Taylor VincentFebruary 06, 2025

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. 

Taylor VincentJanuary 30, 2025

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

 

Taylor VincentJanuary 29, 2025

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). 

Taylor VincentJanuary 14, 2025

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

Taylor VincentJanuary 06, 2025

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.

Taylor VincentDecember 19, 2024

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. 

Taylor VincentDecember 12, 2024

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. 

 

Taylor VincentDecember 05, 2024

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.

Taylor VincentNovember 22, 2024

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

 

Taylor VincentNovember 19, 2024

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. 

Taylor VincentNovember 07, 2024

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

Taylor VincentOctober 31, 2024

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.

Taylor VincentOctober 22, 2024

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.

Taylor VincentOctober 17, 2024

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

Taylor VincentOctober 10, 2024

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

Taylor VincentOctober 03, 2024

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

 

Taylor VincentSeptember 26, 2024

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. 

 

Taylor VincentSeptember 19, 2024

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. 

Taylor VincentSeptember 12, 2024

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. 




Taylor VincentSeptember 04, 2024

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. 

 

Taylor VincentAugust 28, 2024

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

 

Taylor VincentAugust 27, 2024

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

 

Taylor VincentAugust 22, 2024

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. 

Taylor VincentAugust 22, 2024

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. 

Taylor VincentAugust 13, 2024

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. 

Taylor VincentJuly 26, 2024

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.