudia Zornoza, and Canadian forward Cloé Lacasse. Part of the drastic differences in outcomes can be attributed to the Royals new additions of players with international experience and years of professional experience, but part of it was also the mid-season coaching change which happened right before the Olympic break and the complexity that comes from being an expansion team needing to find their identity. 

2. Kansas City Current

Although the Current only lost once in the first 16 matches of the season, they had 22 goals against in that period, averaging almost 1.4 goals per game against. During the Secondary Window, the Current signed German goalkeeper Almuth Schult, and made two big trades for defenders. First they acquired centerback Alana Cook from Seattle for $40k allocation money and $75k intra-league transfer funds, with an additional $25k in intra-league transfer funds being sent to the Reign if incentive based requirements are met. With just days left in the window, the Current traded goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz and $15k allocation funds to Bay FC in return for centerback Kayla Sharples. Once the team returned to the regular season post-Olympics, the squad only allowed nine goals in 10 matches. The newly acquired trio quickly became the core of the defense and started together throughout the playoffs. 

3. North Carolina Courage

The Courage got started early with the secondary signings, getting the Australian duo of forward Cortnee Vine and defender Charlotte McLean signed to multi-year contracts in mid-June ahead of the window opening. (Free Agents can sign at any time, but in order to play the Secondary Window needed to officially open in order to accept their International Transfer Certificates). North Carolina also made midfielder Manaka Matsukubo’s loan a permanent transfer, adding to the strength of the midfield for the back-half of the regular season. The Courage also added 19-year old Brazilian forward Aline Gomes and traded Gotham for 2024 first-round draft pick Maycee Bell. 

4. Bay FC

The expansion-side didn’t start being active in the secondary window until there were just five days left, but that didn’t stop them from making big moves. First, they acquired defender Abby Dahlkemper from the San Diego Wave for $50k in allocation funds. Then they traded defender Kayla Sharples to Kansas City in return for goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz and $15k allocation money. Lastly, on the final day of the window, Bay traded for forward Penelope Hocking from Chicago Stars for $250k in transfer funds in 2024, and $100k in 2025. Bay FC ended up becoming the second-ever expansion side to qualify for playoffs in their inaugural season. 

5. Chicago Stars

The Red Stars had two player additions in the secondary window, the signing of Canadian midfielder Julia Grosso – who had just spent two and a half seasons with Italian-side Juventus – and Brazilian forward Ludmila - who had just completed her seventh season with Spanish-side Atletico Madrid. On top of impressive club careers, both players have impressive international experience to bring to the squad as well. Chicago’s consistency throughout the season oscillated, especially with the loss of Sam Staab due to a SEI mid-June. With their first offseason in Chicago under their belts, it’ll be fun to watch. 

Today FIFA published its breakdown of the 2024 women’s soccer global transfer report. 2024 showed another year of record growth with $15.6 million spent on international transfers—more than double the $6.1 million spent in 2023. 2024 also saw a 20.8% increase in the total number of international transfers going from 1,890 in 2023 to 2,284. There was also an increase in the number of transfers with fees up to 8.7%. 

Image 1: Spending on transfer fees and number of clubs with fees, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The Summer transfer window, which overlaps with the traditional european schedule offseason and the NWSL’s midseason window saw almost 60% of all transfers and spending with a peak in April as the NWSL’s primary window was coming to a close. 

Image 2: Distribution of number of transfers and spending on transfer fees across the year in 2024, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The majority of transfers (84.6%) were for players who were out of contract–free agents–and almost all of the international transfer money was spent on players making permanent transfers 

Image 3: Distribution of number of transfers and value of transfer fees by transfer type, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The number of transfers which included a sell-on fee increased in 2024, with 92 of the transfers including such a clause. Although it increased almost 70% compared to 2023, at 30.8% it is still well below the levels in men’s football, which are close to reaching 50%. 

Although the FIFA report does report the top five transfer fees of the year across the globe, there is no transparency into official numbers past what writers are able to report. 

Image 4: Top five transfers by size of transfer fee (2024), 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

The average length of international transfers was 14.9 months for 2024, with most contracts lasting between six and 12 months. Only 2.3% of contracts were over three years. In a similar trend to the men’s professional landscape, younger players were the most likely to receive the longest contracts with players under 18 averaging contracts of 29.1 months, and then a solid dropoff in the 18-23 bracket with average contracts around 16.2 months. 

Image 5: Distribution of contract duration in international transfers, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

With 131 different nationalities involved, the United States had the most players transferred internationally (246 transfers), with Brazil (121), United Kingdom (104), Colombia (98), and Nigeria (77) rounding out the top five. 

Image 6: Player nationality by number of international transfers in 2024, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

At $1.9 million, Brazilian players accounted for the highest spending on transfers fees in 2024, followed by Zambia ($1.6 million), Sweden ($1.3 million), France ($900k), and Spain ($700k). Forty-Five of the 131 nationalities involved in a transfer had at least one player transferred for a fee. 

Looking at all of the transfers in 2024, a little over 60% were between clubs in the same confederation with almost 43% occurring between two clubs in UEFA (European Federation). Players moving from Europe to Concacaf (USA, Mexico, Canada, etc) were the second-largest with 156 transfers. 

Image 7: Number of transfers between and within confederations, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

UEFA clubs account for over half of all spending on transfer fees, with over $8 million spent in 2024, Concacaf clubs spent the second highest amount, with almost $7 million spent. Most of the transfer fees went to clubs in UEFA – 73%, equalling $11.2 million. 

The United States had the most incoming transfers with 184, with the top five rounded out by Spain (120), England (117), Sweden (92), and Germany (79). England was the country with the most outgoing transfers with 123, followed by Spain (119), United States (107), Sweden (86), and Turkey (85). In 2024, 87 associations had at least one incoming transfer and 129 had at least one outgoing transfer. 

As far as spending goes, clubs from the United States were the biggest spenders ($5.8 million), with England ($4.5 million), Spain ($1.4 million), Mexico ($1.1 million), and Italy ($0.6 million) following behind. In terms of receiving, Spain let the way with $2.6 million coming into its clubs. England had the second most at $1.9 million, followed by Sweden ($1.5 million), Brazil ($1.4 million), and France ($1.4 million). 

Image 8:Top three transfer streams by number of transfers and spending on transfer fees, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

There were 695 clubs involved in international transfers, the top twenty spending clubs in 2024 included eight of the 14 NWSL clubs, with Bay FC top across the globe. Orlando was fourth, followed by Houston in fifth. Utah, Portland, and North Carolina were eight, tenth, and eleventh respectively. Seattle (thirteenth) and Washington (fifteenth), round of the NWSL’s positions in the table. 

Image 9: Top 20 clubs by spending on transfer fees, 2024 FIFA Global Transfer Report

All 14 NWSL teams have officially started their preseasons and have submitted their initial rosters to the league — requiring 40-player compliant rosters. With all teams at their maximum roster compliance of 26 signed active players, there are 364 positions to be filled in the NWSL. Currently, there are 353 players under contract for the 2025 season—including 2024 SEI’s, but not players currently out on loan. 

There are 54 non-rostered invitees (NRIs) who have joined squads in the preseason looking to earn one of the remaining coveted positions. The league is averaging almost 4 NRI’s per team, even taking into account San Diego, Washington, and Gotham not having any NRI’s with them. 

Team Breakdowns

Note: All roster breakdowns do not include players who are under contract but currently out on loan, but they do include the 2024 SEI players. 

Angel City FC

2024 Finish: 12th

With the league low of 21 players under contract (19 active, two 2024 SEIs) and only three offseason additions so far, Angel City has room for their current NRI’s to potentially find a home as well as some space for further signings until the primary transfer window closes toward the end of March. 

Bay FC

2024 Finish: 7th

Heading into their second season, Bay has 24 players under contract (23 active, one 2024 SEI), and 22 of those returning from the inaugural season. Their one NRI right now is forward Catherine Paulson who played with the squad as a national team replacement player in 2024. 

Chicago Stars

2024 Finish: 8th

Chicago has 26 players under contract (24 active, two 2024 SEI). The five defenders do look a bit scary, especially when you consider that one of those is Sam Staab, who has yet to come off the 2024 SEI list. Chicago has the fewest number of defenders signed of any team, it will be interesting to see who–if any of the midfielders potentially slot back into the defense to add much needed depth. 

Houston Dash

2024 Finish: 14th

After a very rough 2024 season, the Houston Dash had a busy (and successful) offseason targeting NWSL players who have proven themselves to be impactful in the league. The real question will be whether newly appointed head coach Fabrice Gautrat will be able to instill a cohesive identity in the squad. Reminder: From 2021 to 2023, the team who finished the regular season last ended up making the playoffs in the following year. 

Kansas City Current

2024 Finish: 4th

Kansas City is the only team to not have any players returning in a single position, with a complete turnover in their goalkeeper union. The Current have 26 players under contract for the upcoming season (23 active, three 2024 SEI). After the on-field cohesion the team showed throughout the season, it isn't surprising how much of the core field players they returned from 2024. 

Gotham FC

2024 Finish: 3rd

Gotham surprisingly has had the most active offseason of any NWSL team, with 10 new additions joining the squad in 2025 and 24 players signed for the upcoming season (24 active, no SEI). Additionally, there has been reporting that defender Jenna Nighswonger will be heading to the WSL—the window for this move is quickly closing but Nighswonger was disclosed as Not Yet Reported—which would leave Gotham with only six defenders. With their remaining roster positions, Gotham needs to look for further depth in their midfield and defense.

North Carolina Courage

2024 Finish: 5th

The Courage top out the high end with 29 players under contract for the upcoming season (28 active, one 2024 SEI). They’ll need to send players out on loans/transfers or release players ahead of the season opener in March. The stacked roster does mean that the NRI’s who have joined the team for preseason do have a higher hurdle to try to earn a spot than potentially on other teams. 

Orlando Pride

2024 Finish: 1st, NWSL Championship

The Pride are the team with the fewest offseason acquisitions at only two, but when you got something that’s working, why mess with it? The reigning NWSL Shield winners and NWSL Champions have 24 players returning from their 2024 squad, and 26 players under contract (21 active, five 2024 SEI). 

Portland Thorns

2024 Finish: 6th

After a tumultuous 2024 that truly had downs and ups and downs and ups, the Thorns saw three major retirements in players that defined the squad’s culture in Christine Sinclair, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Meghan Klingenberg. Their offseason acquisitions were focused on adding depth in the defense and up top. Portland only has 23 players under contract (22 active, one 2024 SEI), and two open international spots to potentially target additional players ahead of the start of the season. 

Racing Louisville

2024 Finish: 9th

Racing is looking to end their unfortunate run of four 9th place finishes in a row in the upcoming season and focused on shoring up their defense in the offseason moves, while adding a little depth up top. Louisville has 25 players under contract (24 active, one 2024 SEI). It wouldn’t be surprising if they added another forward with the remaining spot(s). Fun fact: their NRI’s include midfielder Meg Boade (sister of Bay FC midfielder Tess Boade), and Makayla DeMelo (sister of Racing midfielder Savannah DeMelo)

San Diego Wave

2024 Finish: 10th

The Wave only have 24 players signed for the upcoming season (all active), and have had one of the busiest offseasons of any team in the league with nine new players joining the ranks for 2025 (and available spots for two more). During the offseason the team hired Jonas Eidevall to lead the squad in their fourth season, who has chosen to not have any NRI’s—likely to focus as much as possible on the teambuilding in the preseason ramp up.  

Seattle Reign

2024 Finish: 13th

The Reign joined the preseason with 25 players under contract (24 active, one 2024 SEI). It’s head coach Laura Harvey’s fifth year at the helm (this go-around), and after a rough start to the 2024 season, the Reign made a lot of moves during the secondary window but were never really able to hit their stride. This offseason will be important to finally have the downtime to figure out their new identity and fold in the new additions. 

Utah Royals

2024 Finish: 11th

The Royals did not have the best start to their (re)inaugural season in 2024, but after the summer break, it looked like the team had finally found their rhythm. They start the preseason with 24 players under contract (20 active, four 2024 SEIs), and have had seven additions this offseason which hopefully will mesh seamlessly with their end-of-season momentum. 

Washington Spirit

2024 Finish: 2nd

No NRIs for head coach Jonatan Giráldez’s first full offseason—he joined the Spirit in July of 2024 full-time. After losing the NWSL Championship to the Orlando Pride 1–0, the Spirit were fairly active in the offseason with seven new additions, all fairly spread out across the pitch. The Spirit started the preseason with 27 players under contract (22 active, five 2024 SEI). 

NWSL teams are able to start their preseason camp as soon as Wednesday, and with it are required to be at 40-player camp rosters—including both rostered and non-rostered invitees (NRIs). Here’s a look at where the NWSL rosters currently stand ahead of preseason starting.

Reminder from the NWSL Competition Manual:
“A Team may exceed the maximum number of Players assigned to its Roster and the maximum number of international Roster spots starting the day following the NWSL Championship through the Roster Compliance Date of the following League Season, but a Player’s Salary Cap charge will count towards a Teams Salary Cap at the daily rate for the number of days the player is on the Roster.”

Teams have until March 12th to get into full compliance with both their INTL roster spots, and the 22-26 active roster, and while there is no penalty for being temporarily over in terms of INTL spots, even players who don’t play any games this year for a team will still count toward the salary cap in a prorated way. 

Overview of 2025 Rosters (End-of-day 1/13/25)

Table 1: An overview of active and non-active rostered players for 2025. Filled green box means the club has eight INTL spots, red means six INTL spots, no special shading means the club has the standard seven maximum spots. 

At full capacity, where every NWSL team uses the maximum 26 active roster spots, there can be 364 active players in the league. Currently, 312 of those spots are in use, with 27 non-active players (1 D45, 2 outgoing loans ending in June, 24 2024 SEI remaining on rosters), which leaves only 25 open spots for the remaining 61 free agents, and collegiate players looking to land on a team for the upcoming season. 

Bay FC and Orlando will have to be smart about their non-active players re-joining the active roster as Bay sits at the maximum of 26 but has a 2024 SEI who is eligible to come off non-active and Orlando has 24 active roster players, but four 2024 SEI’s who are eligible to put them over the active roster limits. North Carolina, Seattle, and Washington are all at the 26 player maximum if you look at their combined total, although especially for some of the later in the 2024 SEI’s, the feasibility of them re-joining in 2025 might be small. San Diego, Angel City, and Portland are all under the 22 active player limit when including their SEI’s. Utah and Chicago are currently under with their active players, but if their SEI’s are included would be in a roster complaint range. 

Chart 1: A breakdown of the 2025 International Spots allocated to players

With each team starting with seven international spots, there are 98 INTL spots in the NWSL for 2025, but only 70 actively in use with another 6 attached to non-active roster players. After trading for an additional INTL spot last year, the Utah Royals are under SEI compliance even if their one SEI INTL player comes back in 2025, considering how late Cloé Lacasse tore her ACL in 2024, this would definitely be a push. Keep an eye on the Washington Spirit though because they currently have all seven of their spots in use, and an additional one that could come back in Ouleye Sarr who was battling a back injury from September through the NWSL Championship. 

Free Agency Update:

Looking at free agency as a whole, there have been 56 players who have signed with teams in 2025, 8 free agents have signed with clubs outside the NWSL, and 11 players have announced their retirements. There are 61 free agents who played in the NWSL in 2024 who have yet to sign with a club for 2025. 

Most teams have put out ‘Thank You’ posts to their 2024 rostered free agents who they will not be re-signing in 2025, or announced it in the end-of-season roster announcements in December. That being said, there are still 12 players who have yet to receive a ‘Thank You’ post or the last update from the team was that they were in negotiations:

Angel City FC - Christen Press

Chicago Stars - Sarah Griffith

Houston Dash - Erin McKinney, Havana Solaun

Kansas City Current - Elizabeth Ball, Kristen Hamilton, Mallory Weber

NJ/NY Gotham FC - Michelle Betos, Midge Purce

North Carolina Courage - Kerolin

Portland Thorns - Gabby Provenzano

Seattle Reign - Lauren Barnes

Bonus Charts– Positional Breakdown:

Chart 2: A breakdown of the 339 players currently under contract for the 2025 season, both active and non-active. 

Chart 3: Breaking down each team’s active players by position

Chart 4: Breaking down each team’s non-active players by position

Today the NWSL released the schedule footprint as well as the competition calendar for the 2025 season. Here’s what you need to know:

Preseason Rosters

Under the new CBA, teams can begin preseason camps as soon as January 15th, and as late as February 5th. By the February 5th deadline, teams must submit their 40-player preseason roster to the league and get any trialist—non-rostered invitees or NRIs—agreements out. 

