2026 NWSL Regular Season Preview—Part 4
San Diego Wave
The Wave made a major acquisition in the off-season within the league for Brazilian international forward Ludmila (31) from the Chicago Stars FC in exchange for an $800,000 transfer fee and up to an additional $200,000 in conditional transfer fees. San Diego then signed Ludmila to a three-year contract through the 2028 season.
She has scored 81 goals across 185 appearances across all competitions with Río Preto (2013), São José (2015-2016) in Brazil, Atlético Madrid (2017-2024) in Spain, and the Chicago Stars. Her club career began in Brazil with CA Juventus (2011) at the age of 16 and included early stints at São Caetano (2012) and Associação Portuguesa de Desportos (2013) before transferring to Río Preto and competing in Brasileirão Feminino A1 (Brazil’s top division).
Ludmila played in Chicago since July of 2024 and had 13 goals and added one assist through 31 appearances. In 2025, she scored ten goals and one assist in 24 regular season games. Ludmila set an NWSL record for the fastest hat trick, scoring three goals in ten minutes and nine seconds.
Prior to her NWSL career, Ludmila spent seven seasons with Atlético Madrid (Spain’s First Division), where she scored 63 goals in 159 matches across all competitions. During her time in Spain, she led Atlético Madrid to back-to-back Primera División Femenina titles (2017-18, 2018-19), the Supercopa Femenina (2020-21), and the Copa de la Reina (2022-23). Internationally, Ludmila has 62 caps with Brazil Women’s National Team, scoring six goals. She played in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and two Olympic Games Finals (2020, 2024), helping Brazil finish second and came home with the Silver Medal from the latter Olympics in Paris.
The Wave added another Brazil international in Gabi Portilho (30) from Gotham FC for $175,000 in transfer fees. She scored three goals in 17 regular season games with Gotham FC last season, joining from Corinthians of Sao Paulo, Brazil. With Corinthians she won five Brazilian championships from 2020-2024 and three Copa Libertadores Femenina (2021, 2023 and 2024). She won a NWSL title last season and the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup in 2024-25. For Brazil she won the Copa America Femenina title in 2025 and the Olympic Silver Medal in 2024. She has four goals in 28 caps for Brazil since 2022.
The Wave also acquired Colombian international Luisa Agudelo (18) from Deportivo Cali on a three year contract. She signed with Deportivo Cali as a 15-year-old in 2023 and made 38 regular season appearances. She helped Deportivo Cali win the club’s first back-to-back Colombian Liga Femenina championships in 2024 and 2025. With the national team, she finished second at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, along with appearances at the U-20 level. She also earned two senior national team caps for Colombia and was named to the 23-player roster for the 2025 Copa América Femenina after a late injury to goalkeeper Natalia Giraldo (22) of America of Cali.
The Wave recalled American midfielder Jordan Fusco (22) from her loan and placed her on the 2026 roster to start the season. During her brief loan stint at Tampa Bay Sun, Jordan Fusco appeared in four matches and scored two goals. Fusco first signed with San Diego ahead of the 2025 season on a short-term contract that has now been extended for two years through the 2027 season. In her rookie year, the midfielder from Penn State University made seven appearances for the Wave. She also featured at the World Sevens Football tournament in South Florida last December, where she helped San Diego go undefeated and win the inaugural championship and the US$2 million grand prize, scoring once and adding one assist. She also played three seasons at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
The Wave has signed midfielder Lia Godfrey to a two-year contract through the 2027 season with options for 2028 and 2029. She played at the University of Virginia from 2020 to 2025. She earned United Soccer Coaches First Team All-America honors four times across her career, in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2025. In the 2025 season, Godfrey was named ACC Midfielder of the Year and selected as a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy as the top player in NCAA Division 1.
She finished the year tied for Virginia’s team lead with 11 goals, helping lead the Cavaliers to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Across her collegiate career, Godfrey made 107 appearances (101 starts) for Virginia, totaling 28 goals and 33 assists. On the international stage, Godfrey has represented the United States at the youth levels from U-15 through U-23. In 2016, she became the youngest player in USYNT history to compete in a FIFA World Cup (in Jordan), appearing with the U.S. U-17 National Team at just 14 years old.
