The last days of January and the first days of February saw a pair of major transfers out of the NWSL:
- Brazilian center-back Tarciane leaves the Houston Dash for Olympique Lyonnais after just nine months in the NWSL.
- Another Brazilian, Adriana, has been traded from the Orlando Pride to Al Qadsiah FC of the Saudi Women’s Premier League.
According to news reports, Lyon paid over $825,000 to the Dash for Tarciane, while Orlando received $500,000 for Adriana.
In United States Women’s National Team player news:
- Jenna Nighswonger is officially no longer a Gotham FC player and now wears the red and white of Arsenal.
- Another now-former Gotham player, Crystal Dunn, who was released by the club last week, has signed with Paris Saint-Germain, joining two other USWNT players.
Additionally, two clubs sent players on loan for the calendar year:
- Forward Elexa Bahr returns to her previous club, Colombia’s América de Cali, for the remainder of her Racing Louisville contract.
- The North Carolina Courage have loaned Canadian midfielder Victoria Pickett to AFC Toronto of the Northern Super League.
Gotham FC: The Jenna Nighswonger transfer to Arsenal is official
On Thursday, both clubs made it official: Jenna Nighswonger is now a Gunner. News of the transaction was leaked a few days earlier.
Nighswonger was interviewed by Claire Watkins of Just Women’s Sports and had the following to say about her reasons for leaving Gotham:
“Playing in England is just something that I’ve always wanted to do,” she told Just Women’s Sports this week in the lead-up to Arsenal’s announcement. “So sometimes when an opportunity presents itself, even if you’re happy at a club, you just have to take a leap of faith.”
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“I have nothing but positive things to say about Gotham and the NWSL,” she continued. “I think [transferring] is just a fun opportunity to play in another country, and learn about a new culture.”
The length of Nighswonger’s contract with Arsenal has not been made public.
Crystal Dunn inks deal with Paris Saint-Germain
On Friday, Paris Saint-Germain revealed their signing of Crystal Dunn, who was recently released by Gotham FC via mutual assent. The 32-year-old was signed to a contract that runs through June 2027 (en.psg.fr press release).
Two other United States Women’s National Team players are on PSG’s roster: Korbin Albert and the recently capped Eva Gaetino.
PSG is currently third in the Première Ligue table, one point behind Paris FC, and eights point below Olympique Lyonnais.
Houston Dash: Tarciane acquired by Olympique Lyonnais
After losing out to Chelsea for the services of Naomi Girma, Olympique Lyonnais found another NWSL center-back to acquire: The Houston Dash’s Tarciane.
On Sunday, Lyon and the Dash (press release) announced the transfer. With Lyon, Tarciane signed a contract that runs through the 2028-2029 Première Ligue season (press release).
The Brazilian international was with the Dash for only nine months, after being signed in April 2024 (press release) via a transfer from Corinthians that had a fee of about $485,000 (reportedly 2.59 million in Brazilian Reais).
Lyon offered a guaranteed transfer fee of approximately $830,000 with an extra $130,000 possible in performance-based add-ons, according to Theo Lloyd-Hughes, who broke the news of the trade on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Tarciane was a member of Brazil’s squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She started and played the full 90 in every match except their group stage loss to Japan, where she entered at halftime.
Tarciane has an official height of 6’0″ (184 cm), leading to talk of her being a future replacement for Lyon’s veteran center-back, Wendie Renard, who is taller by an inch or so (187 cm) and will turn 35 in July (fff.fr profile)
On Lyon’s back line, Renard is currently paired with 28-year-old Canadian international Vanessa Gilles, who is on loan from the Angel City and wants to stay with Lyon, but those talks have apparently stalled. Other currently rostered center-back options are the 21-year-old Elma Junttila-Nelhage (Lyon profile) of Sweden and 18-year-old Wassa Sangaré (Lyon profile).
Since February 2024, the majority owner of Olympique Lyonnais Féminin is Michele Kang, who also owns the NWSL’s Washington Spirit as well as the London City Lionesses, which currently plays in the second tier of English women’s football.