As far as rosters go by February 19th, teams need to be down to a 32-player roster, and then they need to be at full 22-26 player compliance by March 12th when the rosters are submitted to the league. Players can still be added after the March 12th deadline, but teams will need to remain in compliance on active players and salary cap until the end of 2025 after that point. 

During preseason there is a three-match FIFA Window from February 17th to the 26th, which will slightly disrupt the flow of teams’ preseason chemistry building, but it shouldn’t be as chaotic as the Concacaf W Gold Cup last year which lasted from February 20th to March 10th—less than a week before the regular season started in 2024. 

2025 Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup started in 2020 as the Covid-bubble replacement for a regular season. In 2021 and 2022 it transformed into a fully preseason tournament, and in 2023 it morphed again into a tournament interwoven with the regular season—being played as mid-week games and the summer international window. 

Last year the Challenge Cup went through its (final?) iteration, becoming a single match played ahead of the regular season between the NWSL Shield winner (top of the regular season table), and the NWSL Championship winner. Since last season the Orlando Pride won both the NWSL Shield and the NWSL Championship, this year’s Challenge Cup will be a replay of the 2024 NWSL Championship game as the Orlando Pride take on the Washington Spirit on Friday, March 7th.

Regular Season & Playoffs

The regular season will kick off on Friday March 14th this year, roughly the same time as the regular season started in 2024. The playoffs also aim for similar weekends with the NWSL Quarterfinals being November 7-9, Semifinals November 14-16, and the NWSL Championship November 22nd. 

The NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup does not appear to be making a re-appearance in 2025 following its inaugural run last summer during the time when international players were away preparing for and playing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In its stead the league has decided that NWSL clubs will be able to plan their own friendlies/competitions in the month of July while FIFA regulated competitions are ongoing.

Transfer Windows 

The major change from 2024 is that there are no longer trade windows, so up until the October 9th roster freeze, players can be traded—within the league—at any time as long as the trades have the required player approval. 

For players coming from abroad, the transfer windows are when the NWSL can accept an International Transfer Certificate (ITC). International players (or domestic players abroad) can sign outside of the transfer windows, but they cannot play in a game until the ITC has gone through during an open window. For 2025, the Primary Transfer Window goes from January 28th until March 24th (one week after the regular season starts), and the Secondary Window will open up on July 1st and close on August 25th. 

Another change that comes with the new CBA is that starting July 1st, 2026 free agents will be able to sign with new teams for the 2026 season. 

As a reminder, per the new CBA, there is no more waiver wire and all contracts are guaranteed.

Throughout the season general managers and coaches make decisions based on the information they currently have and what they think they need to have a successful season, but here’s a look at some deals that didn’t pan out for teams (in chronological order):

Didn’t end up panning out for: Utah. Gray only had 2 minutes played in 2 matches, Tagliaferri 267 minutes in 6 matches (4 starts) compared to North Carolina who got Expansion Draft protection and $30k cash back. 

Didn’t end up panning out for: San Diego. Enge only played in 90 minutes and had one start for the Wave in 2024 after San Diego went through hoops to re-acquire her following Bay FC picking her in the 2024 Expansion Draft. She was released by the team in August to pursue opportunities abroad. 

Didn’t end up panning out for: Louisville. This one is just in here because there is no 2025 draft, so Racing didn’t actually receive anything for Beall. 

Didn’t end up panning out for: Angel City. Although Garziano joined Angel City during preseason, she did not sign with the club for 2024.

Didn’t end up panning out for: Houston. They never utilized the 2024 international spot (they ended the season with 3 unused spots–granted part of this was that teams didn’t know yet that the INTL spots would be expanded to seven by the league), CeCe Kizer only played in five matches and 216 minutes for the Dash. In February, they extended her contract from ending in 2024 to 2025 (with likely new salary terms) and September 5th the Dash announced the mutual termination of her contract following which Kizer signed with Gotham. 

Didn’t end up panning out for: Angel City. With that much allocation money in play, normally a player would have more of an impact – Bright was coming off a rookie season where she was up for Rookie of the Year, playing in 1379 minutes over 22 matches and scoring 6 goals. She joined an LA-based club with a lot of forward depth and only scored 1 goal in her 679 minutes over 21 matches. 

Didn’t end up panning out for: Portland. It’s easy to see some of the thought process behind acquiring Alvarado from Houston in that Portland was struggling in the beginning of the season, not finding a win in the first four matches of the season with Shelby Hogan between the posts. Earlier in the day before Portland took on Houston on matchday five, the trade was announced, and Portland started a six game winning streak that cemented Hogan in as the starting goalkeeper. Alvarado didn’t play a single regular season minute for the Thorns ahead of being waived on August 16th to be able to pursue opportunities abroad. 

With the NWSL end-of-season roster decisions in the books, there are a number of teams still negotiating with their free agents to keep them with their 2024 teams in the coming year, and now’s the time to take an initial look at the turnover between 2024 and 2025 rosters and some metrics like minutes played, goals, assists, and chances created as well as the breakdown of current rosters by position.

Positional Breakdown

Note: Totals include 2023/2024 SEI’s toward the positional totals for each team. These players are technically non-active players and do not count toward the 26 player roster limit nor the 2025 salary cap until they are medically cleared to play and re-join the active roster. Positions are based on what the team’s put in their announcements.

The first thing that stands out is that a number of teams do not have at least two rostered goalkeepers with the Kansas City Current’s complete lack of signed goalkeeper being the most striking part. San Diego and Seattle both have a singular goalkeeper signed for 2025 while Washington technically has two—although one still has a 2024 SEI designation. 

Teams are pretty consistent in having between five and nine defenders on roster, with the average across the teams being slightly above six. Gotham’s offseason has seen a thinning of their midfield with only three signed for 2025 and San Diego is only slightly better with four midfielders tied down. Even with those numbers, the average across the stack is again slightly above six and maxing out with Utah, Louisville, and Orlando’s having eight midfielders. Forwards have a similar story to the defenders with all the teams being in a pretty even spread between five and eight. 

Minutes Played

Looking at the 25,740 minutes played by each team in the 2024 regular season, above is a function of how much of their total minutes played is rostered for 2025. All four teams who have at least 90% of their minutes returning did make the 2024 playoffs. Of the teams to make it to the semifinals in postseason, Gotham and Kansas City being in the bottom half of the chart is slightly surprising considering teams often try to keep players with substantial minutes year-over-year in order to maximize upon the connections already made.  

Goals

Unsurprisingly, the majority of the NWSL teams who finished above the playoff line— the top eight teams in the table—have players with the most goals scored returning in 2025 with the sole exception of the Chicago Red Stars who are just ninth in this chart. 

After finishing the 2024 NWSL regular season at the bottom of the table and although they currently are second to last in terms of goals returning Houston surprisingly is the fourth team in terms of keeping their 2024 goalscorers rostered for 2025. The retirement of Portland’s Christine Sinclair, the trade of Janine Beckie, and waiving of Izzy D’Aquila accounts for their position near the bottom of this chart. In a similar manner, Orlando’s position here is solely due to Marta being a free agent and not having re-signed yet—negotiations are ongoing. 

Assists

Similar to the Goals Returning table above, the assists returning aligns fairly close to the playoff line with just some differences in the ordering. The top eight here all made the playoffs, the bottom six did not. 

When you look at the percentages as part of each teams’ performance, you can see that the two expansion sides—Utah and Bay FC—both retained 100% of their assist generators alongside Washington and North Carolina. Racing’s position at the bottom of this chart is mostly due to trades during the 2024 regular season versus not re-signing players. 

Chances Created

Chances created are a cumulative total of ‘assists’ and ‘key passes’ where ‘key passes’ are the final pass from a player to their teammate who then makes an attempt on Goal without scoring.

The four teams who made it to the semifinals being in the top five of this table is no surprise as they were also four of the top five teams in terms of overall chances created in 2025—Portland was the other team in the overall chances created total with 293. The expansion teams once again being high on this chart is indicative that they feel confident in the squad’s they put together and to be honest both sides form throughout the season just kept getting better. 

Regarding the Chances Created as a percentage of team total, the top of the chart follows the trend on minutes returning with Washington, Bay, Kansas City, and North Carolina being a close top four and then there being a drop before you hit five through eight. Houston’s rough 2024 has them rounding out the bottom in both the Chances Created charts and that’ll be something for them to focus on adding in the current offseason.

Trade Window

As a reminder, the NWSL trade window will once again open up tomorrow (Friday December 13th) and stay open until it closes for the holiday transaction moratorium December 20th — December 27th. The 92 unsigned free agents are free to sign with their 2024 club or a new club at any time outside of the transaction moratorium. 

After the first 29 players to sign in 2025 free agency all re-signed with their current club, former Gotham midfielder Delanie Sheehan broke the pattern yesterday when it was announced that she was signing with the Houston Dash. A few hours later Angel City defender Madison Curry joined Sheehan signing with the Seattle Reign. 

With the season only ending on November 23rd and being followed immediately by Thanksgiving week, it’s not really a surprise that this week marked the beginning of players announcing new locations for their 2025 seasons. 

Looking forward, next week the currently open trade window will close and followed by the End-of-Season decision sheets being turned into the league. Under the new CBA, any old contract which had a semi-guaranteed status versus guaranteed will now become guaranteed for 2025 starting in December versus under the old CBA they only became guaranteed at the Roster Freeze toward the end of the season. 

The remaining 2024 NWSL Calendar

Free Agency Over the Years

2022-23: 

Requirement: Six years of service for player to be unrestricted free agent

45 Unrestricted Free Agents

2023-24: 

Requirement: Five years of service for player to quality for unrestricted free agency, three years of service for a player to quality for restricted free agency

55 Unrestricted Free Agents and 20 Unrestricted Free Agents

2024-25: 

NEW CBA — Any player with a contract ending is a free agent

132 Unrestricted Free Agents

As you can see, thus far this free agency period there have already been more players who re-signed with their current team than any previous year. It will be interesting to see how the different buckets continue to fluctuate over the coming months, especially with the ending of the NWSL Draft and collegiate athletes being able to sign with teams at any time. 

2025 NWSL Rosters

When looking at the remaining free agents, it is also important to keep in mind that every NWSL team has a limited number of active roster spots available for the 2025 season, 26. The table below shows how many active players a team has signed as well as any 2023 or 2024 SEI’s/D45’s which are under contract for 2025 and have the opportunity to join the active roster in the upcoming season. 

The other thing to keep in mind for the offseason roster moves is that this is the first offseason where teams are fully able to utilize the expanded international roster spots. A week before the 2024 season kicked off, the NWSL announced that it would be expanding the available international spots for the rest of 2024 and moving forward. 

You can read more about the expansion to seven spots here or check out your team’s current players occupying spots here

15 Players to Watch

Christen Press, forward, Angel City

Midge Purce, forward, Gotham FC

Maitane Lopez, defender, Gotham FC

Amanda West, forward, Houston Dash

Kristen Hamilton, forward, Kansas City Current

Elizabeth Ball, defender, Kansas City Current

Nichelle Prince, forward, Kansas City Current 

Kerolin, forward, North Carolina Courage

Narumi Miura, midfielder, North Carolina Courage

Marta, forward, Orlando Pride

Becky Sauerbrunn, defender, Portland Thorns

Elli Pikkujamsa, defender, Racing Louisville

Danielle Colaprico, midfielder, San Diego Wave

Hannah Betfort, forward, Utah Royals

As a reminder, you can check the status of your favorite team’s 2025 rosters here or follow along with 2025 Free Agency at Spotrac’s tracker here. A comprehensive list of all offseason moves can also be found here.

By the end of this week, all of the end of season awards will be finalized. As they are announced, Spotrac will keep this page up-to-date with the latest:

As a reminder, all of this year’s awards from Best XI to MVP come with a $5,000 cash bonus as per the previous CBA. 

2024 NWSL Most Valuable Player

Temwa Chawinga (KC)

2024 NWSL Defender of the Year

Emily Sams (ORL)

2024 NWSL Midfielder of the Year

Croix Bethune (WAS)

2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

Ann-Katrin Berger (GFC)

2024 NWSL Coach of the Year

Seb Hines (ORL)

2024 NWSL Rookie of the Year

Croix Bethune (WAS)

2024 NWSL Best XI

First Team

Goalkeeper: Ann-Katrin Berger (GFC)

Defenders: Emily Sams (ORL), Casey Krueger (WAS), Kaleigh Kurtz (NC), Jenna Nighswonger (GFC)

Midfielders and Forwards: Temwa Chawinga (KC), Barbra Banda (ORL), Marta (ORL), Croix Bethune (WAS), Trinity Rodman (WAS), Sophia Smith (POR)

Second Team

Goalkeeper: Anna Moorhouse (ORL)

Defenders: Naomi Girma (SD), Tara McKeown (WAS), Kerry Abello (ORL), Ryan Williams (NC)

Midfielders and Forwards: Vanessa DiBernardo (KC), Lo’eau LaBonta (KC), Hal Hershfelt (WAS), Esther (GFC), Rose Lavelle (GFC), Yazmeen Ryan (GFC)

Monthly Award Winners (Best XI, Rookie of the Month, Player of the Month)

Awards History

NWSL MVP

NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NWSL Defender of the Year

NWSL Rookie of the Year

NWSL Best XI History

The 2023 NWSL season had 23 SEI’s. The 2024 NWSL season hit that number by the end of August, and with the NWSL Championship this weekend there are currently 32 players with SEI’s on rosters. Here Spotrac takes a look into when the SEI’s occurred and whose rosters were impacted.

February marked the return of players into market and unfortunately those six weeks saw five players join the SEI list before their season even started (Jun Endo—Angel City, Melissa Lowder—Bay FC, Simone Charley—Orlando Pride, Megan Montefusco—Orlando Pride, Gabby Provenzano—Portland Thorns). The first two weekends of the regular season Gotham FC forward Midge Purce and Utah Royals defender Imani Dorsey joined the group of 2024 SEIs. 

A graphical representation of when players were added to the SEI list throughout the 2024 NWSL season

By the end of April—which did include a short FIFA break—the total number of SEI’s was up to 13 including Bay FC’s Alex Loera, Chicago’s Ava Cook, Louisville’s Elli Pikkujamsa, Orlando’s Luana, and Washington’s Anna Heilferty. The May and June months thankfully had a slowdown with only Kansas City’s Gabby Robinson and Gotham’s Sinead Farrelly joining the SEI club. 

July had the internationals exit for the Olympics and the NWSL Summer Cup which saw four more additions to the SEI list, Chicago lost Sam Staab, Kansas City—Alex Pfieffer, Louisville—Kristen Wright, and Seattle—Ryanne Brown. August trended the same with an additional four players, Lyza Bosselmann from Washington, Ali Riley from Angel City, Lauren Flynn from Utah, and Grace Chanda from Orlando unfortunately before she was able to make her Pride debut. 

September’s SEIs included Washington’s Croix Bethune, Gotham’s Kelley O’Hara, and Houston’s Havana Solaun. As the season reaches closer to its ending, the bar for an SEI lowers as there is less time until the season concludes, so it is normal for the SEI’s per month to stay elevated. October was another four SEI month with Washington’s Andi Sullivan, Utah’s Cloe Lacasse, Portland’s Olivia Wade-Katoa, and Houston’s Diana Ordonez joining the club. Following the regular season conclusion, Kansas City’s Bia Zaneratto and Orlando’s Rafaelle Souza were the final members joining 2024’s 32 person SEI class. 

Of the 14 NWSL teams, only San Diego and North Carolina were able to make it through the entire season without a single SEI (although the Courage did have Sydney Collins on the D45 list from before opening day until the NWSL Quarterfinal that closed out their season). 

In 2023 there were 22 regular season games and minimally six Challenge Cup matches for teams, where the Challenge Cup matches were mainly played as midweek games throughout the regular season. 2024 saw 26 regular season matches, with only two midweek games per team and the NWSL Summer Cup did not overlap at all with the regular season but was used to keep games going while players were called away for the Olympics. 

While recovery time between matches was prioritized in the regular season scheduling this year, overall the 2024 regular season started one week earlier than 2023 and there was also the first inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup which ran from February 20th until March 10th, giving some national team players less than a week before their NWSL seasons started. Compared to 2023 where the NWSL regular season slightly overlapped with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, this year there were 13 days between the Olympic soccer final and NWSL regular season games being played. That being said, the 2024 regular season still did end two weeks later than it did in 2023. 

There are a lot of factors which one could blame for the increase of injuries, from field conditions, to number of games, length of the season, etc. but as the league expands in teams and games, there needs to be increased prioritization in player’s safety and health because a 40% increase of season-ending injuries year–over–year is not sustainable for the athletes, teams, or the league. 