One of the worst-kept secrets in the league was that Brazilian-born U.S. international forward Catarina Macario (26) would leave Chelsea of the WSL1 and join the NWSL with the Wave, but the move had not happened by the first regular season NWLS weekend in mid-March, with some feeling that it could take place during the summer transfer window and after Chelsea’s WCL quarterfinals against Arsenal on March 24 and April 1. Macario she has not played for Chelsea since mid-December as she is recovering from a foot injury.
She played at Stanford University and won the Hermann Trophy as the best player in the NCAA for two consecutive seasons and won two College Cups in her three seasons. She left before her senior season and played two years at Lyon in France before moving to Chelsea for the 2023-24 season, where she has appeared in 49 matches with 12 goals. At Lyon she scored 23 goals in 33 matches and won the UEFA Women’s Champions League and Premier Ligue titles at the end of the 2021-22 season. With Chelsea, she has won two WSL titles in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and the FA Cup and League Cups in 2024-25. This season, Macario has made 12 appearances across all competitions, eight of which have been as a substitute, and scored two goals, both in Chelsea’s 6-0 win over St Polten of Austria in the Champions League.
She has scored 16 goals in 29 U.S. WNT matches but been injured a lot and missed key tournaments including the 2023 WWC and 2024 Olympic Games Finals. She scored eight goals in 10 U.S. WNT matches last year to lead the team but she has been injured often at Chelsea. She was the first ever naturalized citizen to play with the U.S. senior team.
Note: On March 16, with NWSL transfer window deadline approaching, San Diego confirmed that they were adding Macario and she is expected to earn $8 million over the next five years, according to Sportico. Her current contract with Chelsea was expiring this summer. This should be a good move for her as she will be able to connect with French international midfielder Kenzi Dali, though Delphine Cascarino and Dali would have been brilliant viewing in combination with Cat (see more below). She should be an automatic starter for head coach Jonas Eidevall—who has instituted a very attacking approach with the Wave in his first season with the club in 2025 after the Swedish native re-signed after two-plus seasons at Arsenal in the WSL; she should gain the minutes that she needs ahead of CONCACAF WWC qualifiers later this year for U.S. WNT head coach Emma Hayes, who brought her to Chelsea from Lyon.
The Wave transferred Colombian international defender Sintia Cabezas (19) to Olympique de Marseille Féminin for an undisclosed transfer fee after recalling her on loan from Levante of Spain so the team could complete the transaction. In the event that Marseille permanently transfers Cabezas to another team, the Wave will retain a percentage of any future transfer fee. Cabezas was signed by San Diego in January 2025 and was loaned to Lexington SC of the USL Super League for the 2025 season, where she played in five games, and then went out on loan to Levante Unión Deportiva Femenina, appearing in nine games. To date, she has played in both of Marseille’s matches in France’s top tier.
French international midfielder Delphine Cascarino (29) was allowed to leave in the off-season to sign with Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang’s London City Lionesses on a three-and-a-half-year deal. One of the stars of the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO for France, her signing is a coup for London City but a loss for San Diego and the NWSL. She said: “Since joining the Wave, every moment of my time in San Diego is something I will always cherish. Playing for this club, this city, and in front of such a passionate fan base made this decision incredibly difficult. However, due to personal considerations, the next step in my career needs to be closer to home at this time. I’m grateful to the Wave for their understanding and support, and I will always look back on my time in San Diego with pride and appreciation.”
Cascarino made 30 starts in 34 appearances across the 2024 and 2025 seasons in all competitions with the Wave, scoring seven goals and providing nine assists. On the international level, Cascarino represented France in the FIFA Women’s World Cup (2019), UEFA European Championship (2022 and 2025) and the Olympic Games in Paris (2024).
This reporter talked to Delphine on multiple occasions over the past two years and she was a world-class addition to the NWSL on and off the field. However, she had asked the club about moving to Europe over the past year.
