NWSL – Page 3 – Women's Soccer Express

NWSL: Denver officially introduced as the newest expansion team

On Thursday, January 30th, the National Women’s Soccer League officially announced Denver as the city of its second expansion franchise for the 2026 season. As previously reported, the expansion fee for Denver is $110 million.

The NWSL’s newest franchise is led by Rob Cohen (corporate bio), the Chairman and CEO of IMA Financial Group (website), who is the club’s controlling owner and its representative on the NWSL Board of Governors. Mellody Hobson (corporate bio), Co-CEO & President of Ariel Investments (website), will serve as the club’s Alternate Governor. Ariel Investments is the parent company of a new investment firm, Project Level (website), which will have an ownership stake in the Denver club.

Additional investors include siblings Jon-Erik Borgen and Kaia Borgen Moritz, plus their spouses; Dhiren Jhaveri and his wife, Neelima Joshi; and Molly Coors.

Denver’s ownership has plans to build its own soccer stadium as well as a dedicated team training facility.

When Denver and its fellow 2026 expansion franchise, Boston, join the NWSL in 2026, the league will have sixteen clubs.

NWSL: 2025 Preseason Rosters, Part 7 of 7 — Gotham FC

On Wednesday, Gotham FC became the final club to release its initial roster for the 2025 NWSL preseason. The roster includes no unsigned invitees.

The roster does have a few minor notables:

Jenna Nighswonger has “not yet reported”, likely due to her expected transfer to Arsenal
As expected, 14-year-old Mak Whitham is now officially a permanent signing after being signed to short-term contracts in 2024
Midge Purce remains a free agent

Also, if you missed Tuesday’s news: Crystal Dunn was released from her contract via mutual agreement.

NWSL News of Note: Crystal Dunn released by Gotham, Kristen Hamilton and Elizabeth Ball stay with KC, Racing loans Milly Clegg to Halifax, Royals confirm Emily Gray loan

Leading the notables from Tuesday, January 28th, is the departure of another player from Gotham FC: Crystal Dunn and the club “have mutually agreed to part ways”. Dunn still had two years left on her now-cancelled contract.

In other player news, the Kansas City Current have re-signed two veteran players who were both free agents after the 2024 NWSL season: Forward Kristen Hamilton and center-back Elizabeth Ball.

Also, Racing Louisville is sending 19-year-old New Zealand international forward Milly Clegg to Canada’s Northern Super League for the 2025 season, where she will play for the Halifax Tides.

Additionally, the Utah Royals confirmed the loan of midfielder Emily Gray to Piteå IF for the 2025 calendar year, which was already announced by the Damallsvenskan club.

NWSL News of Note: Naomi Girma to Chelsea, Messiah Bright traded from Angel City to the Dash, Jenna Nighswonger set to leave Gotham for Arsenal

The big news of the weekend was the official introduction of Naomi Girma in Chelsea Blue on Sunday, after a trade from the San Diego Wave, which reportedly involves the largest transfer fee in women’s soccer history.

Girma may not be the only United States Women’s National Team player heading to England, as it appears that Jenna Nighswonger will be traded from Gotham to Arsenal.

In other player news, forward Messiah Bright will be playing for her third team in three years after being traded from Angel City to the Houston Dash.

NWSL: 2025 Preseason Rosters, Part 6 — Bay FC, Chicago Stars, Houston Dash, North Carolina Courage, and Portland Thorns

Five additional clubs — Bay FC, the Chicago Stars, the Houston Dash, the North Carolina Courage, and the Portland Thorns — have released their initial preseason roster for the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League season, leaving just Gotham FC as the only team to not officially publish their roster list.

The most curious nugget from those five clubs’ press releases is a note that Chicago Stars and United States Women’s National Team forward Mallory Swanson will not be with the Stars “for the start of training camp” due to unspecified “personal reasons”. Chicago’s roster release also included a quote from Swanson. At this point in time, this situation is just something to note and is only a slightly significant story.

All five clubs have at least one non-roster invitee:

Bay FC has just one unsigned player, forward Catherine Paulson, who signed a short-term contract with the club in October 2024 after previously being a National Team Replacement Player.
The Chicago Stars have seven invitees, including two Jamaican internationals: goalkeeper Sydney Schneider, who was with the Stars in 2024, and Ohio State midfielder Peyton McNamara.
The Houston Dash have five non-roster players, including UVA midfielder Alexis Theoret, who was called into a U-23 USWYNT camp back in February 2023.
The North Carolina Courage have invited six recent collegiate players. Among them is defender Emerson Elgin, who won a 2024 NCAA Division I title with the North Carolina Tar Heels last December.
Of the six non-roster players invited by the Portland Thorns, two are goalkeepers: Morgan Messner, who was with the San Diego Wave during the 2024 NWSL season, and Stanford’s Haley Craig.