The first round of voting for NWSL End-of-Season Awards has officially opened. As a reminder, the individual awards up for grab are Golden Boot, Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Midfielder of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, Coach of the Year, and a spot on the Best XI for 2024. Each of these comes along with a $5,000 bonus as per the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA). 

Under the new CBA, which hasn’t been fully released yet, all end-of-season competition bonuses will double their current rate ($5k) in 2027 up to $10k for Best XI, Rookie of the Year, Midfielder of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and the NWSL’s Golden Boot. Also doubling is the fiscal awards to the NWSL Shield and Championship Winners. The NWSL MVP award will be quadrupling up to $20k. 

The initial round is used to create a final list of nominees for the final round of voting. The breakdown for the first round is Players (50%), Boards/GM's/Head Coaches (25%), Media (25%), while the final round of voting uses a weighted scale of players (40%), Boards/GMs/Coaches (25%), Media (25%) and Fans (10%). In 2023, the MVP and Defender of the Year awards had five players on their shortlist while all of the other awards had three nominees for voting. 

For reference, here are the monthly Best XI, Player of the Month, and Rookie of the Month winners from March until September. Voting for October’s awards concluded on Monday and should be announced soon:

Golden Boot Winner: Temwa Chawinga

The Golden Boot is the only individual award which requires no voting. It is earned by the NWSL’s highest goalscorer. Temwa Chawinga not only led the league with 20 goals scored, she also set an NWSL Regular Season record, surpassing Sam Kerr’s previous record of 18 goals set in 2019. Fun fact: Chawinga scored as many goals as Houston did as a team. All the while Chawinga also became the first player to score against every active team in a single season. 

NWSL Regular Season Top Goalscorers List

Most Valuable Player: Temwa Chawinga

Sam Kerr’s record breaking 2019 season was the last time where the NWSL MVP and Golden Boot winner were the same person, that being said, of the ten regular seasons that the NWSL has had, only four have not had the golden boot winner not taking home the MVP trophy. [See Golden Boot section for more info on said incredible season]

Remaining Contract: 1 year thru 2025

Honorable Mentions: Barbra Banda, Trinity Rodman

NWSL MVP History List

Midfielder of the Year: Lo’eau LaBonta

LaBonta, a ten-year veteran of the league, was a four–time Best XI of the Month this season. She scored six regular season goals and one assist, with 8 goal scoring actions and 52 shot creating actions. In the NWSL Summer Cup she had an additional two goals and two assists. She also had 35 interceptions as well as 159 possessions won and an impressive 80% tackle success rate. 

Remaining Contract: 1 year thru 2025

Honorable Mentions: Croix Bethune, Taylor Flint

Defender of the Year: Kaleigh Kurtz

One Ironwoman season—playing every single regular season minute—is impressive. Kurtz earning three, back to back to back, is honestly just a ridiculous amount of performing at a high level and there’s also the fitness (midweek games are so much fun) and lack of injury part. Throughout the season Kurtz averaged an 87% passing accuracy and led the league in pass attempts with 2065. On the Courage backline she had 121 clearances, 21 interceptions, and 115 possessions won. Extra bonus: She had a game-winning goal against Utah in May. 

Remaining Contract: 1 year thru 2025

Honorable Mention: Abby Dahlkemper

NWSL Defender of the Year History List

Goalkeeper of the Year: Anna Moorhouse

Moorhouse started all 26 matches for Orlando only conceding 20 goals across those matches while having an expected xG over 30. She led the league in save percentage (81%) and clean sheets (13) in goalkeepers with at least 10 starts. She also had the second most saves on the season with 87 and goals conceded (Ann-Katrin Berger conceded only 16 goals but also started in four less matches). 

Remaining Contract: 1 year thru 2025

Honorable Mention: Ann-Katrin Berger, Mandy Haught

NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year History List

Rookie of the Year: Croix Bethune 

Bethune was selected third overall in the 2024 Collegiate Draft by the Washington Spirit, and her impact on the pitch for the Spirit was felt immediately. She earned three straight Rookie of the Month awards for her performances on the pitch, which included assisting three goals in the May matchup against Chicago and then later in the month breaking the rookie assist record. After coming back from the Olympic break, Bethune earned her tenth assist, tying the league record for assists in a season set by Tobin Heath back in 2016—she also had scored five goals for the Spirit by this point. In an unfortunate turn, just a few days later she tore her meniscus and joined the league’s Season Ending Injury list. Regardless of her shortened season, Bethune’s impact was Rookie of the Year worthy. 

Remaining Contract: 2 years thru 2026, plus 2027 Club Option

Honorable mentions: Claire Hutton, Hal Hershfelt

NWSL Rookie of the Year History List

Coach of the Year: Seb Hines

Hines became the interim head coach of the pride midway through the 2022 season, and upon the season sending signed a multi-year deal keeping him with the Pride without the ‘interim’ title ahead of his Head Coach title. 2023 the Pride narrowly missed the cutoff line for the six-team playoffs, tying on points with the fifth and sixth placed teams but a two goal differential making the difference. After starting the 2024 season off with three draws, the Pride went on an eight match winning streak, and ended up keeping their undefeated run until Matchday 24 of 26. After hopping into the top three in the table after matchday 7, Orlando proceeded to stay in the top two of the table for the remainder of the year. The Pride clinched their first ever NWSL Shield after a win on Matchday 23 against the Washington Spirit. His impressive performance earned Hines a multi-year contract extension keeping him in Orlando through the 2026 NWSL season, with an option for 2027.

NWSL Table throughout the season: agale137 (x/Twitter)

RELATED:

NWSL MVP List

September 1st, the 2025 Free Agency period opened up with chaos as the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the NWSL and the NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) significantly changed the offseason framework—neither the updated competition calendar for the rest of 2024 with window openings/closing nor the new CBA in full have been released. 

Years of service no longer matter when it comes to free agency and with that, there is no more unrestricted free agents versus restricted free agents. If a player’s contract expired in 2024, they were on the 2025 free agency list. With the new CBA, the deadline for clubs to exercise their part in options was pulled in from mid-October to the end of August, and when players could begin talks, negotiations, and even signing with other teams was also pulled in to September. 

Now the NWSL is in Week 9 of 2025 Free Agency being open, and unsurprisingly with the regular season not yet completed, of the 25 signings there has yet to be a player who signed for a new club.

2025 FA Tracker: view here

Of the 25 players now re-signed with their current clubs, contract length has been fairly varied, with a two year contract through 2026 being the most common:

Positionally, the spread of signings is pretty evenly spread across the 25 players, with eight forwards, five midfielders, six defenders, and six goalkeepers.

Where the 25 re-signed 2025 Free Agents have signed 

If you are worried your team might not be very active in the space, it’s also important to keep in mind teams’ 2025 roster status, read more here. 

Alongside the players signed, several players whose 2025 options were exercised ahead of the deadline in order to avoid them entering fray were announced. Additionally, four players have announced their retirement from professional soccer including Alex Morgan, Christine Sinclair, Desiree Scott, and Merritt Mathias.

Starting at the beginning of the 2024 regular season but ahead of the Free Agency deadline, 15 players who were slated to become Free Agents were signed to extensions in order for teams to avoid any potential bidding wars that come with Free Agency. Nine teams were involved in extending contracts of these players with Seattle and Bay leading the charge with three signings, while Houston and Orlando had two, and Portland, North Carolina, Kansas City, Chicago, and Louisville had one. 

As is visible from the chart below, the biggest part of extensions fall in the three year contract bucket:

The original published schedule footprint—which was removed following the announcement of the new CBA—included a December 10th entry for the end of season roster decisions. With 112 players remaining on the 2025 Free Agency list, it’s likely that following whenever that deadline ends up being, at that point there will start to be an uptick in free agents potentially choosing to sign with new teams.

To look back at how 2024 Free Agency went, read more here.

If every team has the maximum active roster spots in use, there would be 364 active players in the NWSL. Looking at the roster and contract situation for 2025, there are currently 236 players signed for 2025 including 21 of the 2025 Free Agents. Additionally, there are four players who haven’t had extensions/options exercised announced but don’t appear on the 2025 Free Agency list as well as 104 unsigned free agents (not including players who have announced their retirements). 

Current 2025 NWSL states. *Indicates the number counts a player loaned out until June 2025

The North Carolina Courage lead the way with 27 players signed at least through the 2027 season, with current NWSL roster rules limiting teams to 26 active players this does mean that one player will need to be released or loaned out in order to meet compliance requirements unless the league expands roster rules moving forward. The Orlando Pride and Racing Louisville are the other two teams who have enough players for 2025 to potentially already be in roster compliance. 

The San Diego Wave have had quite the tumultuous season and right now have the greatest potential to see a high roster turnover ahead of the 2025 season. Six teams currently have less than the required 18 person minimum gameday roster signed for 2025: Kansas City, Angel City, Chicago, Houston, and Portland. 

Looking at the 2025 signings following the midway point in the season, it is clear to see how active some teams were in the secondary window versus in the new free agency period

2025 Roster spots occupied at different times in the year

Houston and Kansas City have been the most active since the new CBA changed free agency, while Houston and Seattle saw their biggest uptick in the Olympic break and through the Secondary Window closure.

Today the Levine Leichtman Family Office completed the acquisition of the San Diego Wave from its original owner Ron Burkle. As originally reported in March, the family bought their first 35% stake in the spring, and the remaining 65% of the deal closed today with the approval of the NWSL Board of Governors. 

The Wave were recently valued at $132 million in a report by Sportico. The sale carried a weighted average of $113 million, with the second portion at $120 million. The Wave joined the league in 2022 under the ownership of Ron Burkle, on just a $2 million expansion fee. 

“We are incredibly proud to take ownership of the San Diego Wave FC,” said Lauren Leichtman said in a team release. “This team has made a significant impact on women's soccer and has become an integral part of the San Diego community.”

Leichtman also spoke of the importance of creating an unparalleled experience for fans, players, and staff,” [o]ur commitment to the club will extend beyond the field as we pursue the construction of a new state-of-the-art training facility while also supporting local youth development and community programs.”

Lauren Leichtman will serve as the team’s representative on the NWSL Board of Governors, and Zachary Leichtman-Levin will be the alternate. 

Additionally, the Levine Leichtman Family Office added additional partners to the ownership group, “these new partners, many of whom are established business and philanthropic leaders in San Diego, bring a wealth of experience, passion, and diverse perspectives that will only strengthen the club and enhance our ability to achieve even greater success. Together, we are committed to not only winning on the field but also fostering meaningful connections within the San Diego community.”

. 
Courtesy of San Diego Wave FC

RELATED:

NWSL Ownership Timeline

Back in April Spotrac highlighted both unrestricted and restricted free agents who were candidates for extensions and re-signing with their current clubs through the regular season. Here’s where things have settled with just three matches left in the regular season. 

Of the nine unrestricted free agents, there was one retirement (Alex Morgan), four extensions (Janine Beckie, Abby Dahlkemper, Denise O’Sullivan, Morgan Weaver), two were re-signed following the opening of free agency in September (Debinha, Alyssa Naeher), and two are currently 2025 free agents (Marta, Christen Press).

For the six restricted free agents, due to the new CBA that was agreed upon, restricted free agency is no longer a thing and they are all considered unrestricted free agents. Ahead of the 2025 Free Agency opening, two re-signed with their current clubs (Alana Cook and Jordyn Huitema), one re-signed following the Free Agency opening (Michelle Alozie), and three remain free agents (Elyse Bennett, Kerolin, Delanie Sheehan).

9 Unrestricted Free Agents to Watch

1. Janine Beckie (Portland Thorns → Racing Louisville)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: Through 2026

August 21st, Beckie was traded from Portland to Louisville, and upon signing immediately signed a two year extension keeping her in Louisville through 2026. 

2. Abby Dahlkemper (San Diego Wave → Bay FC)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: Through 2026 with a 2027 Mutual Option

August 26th, Dahlkemper was traded from San Diego to Bay FC, and upon signing immediately signed a two year extension with a third year option to keep her in the Bay. 

3. Debinha (Kansas City Current)

Original Contract: Through 2024 with a 2025 Mutual Option
Current Status: Though 2026 with a 2027 Mutual Option

Following the opening of 2025 Free Agency on September 1st, on September 6th Debinha agreed to a new contract through the 2026 season with a mutual option for 2027. 

4. Marta (Orlando Pride)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: 2025 Free Agent

Marta has continued her illustrious career through 2024 with an impressive eight goals and one assist thus far in the regular season, on top of earning a place in the NWSL’s Best XI for the month of September, and last weekend clinching the NWSL Shield for Orlando with her well placed penalty kick. 

5. Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave)

Original Contract: Through 2024 with a 2025 Club Option
Current Status: Retired + Maternity Leave

September 5th, Alex Morgan announced her retirement from professional soccer, that her final professional match would be September 8th, and that she was pregnant with her second child. 

6. Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: Through 2025

Following the opening of 2025 Free Agency on September 1st, on September 25th Naeher signed a one year contract with the Red Stars through 2025. 

7. Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: Through 2026

July 29th, O’Sullivan agreed to terms on a two-year contract extraction through the 2026 season. 

8. Christen Press (Angel City FC)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: 2025 Free Agent

July 31st, 781 days after tearing her ACL in June 2022, Press was removed from the SEI list and returned to the active roster. She made her playing debut in the Summer Cup, coming in as a substitute late in a match and then nailing her penalty kick after the final whistle. She’s played in six matches for Angel City, tallying up 84 minutes but still looking for her first goal in the run-of-play. 

9. Morgan Weaver (Portland Thorns)

Original Contract: Through 2024 with a 2025 Club Option
Current Status: Through 2028

September 12th, Weaver agreed to a five-year extension keeping the forward in the Rose City through the 2028 season 

6 Restricted Free Agents to Watch

1. Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: Through 2026

September 9th, Alozie agreed to a new two-year contract that will commence on January 1st, 2025, keeping the forward in Houston through the 2026 season. 

2. Elyse Bennett (San Diego Wave)

Original Contract: Through 2024 with a 2025 Club Option
Current Status: 2025 Free Agent

San Diego has struggled with their identity throughout this season, now on their third coach of the season. Bennett has played in 13 matches for the Wave, earning one assist, and her 2025 option was not exercised prior to 2025 Free Agency opening up. 

3. Alana Cook (Seattle Reign → Kansas City Current)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: Through 2027

July 22nd, Cook was traded to Kansas City from Seattle, on August 29th she agreed to a three-year contract with the Current to keep her in Kansas City through 2027

4. Jordyn Huitema (Seattle Reign)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: Through 2026 with a 2027 Mutual Option

September 5th, Huitema signed a two-year extension to keep her in Seattle through 2026 with the mutual option for 2027. 

5. Kerolin (North Carolina Courage)

Original Contract: Through 2024
Current Status: 2025 Free Agent

Although Kerolin played for Brazil in the 2024 Paris Olympics, she didn’t make her post-ACL tear NWSL debut until September 21st. She’s had three games played, spanning 128 minutes, and has scored a goal for the Courage. 

6. Delanie Sheehan (NJNY Gotham)

Original Contract: Through 2024 with a 2025 Club Option
Current Status: 2025 Free Agent

Sheehan has played in all 23 of Gotham’s regular season matches thus far this season, with 1870 minutes, two goals, and a 78% passing accuracy. Recently, Gotham-expert Jenna Tonelli wrote an article titled, “Why Delanie Sheehan might just be Gotham FC’s Most Valuable Player” talking about how the midfielder is the driving force behind Gotham’s success last year and continued success this year

The NWSL currently sits at 14 active teams. Boston has secured its place as the 15th team—expected to begin playing in 2026—and NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman is expected to announce the 16th team soon based on a previous statement that it would be awarded at "the beginning of Q4".

Previous Expansions - A tumultuous past

When the NWSL had its inaugural season in 2013, it comprised of eight teams: Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Washington, Boston, Washington, FC Kansas City, and Western New York Flash.

Houston joined the league in year two, and then Orlando was added in 2016 to even up the numbers to ten. In 2017, the Western New York Flash moved to North Carolina. Before the 2018 season was able to kick off, both FC Kansas City and Boston were no longer operating. Utah joined the league in 2018, absorbing all of the FC Kansas City player contracts, draft picks, and player related rights. The Boston players were then placed in a Dispersal Draft to be picked by the remaining nine teams and said players would not count against the teams’ salary cap. 

In December of 2020—just under two years after joining the league—the Utah Royals were disbanded and sold back to Kansas City, along with the player contracts. Under the agreement, Utah left the door open for the franchise to re-enter the league after 2023 at a lower expansion fee. Also entering the NWSL for the 2021 season was Racing Louisville—entering on a reported $1-2 million expansion fee—getting the league back up to ten teams. 