San Diego Wave FC Sporting Director and General Manager Camille Ashton said: “Delphine has been an important part of the group since joining the club, and this was not an easy moment for anyone involved. From the outset, we understood that if returning closer to home ever became a priority for Delphine, we would approach that situation with care and respect. After thoughtful conversations with Delphine and her representatives, it was clear it was important to her to be close to home at this time. We’re grateful for her contributions and wish her nothing but the best.”
It was a bit of a surprise that she joined a team in its first WSL1 season rather than a top two side in one of Europe’s top five leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain) but the club is ambitious and is allocating large amounts of money to bring in top players. You get what you paid for and with Cascarino, London City have acquired a gem of an impactful player.
American forward Kali Kniskern (25) played four games at Tijuana Xolos in 2024-25 Clausura (with two goals) and was a non-roster player for the Wave this spring after playing at UCLA.
Seattle Reign
Midfielder Sofía Cedeño (19) has signed with the Reign after playing with the Halifax Tides in 2025 in the first year Northern Super League in Canada. She signed with the Reign through the 2028 season. She first joined the team as a preseason trialist in 2025. She originally was signed to a one-year deal and the club planned to send her on loan to Brooklyn of the Gainbridge Super League but she was released by BFC less than two weeks later.
In August, she joined Halifax and played in 11 games (six starts). Seattle Reign FC General Manager Lesle Gallimore explained: “We’ve stayed in close communication with Sofia throughout the year, and we’ve always believed in her potential and character. The timing aligned well for both sides to move forward with a long-term commitment. Halifax provided a fantastic environment for her to develop and grow, and we’re excited to support her journey as she joins the club.”
Cedeno was previously committed to UCLA’s 2025 recruiting class before entering the professional ranks. A Dallas native, she developed at Solar SC, the same ECNL club that produced Reign FC teammates Emeri Adames and Ainsley McCammon. In 2024, Cedeno earned ECNL All-American honors. She was born in Panama but moved to Texas at age 11; she has played for the U.S. at the U-20 level but has been approached to play for Panama at the senior level.
Wales international midfielder Jess Fishlock signed a one year deal for the 2026 season, which will be her 14th season with the Reign and the NWSL, which launched in 2013. She has made the league’s Best XI seven times and was named the NWSL’s MVP in 2021.
Just before the week of the start of the regular season in mid-March, the Chicago Stars acquired Canadian international forward Jordyn Huitema (24) from the Seattle Reign FC in exchange for $200,000 in allocation money and a $300,000 transfer fee. Huitema went to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in France as a teenager, playing three seasons, with 45 appearances, and helped the team win a league title.
The Chilliwack, B.C. native—located an hour’s drive east of Vancouver—moved back to the Pacific Northwest to join the Reign in 2022 and in four seasons, started in 58 of her 70 regular-season appearances, scoring 10 goals and recording 4 assists as the Reign made the playoffs three times and won the NWSL Shield once (for the regular season championship).
Internationally, Huitema is a key lynchpin for the Canadians. Internationally, she played for the U-15 team and was selected as the 2017 Canadian U-17 Player of the Year and 2018 Canadian U-20 Player of the Year. She debuted for the senior Canada Women’s National Team in 2017 at just 15-years-old, making her the youngest player to appear for the senior national team at the time. Huitema made the rosters for the 2019 and 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cups and the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games, winning gold with Canada in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Huitema most recently started in two of the 2026 SheBelieves Cup matches in the U.S., bringing her total national team caps to 96, with 43 starts, 23 goals and 7 assists.
The Reign moved their first three regular season matches 280 miles east to Bank One Stadium in Spokane, the home of the Spokane Zephyr of the Gainbridge Super League and Spokane Velocity of the USL League 1 (third division men’s league). They had to move out of Lumen Field due to extensive stadium renovations needed to host World Cup games this summer.
