The NWSL’s 55-day long Secondary Transfer Window officially closed on Monday, here’s an in-depth look at all the movement and how it compares to previous years. 

For a by-team breakdown of the window, check out the NWSL Secondary Window Tracker or the NWSL transaction tracker   

There were seven trades, five including player movement, and three players loaned within the NWSL. There were 25 players signed to clubs via external transfers, loans, or free agency. There were only three transfers of players to leagues outside the NWSL, but 19 player loans outside the league. 

Comparing previous secondary windows, with almost 90% more days, the 2025 window had two less signings than 2024, but a significantly smaller number of trades — which may come down to the fact that there are no more barriers within the league on trades until after the Roster Freeze in October. 

There really is no consistency between how active a team was in both 2024 and 2025 when looking at their ranking heading into the Secondary Window and a teams’ activeness doesn’t seem to be dependent on their ranking. Interestingly enough the bottom four teams had a combined 11 players incoming in both 2024 and 2025. In 2024 there was an average of 3 incoming players per team—with 6 teams below the mean—-but in 2025 that dropped down to 2.28—with 9 teams below the mean. 

Looking a bit more in depth into 2025 and adding the players on a medical leave of some type that either went on or came off leave (this data wasn’t tracked in 2024 in an automated manner which is why it’s not in the comparison table)


*MT = Mutual Termination, for simplicity loans includes players being recalled from loans back to originating team

North Carolina was the sole team without an incoming player via signing or trade, but they did have a player — Sydney Collins — come off a 2024 season-ending injury designation, although they also traded Collins to Bay FC during the window. They remain in ninth place, and along with the mystery behind the sudden firing of Sean Nahas, it’s hard to see the Courage’s route to the playoffs this season. 

The two teams with only one addition are first place Kansas City, who has a chance to clinch a playoff place this weekend, and sixth place Seattle. Both teams’ single additions were pretty big ones, with the Reign landing striker Mia Fishel from Chelsea FC and the Current having the addition of forward Ally Sentnor from Utah. 

Chicago had the highest number of *new* players in the Secondary Window, but only if you count the three players coming off the D45 list during the window. Bay FC and Angel City lead the rest, using a number of different mechanisms, and hopefully their changes will aid them getting from 12th and 10th in the table, respectively, to above the playoff line. 

In terms of outgoing players, Orlando led the way with eight players leaving the active roster (at least momentarily - i.e. Ally Watt), including six players being loaned out, one being traded (although Ally Watt was loaned back into the team), and the devastating season-ending injury of Barbra Banda.