2022 saw the first dual expansion year, with Angel City and San Diego making their entry into the league for a reported $2 million expansion fee. Just two years later, the league would make another dual expansion, with the Utah Royals making their re-entry into the league on a reported $2-5 million fee, and Bay FC — the San Francisco Bay Area based team — paying a $53 million fee, over 25x what was paid just two years prior. 

In September of 2023, the NWSL announced that Boston had won the bid to be the 15th team in the league come 2026, at the expansion fee of $53 million. 

Where is the league going with expansion?

In late 2022, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said, “we are gonna be very intentional about expansion and someone actually asked me the question yesterday about whether we intend to add more teams after these two for 2024. We haven't yet made a decision about that.”

In contrast, last week Berman said in a press conference, “beyond team 16, we’re still determining the pace of how quickly we want to expand. We think that we can be as big as any of the men’s leagues in this country, 30+ teams, how and when we get there are still open questions that we are analyzing.”

Previous years with expansion drafts have caused lots of thrash and chaos for existing teams as the main part of team building for the new teams was the expansion draft—where teams had to protect a subset of the team and the expansion teams would then get to pick players from the unprotected pool of players. With the new CBA, the expansion draft has been eliminated. 

One other thing to note is that the new CBA also has been retooled to potentially align with the traditional European system, running from September to June. This could also have a high impact on expansion as playing soccer in January in places like Boston or Chicago where winter gets to sub-zero temperatures would likely require teams to make additional investments for heated pitches and switches to artificial turf which comes with its own risks for player safety. 

Team 16

In June there was a deadline for groups to submit their preliminary bids to the league for consideration. Some of the groups have confirmed publicly that they submitted a bit, including Cleveland and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Cleveland Soccer Group has since purchased 13.6 acres of land to build a stadium which could hold 12,500 fans with the ability to expand to 20,000 in the future. Unfortunately, Minneapolis/St. Paul, who hosts a very successful community-owned USL W League did announce that they had withdrawn their bid back in August. 

Some of the other rumored groups include bringing a NWSL team to Denver, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Miami. During the last expansion process, Berman did announce the final three finalists ahead of the decision being announced, but it’s up in the air how Team 16’s announcement will come out. The other thing that’s yet to be announced is whether Team 16 will be joining the league under the previous $53 million expansion fee or whether the league will increase it considering the increased valuations being seen via Sportico or the numerous sales which have occurred in the last year. 

RELATED

NWSL Ownership

With an expansion draft and collegiate draft this past offseason, the oh-so-coveted international spots played a big part, participating in four trades in December and January. As a reminder, any player who is not a domestic player, counts as an international player—meaning any player not holding U.S. citizenship or green card. Any international player will occupy an international spot with the exception of the eight grandfathered in Canadian Allocated players.

One of the then five maximum spots started in Utah and was then included in trades to Orlando, to Kansas City, and then to Houston where it remains unused this season. Utah was able to quickly get back to the then limit of five via a trade with Angel City for expansion draft protection. Most recently during the 2024 Secondary Trade Window, Gotham was able to get $100,000 for sending a 2024 and 2025 international spot to Utah. 

On March 14th, the NWSL announced that they were increasing the number of baseline international spots that teams have from five to seven. Spotrac spoke to a number of club leaders—from general managers and a coach—about how the change impacts their take on roster building and its impact on the overall competitiveness of the NWSL. 

Washington Spirit President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Mark Krikorian

“The increase of the number of international roster slots to seven will only improve the NWSL’s player pool, making this league even more competitive on a global scale. The expansion provides opportunities for clubs to bring in players with experience in a variety of play styles and for the league to continue its growth internationally.” 

Following a 2023 season which saw them finish the regular season in eighth, one point and a four goal differential off from the playoff line, the Spirit currently sit second in the NWSL table. Of their six international spots currently on the roster, three were added to their roster this year, including Colombian midfielder Leicy Santos, English defender Esme Morgan, and Ivorian forward Rosemonde Kouassi.

Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Haley Carter

“We all want the NWSL to be a world-leading league and a destination for the best athletes.” Increasing the number of international roster spots available creates additional opportunities for players from overseas to compete and entertain. International players can make an immediate and game changing impact to a roster and offer our domestic players, especially members of the U.S. Women’s National Team, the chance to test themselves against some of the best players in the world week in and week out.” 

“Competition among clubs to sign and recruit players is always high - both domestically and internationally - but it’s important we all do our part in making the NWSL a stronger league and a competitive environment for U.S. players to develop in and increasing the number of international spots available is aligned with that vision.”

Orlando missed the 2023 NWSL playoffs even narrower than the Spirit, having the same 31 points as fifth place Angel City and sixth place Gotham, but missing the postseason on goal differential alone. Ahead of the March 14th announcement, Orlando was right at the five international spot limit, after adding Zambian forward Barba Banda and Brazilian  midfielder Luana in the offseason. During the season they added Zambian midfielder Grace Chanda, unfortunately, Chanda was injured at the Olympics and placed on the SEI list before making her Pride debut. That being said, Orlando’s impressive depth has allowed them to go on a quite impressive run this season, as they currently sit atop the NWSL table, and after matchday 21 the team has still not lost a game.  

Kansas City Current Interim General Manager Caitlin Carducci

“The added spots have allowed us to pull in talent from known hotbeds like Brazil and Europe but also have the luxury of finding a Temwa from Malawi. The two extra spots give us the luxury of seeking out talent from lesser known areas and not just focusing on the big names.”

After finishing the 2023 season in eleventh of twelve teams, Kansas City went into 2024 under the direction of recently hired head coach Vlatko Andonovski. In the offseason, they acquired Malawi forward Temwa Chawinga—who currently is leading the league’s Golden Boot race with 16 goals, while the closest competitor, Barbra Banda, has 13, as well as Brazilian forward Bia Zaneratto. Although three internationals would depart the team by the time the secondary window closed, the team also added South African forward Hildah Magaia and now-starting German goalkeeper Almuth Schult. At the moment, Kansas City sits in fourth in the NWSL table and last weekend clinched their spot in the playoffs with an impressive win over the Spirit.  

Seattle Reign General Manager Lesle Gallimore

“Expanding international roster spots in the NWSL allows the league to attract top global talent, enhancing the overall quality and competitiveness. As the women’s game grows worldwide, a broader talent pool is crucial to maintaining the NWSL’s reputation as a leading league. Throughout Seattle Reign’s history, international stars like Kim Little, Jess Fishlock and Nahomi Kawasumi have become cornerstones of our success.” 

“By integrating diverse playing styles, we not only strengthen our team but also provide invaluable learning opportunities for domestic players. This shift helps the NWSL evolve into a truly global platform, expanding its fanbase while showcasing top-tier competition. With 2024 already highlighting the impact of international players, we are excited to see how this move continues to shape the future of the league.”

After getting to the 2023 NWSL Championship match, but falling to Gotham FC, the Reign added three international players to the roster ahead of the season, Welsh midfielder Angharad James, South Korean midfielder Ji So-Yun, and Welsh defender Lily Woodham. The team definitely struggled in the first half of the season, but in the Secondary Window added Swiss forward Ana-Maria Crnogorčević and Haitian forward Nérilia Mondésir. Since the NWSL restarted post-Olympics the Reign won their first three games, and has lifted themselves up from thirteenth to eleventh in the table. 

North Carolina Courage Head Coach Sean Nahas

Sean Nahas spoke about how after the seven international spots, there are still 19 other roster spots and the importance of making sure to build a foundation which supports the Courage’s style of play. “For us, it’s easy to go find the players we want because we know our style of play,” stated Nahas. “When you start to have these expansions and you start to do these things, having that in place is really important otherwise you are just making decisions to make decisions and they don’t always work out. You have to be strategic with it. It’ll definitely have a positive impact but again you have to want to lure those players over just like they’re probably trying to lure players from our league over.”

The Courage finished 2023 after losing in the NWSL quarterfinals, and currently sit in fifth place, seven points above the playoff line and the team has yet to lose a game at home. In the offseason, internationally the Courage added German defender Feli Rauch, and in the secondary window there were the additions of Brazilian forward Aline Gomes as well as Australian forward Cortnee Vine and defender Charlotte McLean. At the moment, the Courage have six players occupying international spots. 

Verdict

Increasing the international roster spots up to seven makes the NWSL more competitive. It will be interesting to see how utilization of those spots increases even further once teams have the entire offseason to work with when working on acquisitions toward 2025. 

The NWSL currently only has five end of season individual awards that a player can win: Most Valuable Player, Defender of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, and non-voting based Golden Boot. Under the old CBA, each of these awards were treated differently, coming with a $5,000 bonus to the player. With the new CBA most of these awards will double to $10,000 — plus the addition of Midfielder of the Year — while the MVP bonus increases to $20,000. 

There has been an increase in young players joining the league, but it puts players at a disadvantage to win rookie of the year when they are competing against 22 year old players who have just finished their four years of collegiate play. The MLS has a Best Young Player award for players under the age of 22, here’s my list on who would be up for the award in the 2024 regular season if it existed. 

1. Claire Hutton, 18, KC Current 

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 1406
Games Started/Played: 16/17

Signed with Kansas City as a U18 Entry player in the 2023-24 offseason. Has played in 78% of the Current’s regular season minutes. She has one regular season assist and one Summer Cup goal to her name. Boasts an impressive 76% passing accuracy for 2024, alongside a 74% tackle success rate, and 30 interceptions. She’s one of the eight NWSL players who are missing a chunk of regular season games to join the USA’s U-20 team at the FIFA U-20 WWC. 

2. Ally Sentnor, 20, Utah Royals

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 1508
Games Started/Played: 17/17

Acquired by the Royals as the first overall draft pick of the 2024 Collegiate Draft. Sentnor has played full 90’s in all but one of her regular season matches, only missed matches are due to representing the USA’s U-20 team at the U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Has three goals and three assists in the regular season with an additional two goals and an assist in the Summer Cup.Sentnor truly had been carrying the Utah attack ahead of the summer window, with the recent new additions, it’ll be interesting to see how defenses adjust to having more threats up top to cover. 

3. Tarciane, 21, Houston Dash

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026, plus 2027 Mutual Option
Position: Defender
Minutes Played: 718
Games Started/Played: 8/8

Acquired by the Houston Dash late April via a transfer from Corinthians, made her NWSL debut late May. Tarciane is one of 30 women’s soccer players across the globe nominated for a Ballon D’or. Has a 77% passing accuracy, 76% tackle success rate, and 11 interceptions across her eight matches. 

4. Alyssa Thompson, 19, Angel City

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 1685
Games Started/Played: 19/20

After being the first overall draft pick in 2023, in her second year in the NWSL Thompson has played in 93% of Angel City’s regular season matches. She’s had five assists over the course of the season and has scored four goals over the last four games after not scoring in the first 16 matches of the regular season. During the Summer Cup she notched an additional three goals. 

5. Savy King, 19, Bay FC

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026
Position: Defender
Minutes Played: 1051
Games Started/Played: 12/16

King joined Bay’s inaugural season as the second overall pick from the 2024 NWSL Collegiate Draft. King had played in all but one of Bay’s regular season matches before joining the USA’s contingency at the U-20 FIFA WWC. Thus far this season she has a 59% tackle rate, one assist, 12 blocks, 22 interceptions, and a 73% passing rate. She’s one of the eight NWSL players who are missing a chunk of regular season games to join the USA’s U-20 team at the FIFA U-20 WWC. 

6. Olivia Moultrie, 19, Portland Thorns

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 1103
Games Started/Played: 13/16

In her fourth season in the NWSL, Moultrie has already surpassed her regular season minutes from 2023, notching three goals and one assist. She had an additional goal in the Summer Cup. Moultrie has also seen her number of crosses and corner kicks almost triple year-over-year. 

7. Kennedy Fuller, 17, Angel City FC

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026, plus 2027 Club Option
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 862
Games Started/Played: 9/16

In March, Fuller joined Angel City via the U18 Entry Mechanism. She scored a goal against Racing Louisville, in their 3–2 win back in June. Across the regular season, defensively she’s had a  55% tackle success, 10 clearances, and 9 blocks. 

8. Manaka Matsukubo, 20, NC Courage

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 759
Games Started/Played: 8/13

Joined the Courage last summer on loan from Mynavi Sendai of the Japanese WE league, transfer became permanent in June. Thus far this season, the midfielder has scored one goal, and has an assist for the Courage. Across 13 matches she’s had an 81% passing accuracy and 82% tackle success. Most recently Matsukubo is with the Japanese team  at the FIFA U-20 WWC, and will face off against North Korea in the Gold Medal Match. Matsukubo scored a brace in Japan’s 2–0 win in the semifinal.

9. Jaedyn Shaw, 19, San Diego Wave

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025, plus 2026 Club Option
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 963
Games Started/Played: 11/16

After joining the Wave in summer of 2022 through Discovery (no U18 Entry existed yet) the teenager has battled injury issues before and after the 2024 Paris Olympics. The forward has scored three goals and tallied one assist this regular season, in the process broke the NWSL record for most goals scored as a teenager—previously owned by Trinity Rodman. 

10. Emeri Adames, 18, Seattle Reign

Contract Remaining: 3 years thru 2027
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 291
Games Started/Played: 3/16

Joined the Reign in March via the U18 Entry Mechanism. Thus far this season the forward has scored one regular season goal and an additional Summer Cup goal. Adames has been utilized a lot as a second half sub bringing a boost of energy to the Reign attack. Thus far this season she has had a 67% tackle success rate and a 62.5% aerial duel success rate. She’s one of the eight NWSL players who are missing a chunk of regular season games to join the USA’s U-20 team at the FIFA U-20 WWC. 

11. Gisele Thompson, 18, Angel City

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025, plus 2026
Position: Defender
Minutes Played: 617
Games Started/Played: 8/11

The younger Thompson joined Angel City last winter just ahead of her 18th birthday via the U18 Entry Mechanism. With an impressive 88% passing accuracy, the defender has had a 59% tackle success rate, 14 interceptions, and 12 blocks. She’s one of the eight NWSL players who are missing a chunk of regular season games to join the USA’s U-20 team at the FIFA U-20 WWC. 

12. Michelle Cooper, 21, KC Current

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 908
Games Started/Played: 9 /15

Cooper was drafted by the Current as the second overall draft pick in 2023. In her second year in the league, Cooper has scored one goal and one assist in both the regular season and the Summer Cup.  She also has a 54% tackle success rate and 15 blocks. 

13. Isabella Obaze, 21, Portland Thorns

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026, plus 2027 Mutual Option
Position: Defender
Minutes Played: 568
Games Started/Played: 7/8

The Danish defender joined the Thorns from FC Rosengard back in January. Battling a knee injury in May/June, Obaze was unavailable for selection for five regular season matches over that period. In her eight matches, she had a 92% passing accuracy, 7 interceptions, and two assists. 

14. Princess Marfo, 20, Bay FC

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025, plus 2026 Club Option
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 238
Games Started/Played: 2/8

Back in January, the Ghanaian striker joined Bay FC from Danish club FC Nordsjælland on a transfer. She’s seen playing time in eight matches for the expansion side with a 78% passing accuracy, two goal creating actions, and is 6/6 tackle success.

15. Riley Jackson, 18, NC Courage

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025, plus 2026 Club Option
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 180
Games Started/Played: 1/14

Although she signed with the Courage in July of 2023 via the U18 Entry Mechanism, she didn’t make her professional debut until the 2024 season after sustaining an ankle injury just days after her signing was announced and spending the remainder of the season on the D45 list. The midfielder has a 82% passing accuracy and a 64% tackle success across her 14 matches. She’s one of the eight NWSL players who are missing a chunk of regular season games to join the USA’s U-20 team at the FIFA U-20 WWC. 

16. Ally Lemos, 20, Orlando Pride

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 286
Games Started/Played: 2/11

Lemos joined the Pride this season after being drafted by the Pride as the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Collegiate Draft. Over her eleven matches she’s had a 75% passing accuracy and a 58% tackle success. She’s one of the eight NWSL players who are missing a chunk of regular season games to join the USA’s U-20 team at the FIFA U-20 WWC. 

17. Melanie Barcenas, 16, San Diego Wave

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 279
Games Started/Played: 3/7

In March of 2023, Barcenas signed with the Wave via the U18 Entry Mechanism and at the time was the youngest-ever contracted NWSL player. In her second year in the league she’s had a 77% passing accuracy, 71% tackle success, and has already doubled her minutes from her rookie season with six games left in the regular season. 