The Seattle Sounders also switched a CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 home match to Spokane against Vancouver Whitecaps (on March 18). The Reign could have used smaller locations in the Seattle/Tacoma area but this move to Spokane—where this reporter grew up—is a bold strategic step and helps to build their fan base throughout the state.
Along with Washington D.C. (with the NWSL Spirit and USL Power playing in Audi Field), two teams in different leagues will share the stadium for three matches, but rather than competition, I believe that it will help build the sport in a city that is still embracing the sport (see more on our October 2024 focus on the Spokane Zephyr and the community: The Week in Women's Football: Spokane Zephyr in focus; how the USL Super League franchise exceeding expectations - TribalFootball.com). Note: the new Boston Legacy NWSL franchise will move seven games this summer to 10,500 seat Centreville Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, during World Cup preparation and matches at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts (suburban Boston).
Utah Royals
Just before the season started, the Utah Royals paid Club América of Mexico a reported $800,000 in exchange for Mexican international forward Kiana Palacios (29). The transfer is the second highest for a move from the Liga MX Femenil to a NWSL team, behind forward Jacqui Ovalle’s move from Tigres to Orlando Pride last season (see: The Week in Women's Football: Ovalle explains joining Orlando Pride; WPSL, W-League and UWS review - TribalFootball.com).
Palacios helped Club America win the 2022-23 Clausura title and is the team’s all-time leading scorer with 90 goals in 174 league matches. She should be a huge asset to the Royals, who only scored 28 goals in 26 games last season; in their two previous seasons since restarting as a NWSL franchise, the Royals have had very slow starts to the first halves of their campaigns, only to jell late in the year. Palacios was born in California and played at the University of California-Irvine.
She was drafted by Gotham FC (then Sky Blue FC) in 2018 but did not sign and started her professional career with Real Sociedad in Spain, helping the team win the 2019 Copa de la Reina; she scored in the final win over Atletico Madrid (2-1). She joined America in 2021. With Mexico’s WNT, she won a Gold Medal at the 2023 Pan-American Games in Santiago, Chile.
The Royals signed Haitian international midfielder Dayana Pierre-Louis to a three year contract through 2028, with an option for 2029 after a transfer for an undisclosed fee from French Ligue 1 side RC Lens. During the 2024–25 season, Pierre-Louis helped Lens to a second-place finish in the Seconde Ligue, earning promotion to the top-tier Première Ligue for the first time in almost a decade. This season, she has appeared in 10 matches, eight of them starts, with three assists in the Première Ligue.
Pierre-Louis started her international career with the Haitian U-20 squad, scoring four goals in the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 championship. Her first senior cap came on June 25, 2022 in a match against Costa Rica. She has played in 13 international caps to date and helped the senior team qualify for its first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023. At the WWC finals, she was the second youngest player on the Haitian side, starting in each of Haiti’s three group stage matches.
In January, the Royals acquired Japanese international midfielder Narumi Miura (28) from the Washington Spirit in exchange for $180,000 in allocation funds. Narumi joined the Spirit as a free agent prior to the 2025 season, signing a two-year contract. In D.C., Narumi appeared in 28 total matches and provided three assists. Since making the move to the NWSL prior to the 2023 season with North Carolina, Narumi has appeared in 86 total matches and tallied two goals and seven assists. She has over 30 senior caps for Japan since making her debut in 2018 and won four league titles at home with Tokyo Verdy Beleza and won Challenge Cups in 2023 in North Carolina and last season in Washington.
American midfielder Madison Hammond (28) moved from Angel City to the Royals. After college at Wake Forest University, she played two seasons with OL Reign in Tacoma and the past four seasons with Angel City, playing in 72 games with one goal. She was raised on San Felipe Pueblo lands in New Mexico and also has Navajo heritage; she was the first Native American to play in the NWSL.
The Royals look forward to having Slovenian international forward Lara Prasnikar (27) for a full season, as she signed late last summer and played in five games to conclude the 2025 season. She is on a contract through 2027 after Utah acquired her from German Frauen-Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt; she is the first Slovenian to ever play in the NWSL. The Royals acquired a 2025 international spot from Orlando Pride in exchange for $10,000 in intra-league transfer funds in order to field Prasnikar. At Frankfurt, she scored 44 goals in 122 appearances from 2020 to 2024.