Orlando Pride: Adriana transfers to Al Qadsiah FC of the Saudi Women’s Premier League
In one of the more eye-opening trades of the preseason, the Orlando Pride have agreed to transfer Brazilian forward Adriana Leal da Silva to Al Qadsiah FC of Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Women’s Premier League for a reported fee of $500,000 (Bluesky post, Pride press release).
The 28-year-old Brazilian international was entering the third year of the three-year contract she signed after being acquired from Corinthians in January 2023 (press release).
In 2024, Adriana appeared in 23 regular season matches and all three of the Pride’s playoff matches, with starts in the semifinal and final. She scored six goals, three of which were game-winners. Four of the goals came as braces against Gotham FC and Angel City. (NWSL game log)
At the international level, has over 60 caps for Brazil, including appearances in the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she scored against Spain in the semifinals, and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Al Qadsiah is managed by the Luís Andrade (Wikipedia bio), who previously helmed the women’s teams of Flamengo in Brazil and Benfica in his native Portugal.
Al Qadsiah’s roster also includes former Houston Dash and Portland Thorns goalkeeper Lindsey Harris (31-Jan-2025 x.com line-up post, Harris’s Instagram).
Racing Louisville: Elexa Bahr loaned back to Colombia’s América de Cali for 2025
On Thursday, Racing announced (press release) that forward Elexa Bahr has been loaned to her previous club, América de Cali, in Colombia, for the final year of her two-year contract.
Bahr played the 2023 season with América de Cali, and then signed with Racing in January 2024 (press release).
In 2024, Bahr appeared in all 16 matches that came before the Olympic break, making 14 starts, but was left on the bench for the 10 post-Olympics matches. Her only goal and only assist of the season came in Racing’s season-opener, a 2:2 draw with Orlando. (NWSL game log)
For the Colombia Women’s National Team, Bahr was a member of their squads for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup.
Bahr, who was born in the state of Georgia, played collegiately for the South Carolina Gamecocks (player profile), where she scored 18 goals and registered 11 assists over 88 matches.
North Carolina Courage: Victoria Pickett on loan to AFC Toronto for 2025
Canadian midfielder Victoria Pickett is heading home for the 2025 season. The Ontario native has been loaned to AFC Toronto of the new Northern Super League after two seasons with the Courage (press release).
In 2024, Pickett had 19 appearances and six starts for the Courage. (NWSL game log)
In 2021, Pickett was drafted by Kansas City and played one-and-a-half seasons for the Current before being traded to Gotham FC in August 2022. She spent only about nine months in a Gotham uniform before being acquired by the Courage in April 2023 (press release).
Pickett has three senior caps for the Canada Women’s National Team and had extensive youth international experience, playing in the 2016 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2014 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, as well as the Concacaf qualifying tournaments for both FIFA tournaments. She also played in the 2015 Pan-American Games, which was hosted by Canada. (Pickett’s Canada Soccer profile)
Pickett played three seasons of NCAA soccer for Wisconsin (player profile), with injuries keeping her out of her sophomore and graduate seasons.
Pickett will be a free agent for 2026 absent the exercising of a mutual option from her existing NWSL contract, which was signed in December 2022, when Pickett was with Gotham (press release).
Other Free Agency Signings
Former Utah Royals forward, Cameron Tucker, signed with Liga F’s Levante UD, through June 2025 (levanteud.com news item). The 15th-place Levante is currently in the relegation zone of Liga F, so Tucker would be free to sign with a new club should Levante go down. Notably, the day after her signing, Levante gave powerhouse Barcelona a rare defeat (DAZN highlights – YouTube).
Three weeks after being released via a mutual termination of her contract, another former Utah Royals forward, Michele Vasconcelos, has signed with other Levante in Liga F, FC Levante Badalona (Instagram), which is currently mid-table. Vasconcelos previously played in Spain while on loan to Sevilla FC for the 2021-2022 season (September 2021 press release).
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