18. Alex Pfeiffer, 16, KC Current

Contract Remaining: 2 year thru 2026
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 131
Games Started/Played: 0/10

Last October Pfeiffer signed with the Current via the U18 Entry Mechanism. She scored one regular season goal — in her first professional match — before matchday 15 where she suffered a torn ACL and torn meniscus in the second half of the match. 

19. Kimmi Ascanio, 16, San Diego Wave

Contract Remaining: 2 year thru 2026
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 145
Games Started/Played: 2/6

This past march she joined the Wave via the U18 Entry Mechanism and made her professional debut in the team’s third regular season match this year. In her six matches, she’s had an 83% passing accuracy, while earning an assist.

20. Amanda Allen, 19, Orlando Pride

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025
Position: Forward
Minutes Played: 82
Games Started/Played: 0/8

The Canadian forward joined the Pride in April of 2023 via the Discovery mechanism. In her eight matches with the Pride she notched one assist and a 67% tackle success. Following joining Canada’s team at the FIFA U-20 WWC—who got knocked out in the Round of 16 against Spain—Allen was loaned to USL Super League side Lexington SC for the duration of the USL Super League season in order to get her more minutes. 

21. Chloe Ricketts, 17, Washington Spirit

Contract Remaining: 1 year thru 2025, plus 2026 Club Option
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 18
Games Started/Played: 0/4 

Ricketts joined the Spirit in March of 2023 via the U18 Entry Mechanism. In her second year in the NWSL, she has actually seen reduced minutes compared to last season likely due to a lot of the additions the Spirit has brought in. In her four regular season matches, she had a 71% passing accuracy and a 67% tackle success. Although she got significant minutes in the Summer Cup, lately she has been dealing with a knee injury and has been unavailable since the regular season restarted. 

22. Aline Gomes, 19, NC Courage

Contract Remaining: 2 years thru 2026, plus 2027 Mutual Option
Position: Midfielder
Minutes Played: 27
Games Started/Played: 0/2

The Brazilian midfielder was acquired by the Courage ahead of the NWSL Secondary window opening, so she’s had a much smaller window than the other players on this list to make an impact. She’s come off the bench twice for the Courage with a 100% passing accuracy, 100% tackle success thus far. 

The NWSL’s SecondaryTrade/Transfer Window is now closed, so no more intra-league trades until after the NWSL Championship and no players who need ITC (International Transfer Certificates) can be added to rosters. Since it has already come up with CeCe Kizer’s signing with Gotham, NWSL teams can sign domestic players who don’t need ITCs (their last team wasn’t outside of the USA) until the roster freeze. 

Now’s the perfect time to take an overall look at the NWSL Secondary Window, and general trends for the summer windows across women’s soccer. 

FIFA Mid-Year Transfer Window Snapshot

When looking at the secondary window, there is some important context in terms of trends for women’s soccer. FIFA normally just releases a transfer snapshot at the end of January for the previous european calendar year, this year FIFA released data on the 2024 secondary windows (which were close to their closing dates at the time of data publish). 

Unexpectedly, there was continued growth in women’s soccer and all-in-all, the number of international transfers reached a record high of 1,125 in 2024’s secondary window. Looking at the USA alone, there was an almost 4x increase in the incoming transfers during the Secondary Window, while the outgoing transfers stayed pretty even compared to 2023. 

***It is important to note that now that the USL Super League is a division 1 professional league, their acquisitions will also be included. Right now there are 38 players whose national team designation is not the USA***

Source: FIFA International Transfer Snapshot (mid-year 2024)

Along with the growth in the number of internal transfers, the USA also showed a large increase in transfer funds spent to acquire players. This does often come hand in hand with the number of transfers, but even when you look at the average transfer fee spent there was an increase from $32.5k in 2023 to $114k in 2024. 

Source: FIFA International Transfer Snapshot (mid-year 2024)

Looking at the type of transfers, a large number of the players both incoming and outgoing were via free agency — for the outgoing since they are mid-season moves this is where the waived players and mutual terminations come into play. Only a very small percentage of the player movements were loans. 

Source: FIFA International Transfer Snapshot (mid-year 2024)

NWSL’s Secondary Window Changes

As the rosters currently stand, Seattle will be over the 26 player limit when its two players who are off at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup return to the squad. Three teams—Chicago, Gotham, North Carolina—are sitting right at the 26 player limit, while Houston is flirting with the low edge of compliance with only 22 active players on its active roster. 

Looking at both the incoming and outgoing movement, Seattle had the most roster turnover with a total of 14 players moving in and out of the club. The changes seemed to have an immediate impact as following the Paris Olympics the Reign have moved from 13th up to 10th in the NWSL table and are on a three game winning streak. Angel City was at the other end of the spectrum during the window, with only one player incoming and one player whose contract was mutually terminated. With two wins in the last three games, it’s clear that there is no direct correlation to activity in the window and immediate outcomes following the window. 

Overview of current active roster compliance and total number of roster changes over the secondary window

To further break down all the movements by type you can see that a large number of players entered the league via free agency, and compared to last year where there were no trades which included player movement, there were 15 in this past window. Additionally, with the USL Super League in its inaugural season, the NWSL saw nine players go on loan through the end of the 2024 NWSL season. 

Overview of the 2024 NWSL Secondary Window by transaction type, both incoming and outgoing

Separating it down even further by team, you can see which teams utilized which transactions in the window:

There are just seven games left in the regular season, with only unbeaten Orlando at the top of the table having clinched one of the eight coveted playoff spots. With only five points separating seventh through eleventh in the table right now, anything can happen in the final third of the season and only time will tell which general managers got the secondary window right. 

The NWSL’s free agency opened up on September 1st—and the NWSL has 129 players on the free agency list. As a reminder, there was a new CBA announced in late August which expanded free agency to any player with an expiring contract regardless of years of service and it also pulled in the negotiation/signing deadline from October and the end of the season to September 1st. 

With forward Bárbara Olivieri being the first player on the list to re-sign with a team, here’s a look at the top 15 free agents to keep an eye on (plus some notable mentions)

Top 15 Free Agents

1. Kerolin - NC Courage, Forward

Kerolin tore her ACL in the regular season finale in 2023, and although she hasn’t played any minutes with the Courage this season, she did get the call-up from Brazil to play at the Olympics. There Kerolin started a group play match against Spain and came in as a substitute in four matches as well as scoring a goal in Brazil’s 4–2 win against Spain to send them to the gold medal match. As a reminder, in 2023 Kerolin was the NWSL MVP scoring ten goals. Kerolin’s dynamic attack would be an asset for any team’s offense. 

2. Claire Emslie - Angel City FC, Forward

Emslie has played in all 18 regular season matches for Angel City this year—starting in all but one—scoring six goals and assisting in an additional two. She also leads the team and is fourth in the league with 34 chances created and has played the second most minutes of any Angel City player this season. The set piece and corner service that Emslie provides as well as her speed on the left wing has been instrumental in Angel City’s success this season. 

3. Alyssa Naeher - Chicago Red Stars, Goalkeeper

This is Naeher’s eighth season with the Red Stars and following an incredible showing at the 2024 Paris Olympics that helped the USA bring home gold including a few absolutely mind-boggling saves. On the club side, Naeher has had to deal with three offseasons in a row which included mass exodus from the team leading to a constantly changing backline. It will be interesting to see whether Naeher takes her first swing at free agency or whether she chooses to continue with Chicago on their journey under new ownership. 

4. Vanessa Dibernardo - Kansas City Current, Midfielder

After spending a significant amount of time on the availability report in 2023 being out with a concussion, Dibernardo started 2024 with a bang and had two assists and two goals in the first three matches for Kansas City. She continued her run of form and by mid-May had four goals and five assists. Unfortunately Dibernardo had an aerial challenge end up with head contact and she missed the last three matches ahead of the regular season Olympic break. The Summer Cup was used to build her minutes back and the midfielder tallied another two assists, and she’s back to starting matches for a Kansas City side which currently sits third in the table. 

5. Debinha - Kansas City Current, Midfielder

Debinha did originally have a mutual option for 2025 with Kansas City, but it looks like either Debinha or the Current declined to exercise putting Debinha back on the free agency list. Debinha was one of the big names who got to enjoy the freedom of free agency in its first iteration in the 2022-23 offseason and whose autonomy allowed her to land in Kansas City. During the Summer Cup, Debinha scored four goals in four matches with the Current, and during this regular season she’s tallied one goal and two assists 

6. Sophie Schmidt - Houston Dash, Midfielder

Schmidt has been a beacon of continuity for a Houston Dash which has seen a lot of coaching changes and thrash over the last few years. The Canadian midfielder recently retired from international play with an impressive 226 caps to her name. This season for the Dash, she has the second most minutes of any field player for the Dash, playing in 17 of the team’s 18 matches, with a 81% passing accuracy and over 100 possessions won. 

7. Annaïg Butel - Washington Spirit, Defender

The French defender arrived in Washington D.C. last July and in the back half of the season played in seven matches for the Spirit. This season, Butel has played in every single regular season match for the Spirit, starting in all but the season opener where she played the entirety of the second half. She has the second most minutes of any Spirit field player and has earned 23 interceptions and 72 possessions won thus far this season while having a passing accuracy over 85%. 

8. Sydney Leroux - Angel City FC, Forward

Leroux had her 16th game winning goal this past Sunday as Angel City broke their 1–1 stalemate with Chicago to take home three points. The goal was also her 48th career goal, and her fifth of the 2024 regular season. She also scored an additional goal in the one game of the Summer Cup in which she played. After only scoring two goals in the 2023 season, Leroux seems to really be finding her stride with the LA-based club this season.

9. Maitane Lopez - Gotham FC, Defender

The Spanish defender joined Gotham in the 2023 Secondary Transfer Window and immediately fit right in, after her debut substitution in, starting the next ten games—including the NWSL Championship match. In the offseason, Gotham made a number of defensive acquisitions, and although Lopez hasn’t been injured she hasn’t been seeing consistent minutes this season, only tallying 402 minutes thus far in the regular season. It wouldn’t be surprising if Lopez attempts to leverage her free agency to head to a team (with an unused INTL spot) where she can see more play time. 

10. Elli Pikkujamsa - Racing Louisville FC, Defender

Unfortunately the 24-year old Finnish defender was the second victim of the Providence Park turf this year, tearing her patellar tendon in the 72nd minute of the third regular season match of the 2024 season. Pikkujämsä showed her versatility in the 2023 Louisville season switching between defensive midfield and centerback multiple times throughout the season and starting in 18 regular season matches. Racing exercised its half of Pikkujämsä’s 2025 mutual option and contract negotiations are ongoing. 

11. Midge Purce - Gotham FC, Forward

Purce was unfortunately the first SEI victim of the Providence Park artificial turf this season—in only the second regular season match of the season—when she tore her ACL in the second half. Purce is coming off an NWSL Championship winning 2023 season with Gotham—where she took home the NWSL Championship MVP award—-alongside scoring four goals and earning four assists during the regular season, and an additional goal and three assists in the Challenge Cup. 

12. Danielle Colaprico - San Diego Wave FC, Midfielder

Following the opening of the NWSL’s first iteration of free agency, Colaprico signed with San Diego in December of 2022 following eight seasons in Chicago. Her time in San Diego has included overcoming a persistent ankle ‘niggle’ in 2023 and she’s currently dealing with knee issues which have prevented  her from playing in a match since the Summer Cup. Despite the minor injury setbacks, Colaprico when healthy is a vital part of the Wave midfield, playing in 23 matches for the San Diego side in 2023 and has played in 15 matches for the Wave this season. 

13. Quinn - Seattle Reign FC, Midfielder

Quinn has been battling some knee injury issues through the first half of the season, only playing in 11 of the Reign’s 18 regular season matches. They started three of the four matches for the Canadian women’s national team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and during the tournament broke the 100 cap mark for Canada. Quinn has boasted an impressive 82% passing accuracy over the last four seasons of NWSL regular season play. 

14. Elizabeth Ball - Kansas City Current, Defender

In the first half of the season, Ball started 11 matches for Kansas City—playing in 13—boasting an 80% passing accuracy, one goal, and three assists. June alone Ball earned a spot on the NWSL Best XI of the Month with 13 duels won and two blocks in that month alone. However, in the Summer Cup Ball was dealing with some upper leg issues which then led to Kansas City receiving centerback Alana Cook from Seattle in a trade to add some depth. Since the return of the regular season following the Olympics, Ball has yet to see playing time.  

15. Kristen McNabb - San Diego Wave FC, Defender 

Although 2023 saw McNabb on the D45 list toward the back half of the season due to an unfortunate hip injury, she has been essential for the Wave defense in 2024, playing in 16 of their 18 regular season matches and starting in all but two of those. She had seven interceptions in the Sunday draw against the Spirit, and her ability to play both centerback and outside back gives her a lot of flexibility when it comes to potentially looking for new teams, or looking for better contract terms with the Wave. 

Notable Mentions

1. Ann-Katrin Berger - Gotham FC, Goalkeeper

Berger entered the NWSL in April and over 14 games has allowed just 11 goals and two multi goal games. With Berger’s fiance joining Gotham through the end of the 2026 season, it is unlikely that she re-signs with another NWSL side. 

2. Marta - Orlando Pride, Midfielder 

After eight years with Orlando and retiring from national team play following the 2024 Paris Olympics, it would be highly surprising if Marta signed with another NWSL team.The six time FIFA World Player of the Year is performing even better following her 2022 ACL tear and at 38 years old shows no signs of slowing down. 

3. Christen Press - Angel City FC, Forward

Press just got back from a two year ACL recovery journey. With only eight games left in the season, her return to play progress has her up to 30 minutes of play. It’s not clear if the LA native would want to leave her home market to explore other opportunities. 

With the NWSL’s Secondary Transfer/Trade Window about to open, here’s an up-to-date tracker for every team’s additions/extensions until the window closes August 31st

Angel City FC 

08/12/24 - English midfielder Katie Zelem signed a three year contract through 2026. Should be available when regular season matches restart 08/24

Bay FC

08/31/24 - Acquired forward Penelope Hocking from Chicago in return for $250k in transfer funds in 2024 and $100k in 2025. 

08/28/24 - Acquired goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz and $15k AM from Kansas City in return for defender Kayla Sharples

08/26/24 - Acquired defender Abby Dahlkemper from San Diego in return for $50k AM. 

Chicago Red Stars

08/31/24 - Acquired 250k in transfer funds in 2024 and $100k in 2025 from Bay FC in return for forward Penelope Hocking. Additionally the Red Stars will receive 10% of any transfer fee Bay FC receives in a future transfer of Hocking.

08/31/24 - Moroccan forward Rosella Ayane joins Chicago on loan from Tottenham Hotspurs through the end of the 2024 season 

07/29/24 - Brazilian forward Ludmila signed a three-year contract, will be available following the 2024 Paris Olympics

07/08/24 - Canadian midfielder Julia Grosso signed a three-year contract, will be available following the 2024 Paris Olympics 

Houston Dash

9/2/24 - Acquired $25k in AM and another potential $10k in transfer funds from Portland in return for midfielder Sophie Hirst

8/30/24 - Acquired $45k in AM from Racing Louisville in return for defender Courtney Petersen

Kansas City Current

9/2/24 - Acquired $10k in transfer funds—with the potential for an additional $10k in transfer funds—from Seattle in return for defender Hanna Glas. 

08/28/24 - Acquired defender Kayla Sharples from Bay FC in return for goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz and $15k AM

08/21/24 - South African forward Hildah Magaia joins Kansas City on loan from Mazatlán through the end of the 2024 season. Kansas City has the opportunity to acquire her rights on a permanent basis at the conclusion of the loan

08/19/24 - Acquired $25k in intra-league transfer funds and $15k in Allocation Money from Portland in return for forward Alexa Spaanstra

08/16/24 -  Kenyan forward Mwanalima Adam Jereko signed a two year contract, with an option for 2026. 

08/02/24 - German goalkeeper Almuth Schult is signed through the end of the 2024 season. Is expected to be available for selection at The Women’s Cup, beginning August 14th 

07/22/24 - Defender Alana Cook is acquired from Seattle for $40k AM and $75k intra-league transfer funds, additional $25k in intra-league transfer funds if incentive based requirements met

NJ/NY Gotham FC

08/21/24 - Acquired $80k in AM and at least $10k in intra-league transfer funds (can increase if performance based metrics met) from North Carolina in return for defender Maycee Bell

08/16/24 - Portuguese forward Jéssica Silva signed through the end of the 2024 season. Silva will join the team pending the receipt of her visa, International Transfer Certificate and completion of medical exams

08/14/24 - Gotham received $100k in allocation money from Utah in return for a 2024 and 2025 international spot 

07/29/24 - English defender Jess Carter signed a three year contract following transfer from Chelsea FC. Should be available starting August 1st

North Carolina Courage

08/21/24 - Acquired defender Maycee Bell from Gotham FC in return for $80k AM and at least $10k in intra-league transfer funds (can increase if performance based metrics are met)

07/30/24 - Brazilian forward Aline Gomes signed a two year contract with an option for 2027 following her transfer from Brazilian club Ferroviária. She will be eligible to participate in club activities upon receipt of her P-1 Visa. 