The Slovenian forward began her career at Šmartno, where she and fellow Slovenian international Lana Golob (26) of Glasgow City in Scotland played alongside boys due to the club not having a women’s team. She then joined Rudar Škale, making her debut on August 25, 2013, in a 5–0 victory over Velesovo Cerklje, scoring a brace. Over three seasons at the club, she scored 77 goals in just 55 league matches.
In August 2016, Prašnikar signed with Turbine Potsdam in Germany, where she scored 31 goals in 65 matches across domestic competitions and then moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2020. She was named Slovenian Women’s Footballer of the Year in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Prašnikar led her country and all 2025 EURO Qualifiers goal scorers, hitting the net 9 times in 8 matches. She currently has 48 goals in 90 senior appearances for Slovenia.
Washington Spirit
At the turn of the year, the Spirit signed Italian defender Lucia Di Guglielmo to a three-year contract with a 2029 team option, with a transfer fee paid to AS Roma of Italy’s Serie A. She said: “Joining the Washington Spirit family is a great opportunity and a great responsibility. I bring with me determination, discipline and a strong desire to win. I’m excited to see where this new challenge will take me and to push beyond my limits.”
Di Guglielmo will joined fellow Italian international Sofia Cantore, who joined the team last season after the 2025 EUROs, where Italy shone and lost narrowly to England in the semifinals on a Chloe Kelly goal in the 119th minute in a 2-1 loss. She played at Roma for four and one-half season and helped the capital city side win consecutive league titles in 2023 and 2024. She made her debut for Italy’s senior team in 2021 as a 23-year-old.
She played at two UEFA Women’s Euro tournaments (2022 and 2025) and the last FIFA Women’s World Cup (2023). Di Guglielmo started four of Italy’s five matches at last summer’s Women’s EURO, playing 339 total minutes as she helped her side advance to the tournament’s semifinal round for the first time in 28 years.
On January 13, the Washington Spirit signed Canadian defender Élisabeth Tsé (23) to a three-year contract with a 2029 team option. As part of the move, the Spirit will pay a transfer fee to Tsé’s former club Le Havre of France’s Première Ligue. Currently in her third season with Le Havre, Tsé appeared in nearly 50 total matches for the Normandy-based club across league and Coupe de France Féminine play.
On the international stage, she competed at the youth national team level for Canada. Tsé appeared in two matches for Canada at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica. Originally from Québec City, Tsé played one season of college soccer in the United States before turning pro. The defender attended SMU in Dallas, Texas for a year, scoring two goals with three assists in 19 games.
The Spirit signed Paraguay international forward Claudia Martinez (19), who made such an impression last year at the Copa American Femenina in Colombia (see: The Week in Women's Football: Exclusive with agent Gkelias on state of women's game; Copa America review - TribalFootball.com). The Spirit sent $950,000 to Olimpia of Paraguay in return.
The fee, which also includes a sell-on fee due to Olimpia for any future transfer, ranks among the top 10 in women’s soccer history to date. Crucially, due to the NWSL's rules governing annual net transfer thresholds, the $950,000 will be broken up into two payments from the Spirit to Olimpia, a source confirmed to ESPN: $500,000 this year and $450,000 next year. The NWSL's net transfer threshold governs how much each team can spend in transfers each year, much like the salary cap restricts how much teams can pay players.
She is signed through the 2028 season, with a team option for 2029. Olimpia announced a new long-term contract for Martínez in December, which reportedly included a “multi-million-dollar termination clause,” but sources confirmed to ESPN that the clause is not related to the transfer, and the $950,000 (with a sell-on fee) is the full extent of the transaction.
