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.
With the first round of the 2025 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Qualifiers in the books, the names of all 12 teams that will face off in the final round are now known.
Joining the four teams that received byes to the final round — the USA, Mexico, Canada, and Haiti — are six group winners: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico.
Two second-place teams, Bermuda and Trinidad & Tobago, also advanced (Concacaf news item). The six groups were unbalanced, with two groups having just three teams instead of four, so a weighted points system (points divided by matches played) was apparently used (the regulations document is silent on this matter, but it has been used in the past). However, due to a quirk in that ranking system, one or both of those teams may have advanced more on the luck of the draw rather than on sporting factors.
For the final round, which is scheduled to start on Monday, March 31st, the above 12 teams will be divided into three round-robin groups of four. The top team from each group, along with the best second-place team from among those three groups, will advance to the 2025 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
On the last day of January, two NWSL clubs announced the signing of internationals, both via transfers:
The Orlando Pride have acquired Zambian international Prisca Chilufya from FC Juárez of Liga MX Femenil. Chilufya inked a three-year deal that runs through the 2027 NWSL season.
Meanwhile, Japanese international Miyabi Moriya has transferred to Angel City after ten years with INAC Kobe Leonessa. She is signed for one season and has a club option for 2026.
Earlier this week, the San Diego Wave have apparently added another non-roster invitee: Midfielder Jordan Fusco, who recently wrapped up her NCAA career at Penn State after three seasons with the Tennessee Volunteers.
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.
Leading the player notables for Wednesday, January 29th, are the news that 2024 NWSL MVP Temwa Chawinga has extended through the 2028 NWSL season with the Kansas City Current and that both Thompson sisters, Alyssa and Gisele, have done the same with Angel City.
Meanwhile, tThe Utah Royals have added another Spanish player: Outside-back Nuria Rábano, who was teammates with Ana Tejada at Real Sociedad.
In other player news, Gotham signed another rookie, UCLA’s Sofia Cook, to a multi-year deal, and the Seattle Reign have extended the loan of Welsh international Lily Woodham to Crystal Palace.
Also, Texas standout Lexi Missimo will not be taking her talents to the NWSL or Europe anytime soon after signing with her hometown club, the Dallas Trinity, of the nascent USL Super League.
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.
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.
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.
Two of those players will be graduating a year early and have officially committed to NCAA teams for the 2025 fall season: Evan O’Steen and Jaiden Rodriguez, who are set to play for Florida State and Southern California, respectively. The 24-player roster for this camp also includes two other players who have reclassified for 2025 with official commits: Midfielder Pearl Cecil and forward Nyanya Touray, who will play for Virginia and Florida State, respectively.
This is the second camp of the current cycle for the U-17 USWYNT. The first camp was held back in September 2024 and did not involve any 2024 U-17 WWC players. From that roster, only nine players return, including just one goalkeeper, Josie “JB” Biehl, plus three defenders, one midfielder, and four forwards. One of the defenders from the previous camp, Pearl Cecil, is listed as a midfielder for this camp.
This U-17 camp, which exclusively has players with 2008 birth years, is being held concurrently with an Under-16 USWYNT camp that primarily features players with 2009 birth years. Both camps get underway on Monday, January 27th, in Mesa, Arizona, and run through Monday, February 3rd. The camps were scheduled to be held outside of San Diego, California, in Chula Vista, but were moved due to wildfires (USYNT x.com post).
The U-17 USWYNT is preparing for the Concacaf qualifiers to the 2025 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, which is now an annual event and will be hosted by Morocco. Unlike the previous two-year cycles, the qualifying event will not be a standard tournament. Instead, the USA, which received a bye to the final stage, will be placed in one of three four-team round-robin groups. Only the top team from each group, along with the best second-place team, will qualify for the FIFA U-17 WWC. (2025 Concacaf press release; Concacaf Instagram post) The final stage of Concacaf qualifying is scheduled to be played from Monday, March 31 to April 6, 2025 (2024 Concacaf press release).
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