06/27/24 - Midfielder Manaka Matsukubo’s loan becomes a permanent transfer, signed through 2025. 

06/17/24 - Australian defender Charlotte McLean signed a two year contract, should be available starting August 1st. 

06/14/24 - Australian forward Cortnee Vine signed a three year contract, will be available following the 2024 Paris Olympics 

Orlando Pride

08/16/24 - Orlando received defender Carson Pickett from Racing Louisville for $75k in allocation money

05/30/24 - Zambian midfielder Grace Chanda signed a two year contract with a 2026 mutual option. Will be available following the 2024 Paris Olympics

Portland Thorns

9/3/24 - Acquired midfielder Sophie Hirst from Houston in return for $25k AM and a conditional $10k in transfer funds.  

08/21/24 - Acquired forward Reilyn Turner from Racing Louisville in return for forward Janine Beckie

08/19/24 - Forward Alexa Spaanstra is acquired from Kansas City for $25k in intra-league transfer funds and $15k in allocation money

07/10/24 - Australian goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold signed a three year contract with a 2027 mutual option. Will be available following the 2024 Paris Olympics

Racing Louisville

8/30/24 - Acquired defender Courtney Petersen from Houston in return for $45k in AM

08/21/24 - Acquired forward Janine Beckie from Portland in return for forward Reilyn Turner. Additionally, Beckie signed a contract extension through 2026. 

08/20/24 - Colombian defender Ángela Barón signed a three year contract through 2026 following her transfer from Atlético Nacional

08/19/24 - Acquired forward Bethany Balcer from Seattle in return for midfielder Jaelin Howell and $50k in allocation money

08/16/24 - Acquired $75k allocation money from Orlando in return for defender Carson Pickett.

San Diego Wave

08/26/24 - Acquired $50k AM in return for defender Abby Dahlkemper. 

08/22/24 - French defender Perle Morroni signed a three year contract through 2026. Will be available upon receipt of her P-1 visa and ITC. 

07/24/24 - French forward Delphine Cascarino signed a three year contract with a 2027 mutual option. Will be available following the 2024 Paris Olympics

Seattle Reign

9/2/24 - Acquired defender Hanna Glas from Kansas City in return for $10k in transfer funds and a further conditional $10k in transfer funds

08/19/24 - Acquired midfielder Jaelin Howell and $50k in AM from Louisville in return for forward Bethany Balcer

08/05/24 - Swiss forward Ana-Maria Crnogorčević signed a two year contract through 2025 following transfer from Atlético Madrid. It set to join the club in August. 

07/29/24 - Haitian forward Nérilia Mondési signed a three year contract with a 2027 mutual option following transfer from Montpellier HSC. Should be available in August 

07/22/24 - Acquired $40k allocation money and $75k intra-league transfer funds with a potential additional $25k from Kansas City in return for defender Alana Cook.

07/19/24 - Defender Jordyn Bugg signed a three year contract with an 2027 option which will be triggered as soon as she appears for the club via the U-18 Entry Mechanism. As a domestic player, is available immediately

07/19/24 - Midfielder Ainsley McCammon signed a five year contract, as a domestic player is available immediately

Utah Royals

9/1/24 - American defender Julia Grosso (not the Canadian on Chicago) signed through the end of the 2024 season from Melbourne City FC

08/14/24 - Canadian forward Cloé Lacasse signed a four year contract that will keep her in Utah through the 2027 NWSL season following her transfer from Arsenal. She will occupy the newly acquired international spot from Gotham.

08/14/24 - Utah received a 2024 and 2025 international spot from Gotham FC in return for $100k in allocation money.

07/12/24 - Spanish midfielder Claudia Zornoza signed a two year contract with an option for 2026, should be available starting August 1st

07/03/24 - Japanese midfielder Mina Tanaka signed a two year contract, will be available following the 2024 Paris Olympics

Washington Spirit

08/23/24 - National Team Replacement defender Jenna Butler and goalkeeper Kaylie Collins signed through the end of 2024

07/10/24 - Ivorian forward Rosemonde Kouassi signed a four year contract following transfer from Fleury 91. Should be available starting August 1st. 

06/13/24 - English defender Esme Morgan signed a four year contract following transfer from Manchester City. Should be available starting August 1st. 

Honorable Mention: Colombian midfielder Leicy Santos – technically signed during the Primary window but won’t join the team until the Olympics conclude

Monday the NWSL released the preliminary list of 2025 free agents, and changes to the timeline for free agents to begin negotiations coming out of the new CBA release. Instead of occurring in October after the roster freeze and players only able to sign with new teams after the season ends, starting September 1st, players will be free to talk to other teams and can agree to terms with their current team, or a new team, at any time. Due to this pull in, the new deadline to exercise 2025 options is Friday August 30th and a new player list will be released at that time. 

This is a stepping stone as the league attempts to align with the FIFA regulations of giving players six months ahead of a contract ending to begin negotiations. Next year we can expect the free agency to open up in early July. 

There are some inconsistencies with the list that came out and the contract situations which are currently public. This points to the fact that there might be further announcements this week ahead of the new deadlines. The timing of this list coming before the Secondary Window closes on Friday as well as before the new deadline for options raises some questions. 

That being said, let’s look at the current contract situation for teams, and who has the most risk of roster turnover due to free agency. 

A look at the current risk of contract turnover. The three players whose extensions have not been announced but are not on the 2025 Free Agent list are not accounted for in Signed 2025. The six players who had 2025 options but appear as free agents in the league list are only included in the FA column, not the options column.  

North Carolina is currently leading the pack a little too well with 27 potential active players signed for 2025, this is due to SEIs/non-active roster players in 2024 being expected to join the active roster in 2025. Most of those players have contracts under the older CBA which differentiates between semi-guaranteed and guaranteed contracts. In order to remain under roster compliance, Courage will need to waive/ loan/trade at least one player. If they want to re-sign any of their current free agents, including Kerolin, or add in any other offseason talent, they’ll need available roster space.

Washington, Utah, and Orlando are all in a good zone with at least 20 returning players and space for exercising options  and signing free agents. There is a large group of teams—Bay, Gotham, Portland, Racing, Seattle—with at least 16 players signed through 2025, keeping their core potentially intact, but with a chance of some high turnover if they can’t get options approved and free agents re-signed. 

The bottom bucket of teams with 15 or less players signed through 2025 includes Angel City, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, and San Diego. Both Southern California teams have 15 players signed for next season, with a number of key parts of their starting lineup not locked down for 2025. Chicago is the median of the low-end group with 13 players signed, and seven potential free agents come September 1st. After three straight years of high turnover, it will be interesting to see how the Red Stars continue to evolve under the new ownership. At the very low end, Houston and Kansas City both have only 10 players signed through 2025, but are in very different positions in terms of recruiting and re-signing people—although surprisingly both teams are without a General Manager. Kansas City is third in the table, and has a brand new stadium that’s dedicated to the team, versus Houston who is currently 13th out of 14 teams  in the NWSL table and whose head coach has mysteriously never returned from his ‘illness’.

Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of days for more team announcements.

Related:

NWSL Transactions

NWSL Trade Tracker

Today the NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) announced a new collective bargaining agreement had been reached with the NWSL which will extend the current contract an additional four years through 2030. Here are the highlights of what we know right now:

Elimination of the Draft

The Collegiate draft is an American mechanism—although the new USL Super League does not use it—but it removes the choice from the players on where they will begin their collegiate careers. Additionally, if you look at last year’s draft class, 25% of the players who were drafted by teams didn’t actually sign with the teams which drafted them. Removing the draft will require that teams stay competitive in the market in order to get young talent and that players less than 22 don’t need to wait until January of any given year to join the league. 

Free Agency For All

As current contracts expire, all NWSL players will become Free Agents. This is a big change from the current CBA where years of service (YoS) is the measuring stick for how much freedom of movement you have. Previously players with 1-2 YoS had their rights retained by their originating team unless waived or released, 3-4 YoS were restricted free agents where other teams could make better salary offers but the originating team had the option to match it, and then 5+ YoS were considered more traditional free agents. The new Free Agency rules align the league more closely with the global market and give players significantly more power over their careers. 

Guaranteed Contracts

Contracts before the CBA were either guaranteed or semi-guaranteed, also the distinction between them wasn’t ever really publicly announced on a player-by-player basis. The big difference between the two is that a semi-guaranteed contract can be dissolved at any time ahead of the late season roster freeze with no penalty to the team versus the fact that a team can only buy-out one guaranteed contract per season without it impacting the salary cap. Switching to only guaranteed contracts gives players significantly more peace of mind and makes the release of a player more of a mutual action versus one-sided. 

No Trades Without Player Consent

There have been a few incidents in the past years where players were traded without their previous knowledge and the practice even began the trend of players getting ‘no trade’ clauses put into new contracts so that their autonomy was protected. They have also eliminated the expansion draft which was a situation that often led to the surprise trades as teams bargained for protection 

Revenue Sharing and Increased Salary Cap

The new agreement significantly increases the league minimum salary going from the current minimum of $37.9k this year, to $48.5k in 2025 up to $82.5k in 2030. Also for the first time, players will be able to reap the benefits of revenue sharing and the salary cap will become the base salary cap with an additional “Minimum Spend” from their previous year revenue. The expectation is media and sponsorship shareable revenues should add at least $200k to the salary cap each year. The NWSL does retain the right to increase the base salary cap at its discretion throughout this new CBA.

The base salary cap each year will be:

2025: $3.3 million

2026: $3.5 million

2027: $4.4 million

2028: $4.7 million

2029: $4.9 million

2030: $5.1 million

Workload management

The new CBA addresses the ever increasing games and length that make up a season setting guidelines for game frequency, travel conditions, and time off. Teams can now use charter flights for up to six legs a season and teams are required to charter midweek games. The midseason break will continue, and there will be a minimum of 28 days off during the offseason. As a part of this, the maximum number of games that may be played annually has increased as well. 

Goodbye Discovery

It’s hard to describe NWSL Discovery in terms other than teams calling dibs on players before they sign them, but then the dibs also just can stay, forever, also if you want to call dibs and it’s not your turn, someone ahead of you can call dibs and either force you to trade them for it or just keep it (i.e. Jaedyn Shaw). As a part of the CBA, the Discovery mechanism is being removed. 

Other Notes

Limited amateur player agreements are ‘contemplated’ in the new CBA. Not sure what they mean by contemplated, but the trend of signing players via the U18 mechanism has been exploding year over year. 

All end-of-season competition bonuses will double their current rate ($5k) in 2027 up to $10k for Best XI, Rookie of the Year, Midfielder of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and the NWSL’s Golden Boot. Also doubling is the fiscal awards to the NWSL Shield and Championship Winners. The NWSL MVP award will be quadrupling up to $20k. 

Restrictions on the preseason start date and that of the NWSL Championship have been eliminated. This means that technically the season could get longer with a larger summer break or even completely shift to align with the european schedule. 

Additionally, parental leave and childcare benefits will be further expanded along with mental health services and leave policies. Teams are now required to have at least 10 health professionals (up from six) including physicians, athletic trainers, a physical therapist, a sports scientist, a licensed mental health provider, and massage therapists. 

After a 2023 secondary window that only saw 16 new player signings and one trade (non-player related), this year’s secondary window is best described as mayhem. These last two weeks alone there have been six trades with five of those including player movement. Here’s a breakdown of the recent trade action.

Gotham ↔ Utah

Gotham sends Utah 2024 and 2025 International Spot in exchange for $100k Allocation Money

Gotham: Ahead of the trade, Gotham was only utilizing four of their seven international spots in both 2024 and 2025. Receiving cash for something not in use, and still keeping the buffer of unused spots was a good deal for Gotham. Two days later they would sign Portuguese forward Jéssica Silva through 2024, so even with the window winding down they still only have five of their six international spots in use.  

Utah: The expansion side was already using all seven of their spots before the trade, the additional one allowed them to sign Canadian forward Cloé Lacasse through 2027 following her transfer from WSL side Arsenal. Lacasse will bring another dynamic to a Utah side that is trying to find their footing and currently sit at the bottom of the NWSL table. With current Royal forward Ally Sentnor missing roughly a month of regular season play for the U20 FIFA World Cup, Lacasse will have the opportunity to make an instant impact. 

Louisville ↔ Orlando

Louisville sends defender Carson Pickett to Orlando in exchange for $75k in Allocation Money

Louisville: Doing the right thing by their players by granting Pickett’s request to move closer to home as she returns to Orlando where the Florida State product played in 2018-2020. 

Orlando: The Pride are receiving a high-caliber outside back who is one of the top chance creators in the league right now. 

Kansas City ↔ Portland

Kansas City sends forward Alex Spaanstra to Portland in exchange for $25k in intra-league transfer funds and an additional $15k in Allocation Money.

Kansas City: Spaanstra has played in 11 matches and accumulated a little less than 600 minutes with one goal and one assist this regular season for Kansas City. With names like Temwa Chawinga, and Bia Zaneratto scoring lots of goals, as well as other additions in the secondary window it makes sense for Kansas City to trade the young forward to somewhere she might get more minutes and development. For the number of minutes she’s played this year, the price point does feel a bit low on what Kansas City received in return for her heading to Portland. 

Portland: The Thorns not only have regular season matches to plan for, but also Concacaf W Champions Cup matches, and with forward Morgan Weaver not yet returned to active status following her knee injury it makes sense to be adding extra depth up top for relatively cheap compared to other NWSL trade deals. (Remember that Portland paid Houston $35k for a goalkeeper who never ended up playing in the regular season match just a few months ago). Added bonus, Spaanstra spent time playing with Sophia Smith in US Youth National Teams. 

Louisville ↔ Seattle

Louisville sends midfielder Jaelin Howell and $50k in Allocation Money to Seattle in return for forward Bethany Balcer

Louisville: Long story short – If Racing wants to get up above the playoff line, they need a proven goal scorer to come in and help them finish games out. Bethany Balcer is precisely that; she currently sits third in the Reign all-time scorer list and has already scored five goals this year. Fun Fact: Balcer actually played with current Racing head coach Bev Yanez back in 2019 when she was a rookie in Seattle. Howell, although the team captain, has been plagued with injury this season playing in less than half of Racing’s regular season minutes. In that time, the depth of Marisa DiGrande and Taylor Flint has shined. It can’t be easy for Louisville fans to see another fan favorite exit the team, but the depth in the midfield should be able to sustain its continuity. 

Seattle: Balcer’s presence on the pitch will likely be missed, but the depth that Seattle has with Veronica Latsko, Jordyn Huitema, alongside newly added Nérilia Mondésir and Ana-Maria Crnogor?evi? will likely be able to fill in any potential gaps left. Additionally, they are receiving $50k in allocation money and a solid midfielder in Jaelin Howell. Now Seattle may now have 10 midfielders currently signed for 2024, but only six–including Howell–are signed through 2025. Howell has the opportunity to become a pivotal piece in Seattle’s long term plans. 

Louisville ↔ Portland

Louisville sends forward Reilyn Turner to Portland in return for forward Janine Beckie

Louisville: Making a move for a proven chance creator like Janine Beckie makes sense alongside Racing’s other secondary window moves including filling the gap made by trading Carson Pickett to be closer to home and acquiring forward Bethany Balcer. Additionally, Beckie signed a two-year contract extension with Racing to keep her in Louisville through the 2026 season. Although Turner is definitely a young talent having scored four goals already this year, the team has conceded late goals in multiple games and seems to struggle to stay mentally in games for the whole 90. With it being their fourth season in the league and not having made it to a postseason, now is the time to bring in added talent who know what’s needed to get them there to help guide the team in the second half of the season. 

Portland: Beckie has spent almost three seasons with the Thorns, with an untimely ACL tear in the final 2023 preseason match keeping her out of the entirety of the last season, and overall has recorded three goals and four assists in her time with the squad. Turner’s speed and finishing skills could be fun to see alongside Sophia Smith, but with a total of seven other forwards already on the Thorns roster, Turner will need to lean into the competition and excel to find time on the pitch. 

Gotham ↔ North Carolina

Gotham sends defender Maycee Bell to North Carolina in return for $80k Allocation Money and $10k intra-league transfer funds

Gotham: The reigning NWSL Champions have a stacked roster, which means unfortunately for the first round draft pick, the regular season minutes this year have totalled less than 300. Trading the young player will allow her to get more minutes, and also returns some cash back into the pockets of Gotham. 