Martinez just turned 18 in January and is the first Paraguayan player to ever play in the NWSL. Last summer, she scored a hat trick against Bolivia and single goals against Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela to finish tied for the Golden Boot on six goals, with Amanda Gutierres of Brazil, who signed with expansion side Boston Legacy for the 2026 season. Martinez helped Paraguay finish fifth at that tournament and qualify for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Previously in 2025, also in Colombia, Martínez led Paraguay to its first CONMEBOL U-17 championship title, leading the competition with 10 goals.
U.S. international forward Trinity Rodman signed a three year deal in the off-season with the Spirit worth a reported US$2 million plus a year, including bonuses (see more on the long-running negotiations between Rodman, the Spirit and the NWSL: The Week in Women's Football: World Sevens review; Rodman dilemma; Northern SL look back - TribalFootball.com).
Trinity Rodman said about staying in Washington: “The community and the feeling and the family is something you can’t replace and a big reason I stayed with the Spirit. Developing and maturing and learning and failing at Spirit and in D.C. has become so much of my legacy and my story, and there’s so much more I have to give and to do at Spirit. The fanbase, the stadium…I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” The Spirit made her the youngest player to be drafted in the NWSL at 18 in 2021 and she won a title that year after a 2-1 win over Chicago in the final. The team and league took a huge sigh of relief that they had prevented her from going to Europe and likely England’s WSL. If she had gone to Europe, it would have sent a message that the league could no longer hold onto their top young talent, seeing Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson go to the WSL in recent years.
The NWSL is held as a standard among global women’s leagues as it is very competitive top to bottom and (largely) each team draws strong, passionate crowds on a consistent basis. The NWSL has had a four different champions over the past five years. The European leagues still have huge gaps between the top teams and those in the bottom half of each league. Kansas City last season set regular season records in wins and points and yet didn’t make the championship final. As Jonathan Liew in the Guardian perceptively pointed out: “In Spain last season, 12% of top-flight games were won by four or more goals. In England the rate was 14%, Germany 15%, France 23%. In the NWSL it was 2.2%: four games out of 182.”
Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey (Bledsoe) Kingsbury (34) has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July. Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch. Sullivan gave birth to a daughter in July and Hatch had a son in January of this year. Krueger expects to give birth to her second child in October. Kingsbury has served as the Spirit's starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021). She has two caps with the U.S. women's national team, and was named to the 2023 Women’s World Cup roster.
Sandy MacIver (27)—a Scottish international who played for England at multiple youth levels and once at the senior level—and Kaylie Collins (27), a former U.S. youth international who has been in the NWSL since 2021 with Orlando, Seattle and now D.C., are expected to take on the goalkeeping duties while Bledsoe is on leave. MacIver has played at Everton and Manchester City in England, and two games last season in D.C.; she also played collegiately at Clemson University in South Carolina. Collins played collegiately at the University of Southern California. She played 11 games with Western Sydney Wanderers in 2021-22 in Australia.
In January, Washington Spirit goalkeeper Lyza Jessee retired from the NWSL after three professional seasons in D.C. She began her professional career when she was selected by the Spirit with the 28th overall pick in the 2023 NWSL Draft out of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Jessee made her NWSL debut in the Spirit’s 2024 season opener against Seattle, subbing on in relief of starting goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury late in the match. At GU, she played in 62 matches across four seasons with a career goals against average (GAA) of 0.87. She made 182 saves in her collegiate career, stopping almost 80 percent of shots on target. In her senior season, Jessee posted her career best GAA (0.72) and was named the West Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Year.
In January, midfielder Courtney Brown, forwards Brittany Ratcliffe and Ouleymata Sarr and defender Kysha Sylla were released by the club. Both Brown and Ratcliffe mutually agreed to a contract termination with the club as Brown then signed with Utah Royals and Ratcliffe became a free agent, later signing a one-year contract with the Seattle Reign with a mutual option for 2027. Free agent forward Ouleymata Sarr also left the club during the offseason and is likely to sign with a club in France, where she played for years with Paris FC, Bordeaux, Lille and PSG before coming to the Spirit. French youth international defender Kysha Sylla returned to OL Lyonnes following the conclusion of her 2025 loan with Washington, but was then loaned to Paris FC.
