After the regular season wraps up this Sunday, the end-of-season awards season will be fully ramping up. Based on previous years, Monday after the final regular season is completed the preliminary round of voting opens up. There are seven individual awards up for grabs as well as a spot on the Best XI or second Best XI. 

Voting Process

In the preliminary round, voting weights breakdown to Players (50%), Boards/GM's/Head Coaches (25%), and Media (25%). After a week of voting, the placings will decide who is in the final round of voting—which will begin shortly after finalists are announced. 

The final round of voting uses a weighted scale of players (40%), owners/GMs/coaches (25%), media (25%) and fans (10%). The award winners will be announced Wednesday November 19th as a part of the build into the NWSL Championship on November 22nd. 

Reminder:
Under the new CBA, all end-of-season competition bonuses will double their current rate of $5,000 to $10,000 in 2027 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. The NWSL MVP award will be quadrupling up to $20,000

Reference previous award winners: here

Taylor’s Takes

In the preliminary round, voters get to vote for multiple players, so for the seven individual awards, below is my take the frontrunners

Monthly Award Winners

Golden Boot Winner: ???


NWSL Regular Season Top Goalscorers List

This is the one award that isn’t voted on, it is awarded to the NWSL’s top goalscorer. Right now, Temwa Chawinga looks like she’ll be earning the award for the second year running, while Esther with a hattrick could ruin it for Chawinga—especially after Chawinga was carried off the pitch by teammates in the first half of the Current's match against Houston and then announced on social media that she’d be missing national team duty due to an adductor injury.

Most Valuable Player: Temwa Chawinga

Seven of the 11 seasons in the NWSL the Golden Boot winner has also been the MVP and of the remaining four, two were forwards, and two were attacking midfielders from which we can glean that historically MVP has come down to offensive impact. Along those lines, Temwa Chawinga is leading the Golden Boot race with 15 goals and has an additional 3 assists. Unsurprisingly, Chawinga leads a bunch of the NWSL offensive stat categories, but perhaps my favorite is that with almost 50% fewer shots than 2024, she’s scored only 5 goals less, reducing her 5.3 shots/goal in 2024 to 3.9 shots/goal in 2025. 

Honorable Mentions : Esther González, Delphine Cascarino

Midfielder of the Year: Manaka Matsukubo

The 21-year old Japanese international had a breakout year with the Courage, currently ranking 3rd in the Golden Boot race with 10 goals (all non-penalty), 9th in assists with 4, and 2nd in Goals + Assists across the league. She is also 3rd in shots on target (30), 1st in goal creating actions (12), 5th in shot creating action (79), and 4th in fouls drawn (42). 

Honorable Mentions : Olivia Moultrie, Taylor Flint

Defender of the Year: Izzy Rodriguez 

Rodriguez is T-1st in assists with 6 and scored the game-winning goal against North Carolina back in August. She leads the defenders of the league in chances created with 38, is 1st in the league in crosses (143), 7th in assists/90 (0.27), and 6th in goal creating actions with 9. She also had 32 interceptions, 22 tackles won, and 62 clearances

Honorable Mention: Tara McKeown, Kate Del Fava

Goalkeeper of the Year: Lorena

This is perhaps the most straightforward award to choose with Lorena having an absolutely incredible season with Kansas City which includes 14 clean sheets and only 12 goals conceded in 23 matches. She has the highest save percentage in the league at 83.3% and has a 100% save percentage on shots outside the box. 

Honorable Mention : Ann-Katrin Berger, Aubrey Kingsbury

Rookie of the Year: Sarah Schupansky

This one was much closer than I thought it would be after the first couple of months of the season, but Schupansky has played in 23 of Gotham’s 25 matches and is T-3rd in assists with 5, 1st in the league in assists/90 with 0.35. She is also 5th in crosses with 104, 7th in fouls drawn with 39, and sixth in successful take-on % with 69.2.

Honorable mentions : Riley Tiernan, Pietra Tordin

Coach of the Year: Laura Harvey

It would be easy to pick Vlatko Andonovski for his third NWSL Coach of the Year award considering Kansas City’s record breaking season, but consider the fact that the Current ended the 2024 regular season in fourth and had the core of the squad returning in 2025. To me, more impressive is Laura Harvey turning Seattle’s ship around after finishing 2024 in 13th place, and now heading into the final weekend of the 2025 regular season in 4th place with a playoff spot clinched. This was done with 22 players of the 2024 end of season roster currently rostered.