North Carolina: Bell played collegiately at UNC, so it’s a return to the known as she even trained with the Courage as a collegiate player. In her eight matches with Gotham, Bell scored the game winner against San Diego , won nine tackles and 25 duels. She’ll bring in added depth to the Courage backline. 

Almost halfway through the NWSL’s month-long secondary window, it’s a great time to look at last year’s secondary window signings, a breakdown of signings in the current window, and what teams still have space to sign more players (or what teams may need to get back down to 26).

2023  - 16 signings, 1 trade

Last year’s NWSL secondary window ran a month earlier than the 2024 window, from the end of June to the end of July ahead of the 2023 FIFA World Cup. During this time there were 16 players added across the league, and a single trade–which sent a 2023 International Spot from San Diego to Kansas City for allocation money. 

The breakdown of signings by position was a fairly even split with five forwards, five defenders, and six midfielders joining the league. Surprisingly, there were no goalkeepers added. Out of the 12 teams, only nine were active in the space. The future NWSL Championship winning Gotham FC—who when the window opened were fifth in the table—led the charge signing three new players: Spanish forward Esther Gonzalez, American forward Katie Stengel, and Spanish midfielder Maitane Lopez. Houston (then 8th), Washington (4th), Orlando (10th), Kansas City (11th), and North Carolina (2nd) all had two players added, while Portland (1st) , Angel City (9th), and San Diego (6th) all had one. 

When the dust settled at the end of decision day, the standings changed seven times, and San Diego had won the NWSL Shield for being top of the table, while Gotham would go on their impressive postseason run and take home the Championship. 

2023 NWSL Table Standings at the end of the regular season

2024 -  21 signings, 1 trade 

This year, the leagues secondary window coincides with the end of the 2024 Paris Olympics and runs from August 1st to August 30th. With the window overlapping less with the ending of the traditionally european seasons, which run from September to June, there were a lot of signings announced ahead of the actual window opening where players are expected to make their debuts once the window officially opens. So far, the signings have already surpassed the number of signings for the entire window last year and the sole trade of the window was player related as it sent Seattle defender Alana Cook to Kansas City for cash. 

Positionally, things aren’t too skewed in any one space with the 21 signings consisting of seven midfielders, seven forwards, five defenders, and two goalkeepers. 

Current NWSL table ahead of regular season restarting for the final ten matches

Seattle, who currently sit second to last, have thus far had the most signings in the window with four as they look to turn their season around. North Carolina (6th) has had three signings; Chicago (7th), Utah (14th), and Washington (3rd) all have had two signings, while Angel City (11th), Gotham (4th), Orlando (1st), Portland (5th), and San Diego (10th) have added one player. Kansas City has also signed one new player, as well as acquiring a second via trade from Seattle. 

Bay FC, Houston, and Racing have yet to add additional players thus far in the window. 

For more details on each team’s 2024 Secondary Window signings, check out the window tracker: here

Comparing 2023 and 2024 secondary window signings 

Current Active Roster Situation

The Olympics have now concluded and some teams are already announcing the release of their NTRPs (National Team Replacement Players). NWSL roster rules state that teams must keep at least 22 players on their active roster, and no more than 26. 

Assuming that all of the current NTRP’s are released and the players off at the Olympics return to active player state (keeping North Carolina’s Sydney Collins on the D45 list), below is the current state of teams’ active roster spots. Note: North Carolina would’ve been at 26 before Kerolin’s SEI designation was removed. 

At this point in the season, if team’s want to add more players than spots they have, there are a few mechanisms for releasing players including waiving a player, mutual termination of a contract, buying out an NWSL contract, sending players out on loan (seeing a number of these to the USL Super League right now), trading a player to another NWSL team, or another league. 

Ahead of her 14th birthday tomorrow, McKenna “Mak” Whitman has signed a contract with NJ/NY Gotham FC via the U-18 Entry Mechanism. The U.S. Youth National Team forward becomes the youngest-ever contracted player in the NWSL, and Gotham’s first U-18 player. Whitman is signed through the 2028 season, and her guaranteed contract will be effective starting January 1st, 2025, although Gotham additionally signed her as a national team replacement player (NTRP) during the current international window. 

Whitman has been training with Gotham since preseason and was a part of the Gotham roster which won The Women’s Cup Colombia during preseason and scored the game-winning goal to send Gotham to the final. More recently, Whitman was named to the 18 player roster which will represent the USA at the U-15 Concacaf Championship in Costa Rica in August. 

“I am really excited to sign and begin my professional career with Gotham FC,” said Whitham in a team release. “Gotham FC is a great place for me to continue to push myself as a player. I can’t wait to get to work and to continue to grow as a player with the great players, coaches and staff at Gotham FC.”

An interesting aside, Whitman will earn an NWSL year of service for her time as an NTRP, and following the conclusion of her contract in 2028, she will have 5 years of service under her belt, making her an unrestricted free agent under the current NWSL collective bargaining agreement—the current CBA expires December 31st, 2026. 

Previously, the youngest player signed to a contract in the NWSL was Kansas City Current forward Alex Pfieffer at 15. Even with 14 close in sight, there are potential issues that come up with a player of such a young age, including state labor laws as Gotham beat writer Jenna Tonelli highlighted below. 

Sunday July 28th Gotham FC takes on the Washington Spirit in the NWSL x Liga MX Summer Cup, and Whitman could potentially make her professional debut.

More on the NWSL’s U-18 Players:

https://www.spotrac.com/nwsl/contracts/u18 

It’s official, the San Diego Wave has announced that they have acquired forward Delphine Cascarino and signed her through the 2026 NWSL season with a mutual option for 2027. Cascarino will join the Wave following the 2024 Paris Olympics where she will be representing host-country France in her first ever Olympics. 

Cascarino will occupy the Wave’s sixth and final international spot for 2024 – as they sent the seventh international slot for 2024 and 2025 to the Houston Dash as a part of the record-breaking María Sánchez trade. Her addition will also put the Wave at the league limit of 26 active players once everyone returns from the Paris Olympics. 

“I decided to join San Diego Wave FC because for me it's one of the best teams in the league and I am very excited to join the club,” stated Cascarino in a team provided interview. “I am a player who’s very technical and fast and I would like to bring to the team my experience and my leadership.”

In a nod to her hometown, Lyon and where she signed as a professional for the first time in 2015, Cascarino will be repping the number 69 for the Wave. France is divided into 96 departments and Lyon is the capital of  Rhône, or department 69. “It’s really important to me to represent Lyon in the USA,” said Cascarino. 

“Delphine is a world-class player in the prime of her career. Her experiences at both the club and national team level will be invaluable to this team,” said San Diego Wave FC Sporting Director and General Manager Camille Ashton said in a team release. “We are thrilled to welcome Delphine to San Diego. She joins us at a pivotal time and will make an immediate impact for us on the pitch.”

The French striker will bring a long career of winning at the top level to a currently struggling Wave—who are currently sitting in tenth in the NWSL table. She has six UEFA Champions League titles, nine French Division Championships, and five Coupe de France titles under her belt as well as 45 goals from her nine years with Olympique Lyonnais. 

The Wave attack currently sits 11th out of the 14 teams with only 12 goals scored in their 16 games. Cascarino’s versatility to play as a striker and in the midfield along the edges will ideally bring a new dynamic to Wave who are looking to course correct in the back half of the season and not only get back into playoff contention this year but build toward a future where they once again are fighting for the top of the table. 

Cascarino has made 64 appearances, scoring 14 goals across her senior international career with France. She was a part of the 2019 World Cup roster that fell to the USWNT in the quarterfinals, and aided France in getting to the European Championship semifinals in 2022. 

France kicks off their Olympic play on Thursday, July 25th against Colombia in Cascarino’s hometown of Lyon. On the NWSL side, the first opportunity Cascarino will have for her Wave regular season debut is when the club takes on rival Angel City FC on August 24th at Snapdragon Stadium. 

You can see of all NWSL team’s International Spots: HERE

With international players off at the Olympics, NWSL teams are able to sign National Team Replacement Players (NTRP’s) in order to fill out their rosters and in some cases meet the NWSL x  Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup minimum gameday roster requirements of 18 players. 

NTRPs must be domestic players and will be paid equivalent to the league minimum salary. When the national team player is no longer with their respective national team and can return to play, the contract will be released. Historically, some players may be able to leverage their performance as NTRPs into contracts for the remainder of the season. 

With a record 56 NWSL players at the Olympics, currently there are 19 NTRPs signed across eight different NWSL teams. Those 19 consist of seven defenders, six midfielders, three forwards, and three goalkeepers. 

All three of Utah’s NTRP’s saw action this past weekend, along with one of Gotham’s, one of Orlando’s, one of Portland’s, as well as Kansas City and Houston’s sole NTRPs. Washington Spirit defender Jenna Butler and forward Olivia Stone were the only NTRP to earn a start in weekend 1 of Summer Cup action. 

Five teams have yet to announce signing any NTRPs: Seattle Reign, Chicago Red Stars, Racing Louisville, Bay FC, and Angel City

RELATED: NWSL Transactions

North Carolina Courage 

Players on INTL duty: 5
NTRP’s signed: 1

Victoria Haugen

Position: Defender
Previous Experience: Haugen joined the Courage as an NRI and has continued to train with the Courage throughout the season. She was a key member of the NC Courage TST team which reached the final. Haugen has both US and Norwegian citizenship and started in friendly matches for the Norway U23 team in 2021. 

Gotham FC 

Players on INTL duty: 7
NTRP’s signed: 4

Nicole Baxter

Position: Midfielder
Previous Experience: Baxter was signed with the club in 2019 as an NTRP, and ended up earning a contract and staying with the club through 2022 when she initially retired from professional soccer

Gabriella Cuevas

Position: Defender
Previous Experience: During the 2023 season, Cuevas played in the Polish league, and on the international side she captains the Dominican Republic national team. She started and played in all three group match games for the Dominican Republic at this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. 

Sabrina Flores

Position: Defender
Previous Experience: Flores was initially signed to Gotham as an NTRP in 2019 and then went on to play with Sevilla FC before returning to Gotham in 2020 where she remained until 2023, winning an NWSL Championship with the club. 

Mackenzie Pluck

Position: Midfielder
Previous Experience: Pluck was drafted by Angel City in the 2023 Draft and signed to a one year contract through 2023. She was a non-rostered invitee (NRI) with Louisville in January, then joined Gotham as a NRI and practice player. Before declaring for the draft, Pluck played collegiately for Duke university where she set a school-record 107 matches in her career, scoring 21 goals and earning 29 assists. 

Orlando Pride 

Players on INTL duty: 7
NTRP’s signed: 2

Claire Winter

Position: Midfielder
Previous Experience: Winter previously was signed as a NTRP with Gotham in 2021 during the Tokyo Olympics. She then completed stints with Thisted FC of the Danish 2nd division and Treaty United FC in Ireland. 

Kenna Caldwell

Position: Goalkeeper
Previous Experience: Caldwell joined the Pride as an NRI in preseason and continued training with the team following up her finishing her collegiate career at Texas A&M. Her final year in College Station she started 17 matches in goal, tallying 55 saves. 

Utah Royals 

Players on INTL duty: 4
NTRP’s signed: 3

Ellie Boren

Position: Midfielder
Previous Experience: Boren just finished her collegiate career at BYU, making 91 appearances from 2019 to 2024, all the while scoring 10 goals and earning 14 assists. Her senior season she started every regular season match for the Cougars.

Darielle O’Brien

Position: Defender
Previous Experience: Since 2019, O’Brien has played for United City FC, notching 19 goals and earning 32 assists as well as assisting winning multiple UPSL Women, SWPL League, and Alianza de Futbol titles. 

Shaelan Murison

Position: Midfielder
Previous Experience: From 2021 to 2022, Murison played for Thróttur Reykjavík FC in Iceland, scoring three goals. Most recently, she had been playing with USL W League side Oakland Soul where she won Team of the Month honors for the month of June. 

San Diego Wave

Players on INTL duty: 5
NTRP’s signed: 2

Chai Cortez

Position: Defender 
Previous Experience: Cortez was initially signed as an NTRP last June and when players returned from the World Cup her contract was switched to an injury replacement contract. In 2023 she made three appearances for the Wave, including two starts. Prior to declaring for the draft in 2023, Cortez played collegiately at the University of Oregon. 

Caroline DeLisle

Position: Goalkeeper 
Previous Experience: DeLisle first joined the Wave as a NRI at the beginning of the preseason. Collegiately DeLisle played at the University of Central Florida from 2018-2024 where she made a career total of 301 saves, and became the program leader in career shutouts. 

Washington Spirit

Players on INTL duty: 6
NTRP’s signed: 3

Jenna Butler

Position: Defender 
Previous Experience: Butler played collegiately at North Carolina State University from 2018 to 2022 starting in all 86 matches she appeared in scoring seven goals and earning eight assists. 

Kaylie Collins

Position: Goalkeeper 
Previous Experience: Collins joined the Spirit as a training player in late June and has since provided additional depth in the goalkeeper position while Bosselmann recovers from injury. Collins was drafted by Orlando in 2021 and signed an NTRP contract that season before signing a two year contract with Orlando ahead of the 2022 season. She was loaned out to Australian club Western Sydney Wanderers last September. Most recently, she was signed as a goalkeeper replacement for the Seattle Reign during Claudia Dickey’s injury. 

Olivia Stone

Position: Forward 
Previous Experience: Stone just finished up her collegiate career at the University of San Diego after spending time at Vanderbilt and Northwestern. Her final year, she competed in all 18 games for the Torero’s including 17 starts and had the most minutes by a non-goalkeeper on the roster. 

Kansas City Current

Players on INTL duty: 2
NTRP’s signed: 1

Grace Bahr 

Position: Midfielder
Previous Experience: Bahr is joining the Current from the USL W side Indy Eleven. Last season with the Indianapolis-based side she was named to the all-league second team, helping to bring the club its first championship and second straight division title. 

Portland Thorns 

Players on INTL duty: 6
NTRP’s signed: 2

Marissa DiGenova

Position: Defender 
Previous Experience: Most recently, DiGenova played and captained the Lancaster Inferno of the USL W League. She also spent time with Puerto Rico Sol FC in the top level in Puerto Rico, who then went on to win the league title in 2022. Collegiately, she played five seasons at Temple University. 

Rebekah Valdez 

Position: Forward 
Previous Experience: Collegiately Valdez spent her final two years at Grand Canyon University where she scored 12 goals and tallied 13 assists in her years there. Prior to joining GCU, Valdez spent three years at University of San Diego. 

Houston Dash

Players on INTL duty: 3
NTRP’s signed: 1

Madison Wolfbauer 

Position: Forward 
Previous Experience: Most recently, the forward led the NC Courage TST team to the finals, and won the Women’s Golden Boot for the tournament alongside being named to the Women’s Best Seven team. Before that, Wolfbauer spent time playing in both France (Thonon Evian Grand Genève FC) and Iceland ( ÍBV-íþróttafélag and Keflavík ÍF) in 2022 and 2023.

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. 

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

Forward Maria Sanchez entered the 2023-24 offseason as a restricted free agent—she could negotiate with other teams but her originating team, the Houston Dash, would have the opportunity to match any external offers and keep the attacker on their roster. In December the forward signed a three year contract with a fourth year option reportedly worth $1.5million, which at the time made her the highest paid NWSL player. Now just four months later, ESPN’s Jeff Kassouf reports that the forward has requested a trade from the Dash ahead of the primary trade/transfer window closing on Friday. 

Should a trade not occur by Friday, Sanchez will be stuck in Houston at least until the secondary window opens August 1st. Additional reporting has confirmed that Sanchez requested the trade at least two weeks ago ahead of Houston’s win against expansion side Bay FC. The Dash currently sit 11th in the table with only one win and one draw in four matches. 

Part of the NWSL CBA has verbiage that player’s salaries will not be disclosed to third parties by the NWSL or its teams without written consent of the NWSL Players Association. This means that although Sanchez’s new total compensation was reported back in December, there is no transparency on where any of the 14 teams sit in terms of the salary cap and whether they could afford Sanchez if they are in fact looking for an additional attacking player before the window closes. 

Outside of her salary fitting into an NWSL team's salary cap, the other issue that Sanchez will run into is that although the NWSL trade/transfer window does have five days until it closes, a lot of other leagues are not in an open window so the options for Sanchez outside of the NWSL are fairly limited if she wants to move immediately.

Related:

Houston Dash Roster Outlook

Houston Dash Transactions

Way ahead of the October deadline to exercise options on potential free agents, here’s six restricted free agents to keep an eye on in the coming months for extensions to be signed as teams look at their long term plans. 