Brown spent the past two seasons with the Spirit after being selected by the club in the 2024 NWSL Draft. In two years with Washington, the midfielder appeared in 43 total matches, scoring two goals and adding one assist while helping the Spirit to two straight NWSL Championship appearances.
Ratcliffe joined the Spirit in free agency prior to the 2024 season and played in almost 50 total appearances for the club, scoring five goals and six assists.
Sarr departs the Spirit after two and a half years at the club. After joining the team in a summer transfer from France in 2023. Through the 2024 season, Sarr tallied ten goals and four assists in D.C. Sarr did not play in 2025 due to a back injury.
Sylla returns to OL Lyonnes after spending the 2025 season in DC on loan with the Spirit. The defender played in 18 total matches, starting five with the Spirit. Sylla tallied a game-winning assist in Washington’s second group stage match of the 2025-26 CONCACAF W Champions Cup.
Expansion Team News
Columbus, Ohio is bidding to be the NWSL’s 18th franchise
Columbus, Ohio is in the running for the NWSL’s 18th team, to pair with Atlanta for the 2026 season. The city received a boost when they hosted the U.S. versus Argentina (1-0) in the SheBelieves Cup at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, the current home of the Columbus Crew, drawing 18,545 on March 4. Colombia defeated Argentina 1-0 in the other match in Columbus that day.
The Ohio State University—located in central Columbus—had alumni Emma Sears of Racing Louisville playing for the U.S. in the second half. Sears said: “It was definitely a very special moment for me. I appreciate the Buckeye fans so much and Columbus definitely showed out for us tonight, so it was really fun… I’m secretly crossing my fingers, hoping that, at some point, Columbus gets a team. They have the infrastructure for that.”
On February 27, the Haslam Sports Group (HSG) announced its intent to pursue an NWSL franchise for the city. The Haslams are majority owners of both the Cleveland Browns of the NFL and the Columbus Crew in the MLS, as well as co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks; a team in the NWSL would extend the Haslam family’s portfolio into women’s professional sports.
The full ownership group includes J.W. Johnson and Whitney Haslam Johnson, who serve as HSG’s managing partners, as well as the insurance company Nationwide, which is headquartered in Columbus. The ownership group also is developing plans to construct a state-of-the-art training facility for the NWSL team. Cincinnati and Cleveland bid in the last cycle but lost out to Denver.
Since its inception in 1994 as the first MLS club, the Columbus Crew have won the MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield three times each, as well as a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open title. Columbus hosted three group-stage doubleheaders during the 2003 Women’s World Cup, including the U.S., Canada, Germany, Argentina and DPR Korea, which this reporter covered for all three event days. The city has hosted men’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers and a number of women’s friendly matches over the past 20 plus years and will host men’s and women’s group stage matches for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
On the women’s side Columbus will host the NWSL Challenge Cup between reigning champions Gotham FC and shield winners Kansas City Current on June 26, which will be an important benchmark to gauge the interest in women’s professional club soccer in the area.
Atlanta’s 2028 NWSL Franchise Signs Women’s Sports Record $28M Sponsorship
On February 28, the new Atlanta NWSL franchise for 2028 signed a reported seven-year, record $28 million deal for front of jersey sponsorship with insurance company Aflac. This column has been focused on some time on the growth opportunities for women’s sports teams to gain business sponsorships and marketing agreements around the world and this deal for Atlanta is thought to be the highest jersey contract in women’s sports history.
The team is owned by Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank and operated by AMB Sports and Entertainment. It will begin play in the 2028 season with home matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of Atlanta United in MLS and the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL. United had the highest MLS per game average of 43,992 in 2025, double that of the league average attendance of 21,988.
The previous jersey sponsorship leader in the NWSL was a deal between Bay FC and Sutter Health for $2.5 million a year. Last month, the Portland Thorns announced a jersey agreement with Ring home security company that was said to be larger than Bay FC’s revenue, but no amounts were released.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey