Editors Note: Updated in August 2023 to include most recent salary and annual income estimates for Sam Kerr.
The NWSL tried to change its rules to help keep top foreign talent in the league, but it clearly wasn’t enough. One of the best players in the world left the NWSL in 2020 for England; one look at Sam Kerr's salary and her contract with Chelsea shows why.
Did anyone on the planet have a better week than Lynn Williams? Let's break it down.
On Tuesday, Williams went to the top of the Empire State Building to sign a new multi-year contract with NJ/NY Gotham FC through the 2025 season.
Feeling on of the world.#YERRRR pic.twitter.com/eBDamzqiNq
When it comes to rookies in the National Women's Soccer League, most of the discussion has centered around No. 1 overall pick Alyssa Thompson. The headlines write themselves when you're talking about an 18-year-old who's already scored some spectacular goals for Angel City and is challenging for the USWNT World Cup squad.
But what about No. 2 overall pick Michelle Cooper, the forward who won the 2022 Hermann Trophy as the nation's best college player with 19 goals and 11 assists in 22 games during her sophomore season at Duke?
Angel City forward Sydney Leroux was in tears Monday night after an emotional return to the field. Leroux had been sidelined for the past 11 months and scored in her first game back during Angel City’s 2-1 defeat to the Chicago Red Stars.
Leroux joined Angel City from the Orlando Pride last June and was only able to make three appearances for the Los Angeles club before a season-ending ankle injury that required surgery.
NJ/NY Gotham FC drew a record crowd of 15,058 to Red Bull Arena on Sunday night (including Sam Kerr, Eli Manning and Roger Bennett), but they fell to the visiting San Diego Wave 1-0 after Makenzy Doniak (a halftime substitute) scored just 44 seconds into the second half.
The 29-year-old's second goal of the season helped the Wave move level on points with the Portland Thorns at the top of the NWSL table. Gotham are two points back in fourth-place after 10 games.
INSTANT OFFENSE.
It doesn't sound like Lindsey Horan is coming back to the NWSL with the Portland Thorns anytime soon.
The National Women’s Soccer League could no longer be the sole top tier women’s league in the U.S. starting in August 2024. That’s because the new USL Super League announced on Tuesday its plans to become a Division 1 league on par with NWSL.
Eight cities will get teams for the inaugural season which spans from August 2024 through June 2025 (with a winter break in the middle). If all goes to plan, then five more cities will get teams for the following season.
Here are the cities receiving teams.
2024 Season:
We're witnessing greatness.
Days after being named the March/April NWSL Rookie of the Month, 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson scored another outrageous goal during Angel City's 3-2 win over the Kansas City Current on Sunday night.
The No. 1 overall pick now has three goals in seven appearances, and each has been a showcase of her otherworldly talent.
Trinity Rodman recorded one goal and one assist to spark the Washington Spirit to a convincing 3-1 victory over the visiting San Diego Wave on Saturday afternoon.
Ashley Sanchez and Paige Metayer also scored goals for the Spirit (3-0-3, 12 points), who notched all their tallies in the second half.
Alex Morgan scored a late goal for San Diego (3-3-0, 9 points), which lost its second straight match.
No one envies the job that U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski has right now in trying to whittle down his roster to 23 for the World Cup. He will have many tough decisions to make, however one choice that shouldn’t be hard is including Lynn Williams.
The 29-year-old missed nearly all the last NWSL season with a hamstring injury she picked up in March 2022. In the offseason she made a move to Gotham FC and she’s off to an electric start to the 2023 campaign.