Reminder, unrestricted free agents are more like a traditional free agent, whereas restricted free agents can negotiate with other teams but then the originating team has seven days to fiscally match the offer and keep the player on their roster.

However, if an originating team does not make an offer to a restricted free agent before December 31st of the calendar year, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent. 

Here’s six players to keep an eye on, in alphabetical order:

1. Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash)

Status: Contract through 2024

Alozie went undrafted in the 2019 NWSL Draft, and proceeded to sign with a team abroad for the 2020 season before Covid-19 ended the season early. She ended up in Houston as an NRI in the 2021 preseason and eventually was signed to a National Team Replacement Player (NTRP) contract before being signed through the end of the season. Since then, she has had an important role for the Dash, and in 2023 played over 1000 minutes with four goals, and one assist. She is also on the Nigerian National Team, and helped the Super Falcons’ run to the round of 16 at the 2023 FIFA World Cup. 

2. Elyse Bennett (San Diego Wave)

Status: Contract through 2024, with club option for 2025

Bennett spent the 2023 season with the Reign, and played in 22 games with seven starts, two goals, and two assists, She ended up unprotected in the 2024 Expansion Draft and was picked up by Utah as their first pick. Two days after the Expansion Draft, she was traded to the San Diego Wave. Bennett got the start for San Diego in the 2024 Challenge Cup Championship that they won 1–0.  

3. Alana Cook (Seattle Reign)

Status: Contract through 2024

Originally joining the Reign on a short term loan for the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup from French side Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Cook ended up transferring to the Seattle-based side in 2021 on a three year contract with an additional option year for 2024. In 2023, Cook started 21 matches for the Reign, and had 34 interceptions and 16 blocks. Cook joined the USWNT in New Zealand and Australia for the 2023 FIFA World Cup, and started in the send-off match but didn’t see any playing time during the tournament. After a minor knee injury in the Reign 2024 preseason, Cook was replaced on the USWNT roster for the Concacaf W Gold Cup. She missed the first two matches of the 2024 regular season, but is currently building her minutes back up and played 32 in the latest game for the Reign. 

4. Jordyn Huitema (Seattle Reign)

Status: Contract through 2024

Although only 22, Huitema is on her fifth season as a pro and her third in the NWSL. Joining the Reign from PSG, the Canadian National Team forward played in 23 games in 2023 for Seattle including 17 starts and earning five goals. Standing at 5’11”, Huitema is an aerial threat, with three of her 2023 goals coming from her head and an overall 58% aerial duel success. She had an 82nd minute diving header for Canada to equalize and force penalty kicks in the Concacaf W Gold Cup semifinal. In the 2024 SheBelieves Cup Final on Tuesday, Huitema got the start for Canada but ended up subbing off injured in stoppage time in the first half. 

5. Kerolin (North Carolina Courage)

Status: Contract through 2024

The reigning NWSL MVP, Kerolin had 19 starts for the Courage in 2023, with ten goals, three assists, and a 79% passing accuracy. The big question on the Brazilian national team forward’s future is the ACL tear which occurred in the final game of the 2023 regular season. The ACL epidemic has been rampant in the last few years, and while some players have been able to fully return to play in less than a year, others have taken almost two years to recover. If Kerolin is healthy, it could easily become a bidding war to add such a dynamic player to any teams’ attack. 

6. Delanie Sheehan (NJNY Gotham)

Status: Contract through 2024, with club option for 2025

After only playing in nine matches for Gotham in 2022, Sheehan became a pivotal part of the Gotham revamp in 2023 playing in 21 games and over 1500 minutes. She had a 78% passing accuracy with two assists, and her goal against the Courage in the first round of the playoffs aided Gotham’s postseason run. So far in 2024 Sheehan has played in every minute of all of Gotham’s games between the 2024 Challenge Cup and their two regular season matches.

Related:

NWSL Transactions

Way ahead of the NWSL October deadline to exercise options on upcoming free agents, here’s nine potential unrestricted free agents to keep an eye on in the coming months for extensions or options exercised as teams look at their long term plans. 

Reminder, if an option is not exercised—either mutually or by the club depending on type—before the October deadline, players are free to begin negotiations with other teams.

Here’s nine players to keep an eye on, in alphabetical order:

1. Janine Beckie (Portland Thorns)

Status: Contract through 2024

Beckie signed with the Thorns back in 2022, and was really finding her groove with the squad in their run up toward the 2022 NWSL Championship. The Canadian national team midfielder tore her ACL in preseason play in 2023, causing her to miss the entirety of the 2023 season and the FIFA Women’s World Cup. 366 days post injury, Beckie returned to the pitch, scoring two goals in the season opener against Kansas City. Although she is still building up her minutes toward 90, Beckie has been instrumental in the Thorns build-up thus far this season. 

2. Abby Dahlkemper (San Diego Wave)

Status: Contract through 2024

Coming off a 2022 SEI (Season-Ending Injury), Dahlkemper rejoined the Wave midseason in 2023 and easily fit right back in with the squad, playing a single half in her debut in a 2023 Challenge Cup match before playing 90’s in the remaining six matches for San Diego, and even scored a goal against Orlando. In 2024, she’s already played every minute for the Wave and her pairing with USWNT defender Naomi Girma already aided San Diego in winning the 2024 Challenge Cup. Dahlkemper made her return to the USWNT in December and has gotten consistent call ups since then. 

3. Debinha (Kansas City Current)

Status: Contract through 2024 with a mutual option for 2025

Debinha was the biggest move of the NWSL’s first foray into free agency in the 2022-23 offseason, and with more teams, and a higher salary cap, she’s a prime target for Kansas City to lock down to avoid a bidding war. In her first season with the Current, the Brazilian national team midfielder scored nine goals and had two assists while earning three monthly Best XI selections and a nomination for NWSL MVP in 2023. Debinha injured her hamstring on opening day, but her return to play is expected after the April FIFA window. 

4. Marta (Orlando Pride)

Status: Contract through 2024

The Brazilian national team midfielder might have announced that the 2023 FIFA World Cup was her last World Cup, but her eyes remain firmly on the upcoming Paris Olympics and her season with Orlando. She’s already started the 2024 season off with a bang, getting the 88th minute equalizer against Angel City in their second match of the new season. Marta has been with the Pride since 2017, and last season became the first player to hit over 100 appearances for the club. She’s a six time FIFA World Player of the Year and current captain of the Pride, so it’s very likely that the Pride gives her an extension for as long as she wants to continue playing.  

5. Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave)

Status: Contract through 2024 with a club option for 2025

Easily one of the most recognizable names in women’s soccer across the world, USWNT forward Alex Morgan was one of the first players that San Diego acquired as an expansion side, and won the NWSL Golden Boot in the team’s inaugural season. In 2023, Morgan started 19 matches for the Wave, with seven goals, and five assists. This season Morgan has had the game winner in the 2024 Challenge Cup, as well as the assist for San Diego’s 98th minute game winner against the Reign last weekend. As one of San Diego’s franchise players, it will be important for the Wave to keep Morgan in San Diego for future seasons. 

6. Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

Status: Contract through 2024

Naeher has long been the starting USWNT goalkeeper and last season captained Red Stars in her 20 regular season starts, during which she made 80 saves. Additionally, last season she broke the NWSL record for regular season saves when she surpassed the then-record of 519 saves and she additionally became the first goalkeeper in the NWSL to record 150 regular season appearances. Chicago struggled last season, finishing at the bottom of the table, but new ownership, a new general manager, and a new coach have started the Red Stars on a 3 game unbeaten streak to start off 2024. In the three matches, Naeher has already tallied nine saves, and only allowed two goals against—the lowest number of goals against for the teams which have played three regular season matches. 

7. Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage)

Status: Contract through 2024

The Ireland national team midfielder has been with the Courage since 2017 when she was signed by the club off the waiver wire having been released by the Houston Dash. She was named the captain ahead of the 2023 season where she was also named to the NWSL Best XI Second Team. She had 21 starts for North Carolina in 2023, was an instrumental part of their midfield, creating 17 chances, and only was subbed off twice in the entire regular season. This past offseason, she was linked with interest from several WSL (Women’s Super League - England) clubs. 

8. Christen Press (Angel City)

Status: Contract through 2024

Press was the first player added to the expansion side Angel City FC’s roster ahead of their inaugural 2022 season, and the contract reportedly made her one of the highest-paid players in NWSL history — at the time of signing. She currently holds the record for most results changing 85th minute or later goals in the NWSL at five alongside Sam Kerr. In 2022, she only played in eight games before tearing her ACL, and the injury couldn’t have come at a worse time, as Press’s 2021 form was immaculate, and she was the bright spot of the Angel City attack. Unfortunately the road to recovery for the injury was not easy. Four surgeries later, Press missed the entirety of the 2023 season as well as the chance to join the USWNT at the FIFA World Cup last summer. She is currently back training with the LA-based side full time and has posted herself doing lateral movement on grass in cleats, one of the milestones on her way to being game fit. 

9. Morgan Weaver (Portland Thorns)

Status: Contract through 2024 with a 2025 club option 

Weaver might not be the Thorns leading goalscorer, but she is absolutely pivotal in her role in and her pairing with Sophia Smith in the Portland attack. In 2023 Weaver started all 22 regular season matches as well as the semifinal, scoring seven goals and getting four assists. She was additionally named to the NWSL Best XI of August. The current season seems to be more of the same, with Weaver having scored the 52nd minute goal against Louisville last weekend to start a Thorns comeback. Weaver has played in every single minute of the Thorns’ season thus far. 

Note: 

Sophia Smith would’ve been on this list but her contract was extended last week through 2025 with a player option for 2026. The first ever player option in NWSL history. 

Related:

NWSL Transactions

The Portland Thorns today announced that forward Sophia Smith had signed an extension with the club through 2025 with a player option for 2026. This is huge for the Thorns as Smith was going to be a free agent at the end of the season without the extension in place. It is also the first time that a contract option has been announced as a player option and not a club or mutual option. 

Smith is the youngest MVP in NWSL history as well as the reigning Golden Boot champion. In a team release Smith stated, “I’m excited to call Portland home and extend my time with the Thorns.” Last year she accounted for over 25 % of all of the Thorns regular season goals as well as assisting in an additional 12%.

“We are over the moon to have Soph commit again to the Thorns. She is a proven, world class talent and one that we are excited to have contributed to the team’s continued success,” said Head Coach Mike Norris in a team release. “We look forward to working with her in a Thorns jersey as she continues to shine as one of the top strikers in the world.”

As the Thorns top offensive contributors and the current face of the franchise, it was important for the Thorns to lock down Smith into a longer contract to avoid the potential bidding war of free agency or the allure of Smith playing abroad in Europe. The player option for 2026 does definitely leave the door open for Smith to head across the pond in the future.

With the NWSL regular season underway and no shortage of chaos and excitement in every single match, now’s the time to look at how roster’s evolved over the last four months of the offseason. The 2024 offseason was unique in the fact that for the first time, the NWSL’s version of free agency would come into play during an expansion year, and the dreaded expansion draft.  

In a normal year, there would likely be slightly more returners per team, but this season there’s only an average of 18.25 returners per team for the 12 squads from last season. Angel City, North Carolina, and Orlando round out the top all with 21, while Chicago had the fewest returners on their first matchday roster at 14. 

Understandably, expansion sides Bay FC and Utah are composed mostly of players picked up from the NWSL expansion draft, trades, and free agency. Bay was also the most active team in getting teams from abroad at seven, while Portland was second at five – three of which were defenders. After having the third most goals scored against them in the league last year, Portland’s focus on defense comes to no surprise. Even though reigning NWSL Champions NJNY Gotham FC had a large number of returning players, they were also the team most active in the signing of additional free agents, and had seven additions, two more than any other returning squad.

The 2024 NWSL Collegiate Draft saw 56 players drafted to NWSL sides prior to preseason starting, 40 of those ended up signing with squads for the upcoming season. Utah and Washington both led the charge signing five each, while Chicago and Bay both had four in close second. Washington and Chicago are both coming into the season with new coaches and the high number of draft signings indicates just how the new staffs plan on moving forward.  

Although preseason rosters are often stacked with non-rostered invitees (NRI’s) attempting to earn one of the 364 active roster spots in the league, this offseason only 10 signed. Bay FC and Chicago both had two, while six squads didn’t end up signing any. 

A more in-depth part of the returning players analysis was done by Dr. Arianna Cascone below by looking at the percentage of minutes played returning per team. 

As you can see, on top of having 21 players return, both Angel City and Orlando also had 77.8% of their 2023 minutes played return to their squads. Chicago, who felt another offseason exodus of free agents— losing six —is the only squad below 50% on the chart. All this being said, Chicago is also the only squad who started off the regular season with two straight wins. Only time will tell if general managers and coaches have the right mix of players, culture, and tactics to win the NWSL Shield 24 games from now.

Related:

NWSL Transactions

NWSL 2024 Draft Tracker

The NWSL 2024 season is here and the opening day rosters are set:

ANGEL CITY FC

Goalkeepers (3): Angelina Anderson, DiDi Hara?i?, Hannah Stambaugh

Defenders (10): Madison Curry, Elizabeth Eddy, Vanessa Gilles (LOAN), Sarah Gorden, Merritt Mathias, Paige Nielsen, Megan Reid, Ali Riley, Jasmyne Spencer, Gisele Thompson, M.A. Vignola

Midfielders (7): Meggie Dougherty Howard, Kennedy Fuller (U-18), Madison Hammond, Amandine Henry, Clarisse Le Bihan, Lily Nabet, Rocky Rodríguez

Forwards (6): Messiah Bright, Claire Emslie, Jun Endo (SEI), Katie Johnson, Sydney Leroux, Casey Phair (U-18), Christen Press (SEI), Alyssa Thompson  

Press Release

BAY FC

Goalkeepers (3): Emmie Allen, Melissa Lowder (SEI), Katelyn Rowland, Lysianne Proulx

Defenders (10): Jen Beattie, Jordan Brewster, Caprice Dydasco, Savy King, Alyssa Malonson, Emily Menges, Kiki Pickett, Kayla Sharples

Midfielders (7): Joelle Anderson, Dorian Bailey, Caroline Conti, Deyna Castellanos, Maya Doms, Jamie Shepherd

Forwards (6): Tess Boade, Scarlett Camberos, Rachell Hill, Racheal Kundananji, Alex Loera, Princess, Asisat Oshoala

Press Release

CHICAGO RED STARS

Goalkeepers (3): Alyssa Naeher, Sydney Schneider, Mackenzie Wood  

Defenders (8): Hannah Anderson, Camryn Biegalski, Sami Feller (SEI), Natalia Kuikka, Taylor Malham, Tatumn Milazzo, Maximiliane Rall, Sam Staab 

Midfielders (8): Julia Bianchi, Jenna Bike, Chardonnay Curran, Bea Franklin, Sarah Griffith, Sophie Jones, Leilanni Nesbeth, Cari Roccaro 

Forwards (8): Ally Cook, Ava Cook, Nádia Gomes, Shea Groom, Penelope Hocking, Jameese Joseph, Ally Schlegel, Mallory Swanson 

Press Release

HOUSTON DASH

Goalkeepers (3): Emily Alvarado, Jane Campbell, Savannah Madden

Defenders (6): Allysha Chapman (ML), Madelyn Desiano, Jyllissa Harris, Natalie Jacobs, Katie Lind, Courtney Petersen, Sarah Puntigam, Croix Soto 

Midfielders (7): Andressa Alves, Belle Briede, Sophie Hirst, Elin Rubensson, Sophie Schmidt, Havana Solaun, Barbara Olivieri

Forwards (7): Michelle Alozie, Ryan Gareis (ML), Paulina Gramaglia (LOAN), Cece Kizer, Yuki Nagasato, Diana Ordóñez, Avery Patterson, María Sánchez, Amanda West

Press Release

KANSAS CITY CURRENT

Goalkeepers (3): AD Franch, Hope Hisey, Jordan Silkowitz

Defenders (10): Stine Ballisager Pedersen, Elizabeth Ball, Hanna Gla (SEI), Lauren, Hailie Mace, Gabrielle Robinson, Izzy Rodriguez, Regan Steigleder, Ellie Wheeler, Mallory Weber (SEI)

Midfielders (8): Sophia Braun, Debinha, Vanessa Dibernadro (SEI), Bayley Feist, Claire Hutton, Lo’eau LaBonta, Claire Lavogez, Desiree Scott (SEI), 

Forwards (7): Temwa Chawinga, Michelle Cooper, Kristen Hamilton, Alex Pfeiffer (U-18), Nichelle Prince, Alexa Spaanstra, Bia Zaneratto, 

Press Release