NWSL: Houston Dash owner Ted Segal exploring “potential investment options”, including sale of controlling interest

On Friday, Sportico‘s Kurt Badenhausen reported that Houston Dash controlling owner Ted Segal has retained investment bank PJT Partners for the purposes of “assess[ing] potential investment options” for the Houston Dash, including a sale of Segal’s controlling interesting in the Dash. Sportico‘s reporting is based primarily on a memo sent to team employees.

Segal is also the majority owner of the Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo, which, according to the employee memo, is not currently for sale.

The possible investment options include (1) sale of Segal’s controlling interest in the Dash, (2) additional outside investment by adding new equity investors, or (3) no change in the current ownership.

Relocation of Houston’s franchise is not currently an option, according to reports from the NWSL’s recent media day event (Justin Horneker’s Substack).

NWSL News of Note: Wave acquire Kenza Dali, Thorns sign UCLA’s Jayden Perry, Chicago adds U-17 international Micayla Johnson, Michelle Betos retires

Leading the player notables is the San Diego Wave’s acquisition of 33-year-old French midfielder Kenza Dali from Aston Villa. Dali joins the Wave via a two-year contract.

Two rookies signs were also announced:

UCLA center-back Jayden Perry was signed by the Portland Thorns for the 2025 season.
The Chicago Stars have signed 17-year-old forward Micayla Johnson through the 2027 NWSL season. Johnson played in the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup for the United States.

Covered in a separate post is the news that Deyna Castellanos has been released by Bay FC and has signed with the Portland Thorns.

Additionally, goalkeeper Michelle Betos has announced her retirement from professional soccer.

NWSL: Deyna Castellanos released by Bay FC, signs with the Portland Thorns

Update (25-Jan-2025): Portland’s signing of Castellanos was made official on Saturday, at about 9:00 a.m. Pacific time (press release, x.com post). The below post has been updated.

On Thursday (press release), Bay FC announced the mutual termination of midfielder/forward Deyna Castellanos’s contract with the club. Later that day, Sandra Herrera of CBS Sports reported that Castellanos had been signed by the Portland Thorns through the 2026 NWSL season, with a 2027 club option.

Portland’s signing of Castellanos was apparently confirmed by the Thorns in a press release that was sent out to the media on Friday (OurSportsCentral.com version) and covered by outlets such as the AP and USA Today’s Pro Soccer Wire. However, that release was deleted from the club’s website (Wayback Machine archive) and there was no mention of the signing on the Thorns’s social media accounts on Friday.

NWSL: 2025 Preseason Rosters, Part 5 — Angel City FC

On Wednesday, an eighth club, Angel City released their initial preseason roster for the 2025 NWSL season.

ACFC has invited five non-rostered players, including two members of the USA’s squad for the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup:

Midfielder Scottie Antonucci, who is also eligible for the 2025 U-17 WWC, and
Forward Leena Powell, who is an official commit for UCLA.

The other three invitees are all collegiate seniors:

University of Portland goalkeeper Bre Norris,
Mississippi State midfielder Hannah Johnson, and
Rutgers forward Riley Tiernan.

In the same press release, ACFC also confirmed the appointment of former Houston Dash head coach Sam Laity as interim head coach.

NWSL: 2025 Season Schedule — Analysis and Statistical Overview

On Wednesday, the National Women’s Soccer League released its regular season schedule for 2025 (press release). The 2025 NWSL schedule has a few pleasant surprises, which, from a sporting perspective, are significant improvements compared to the 2024 schedule.

For 2025, the regular season is divided evenly by the July break for confederation tournaments such as the Women’s EURO. Every team will play exactly 13 matches before the break and exactly 13 matches after the break.

Additionally, the 2025 schedule will follow an unofficial apertura/clausura format with each club playing every other team exactly once before the break and again after the break. This is a marked departure from 2024, where after 13 matches, two teams each had not played five teams (Bluesky post) Also, last year, the San Diego Wave and Seattle Reign had already played each other twice less than two months into the season.

The 2025 season will end with a “Decision Day”, with all 14 teams in action on the final Sunday. However, there is no explicit guarantee that all seven matches will kick off simultaneously as was the case in 2023.

Another positive improvement is the elimination of Wednesday matches. While this does decrease the number of teams that have stretches of compressed scheduling, in 2025, a few teams have weeks with just three days in between match days. Most notable of those teams is Gotham FC, which plays four matches over fourteen days in April.