This week, we continue our look at CONCACAF from last week (see last week's column on Canada's WNT labor standoff with their Soccer Federation and the two CONCACAF teams who qualified for next summer's Women's World Cup through the Intercontinental Playoffs last week in New Zealand: The Week in Women's Football: Canada Soccer controversy; exciting World Cup playoffs still need reform - Tribal Football) as we examine the almost 70 imports in Liga MX Femenil, which has seen phenomenal growth, as just two years ago no imports were allowed to sign for the 18 teams (other than their diaspora from other nations).

We also present other news from this league including some player movement to and from the NWSL ahead of their 2023 season and some exhibition matches between clubs in the two leagues as well as a high-profile friendly in Mexico with German side Bayern Munich. Liga MX Femenil is rapidly becoming a major player among women's leagues around the world.

Mexico—Imports Aplenty grade the Liga MX Femenil

Each of the 18 Liga MX Femenil teams can now sign up to four international players for the 2022-23 season, after two imports were allowed for the first time in 2021-22. The six-year-old league was designed to help further local player development in Mexico and only allowed Mexican-born players for the league's first two years, with foreign-born players of Mexican descent allowed in year three. The league now has 71 imports, with almost half coming from the U.S.—primarily those with Mexican ancestry—and the majority of the balance coming from Central and South America. The full list of imports by country is:

• U.S. 35
• Costa Rica 7
• Spain 5
• Colombia 3
• Argentina 2
• El Salvador 2
• Panama 2
• Paraguay 2
• South Africa 2
• Venezuela 2
• Azerbaijan 1
• Brazil 1
• Chile 1
• France 1
• Germany 1
• Nigeria 1
• Puerto Rico 1
• Tanzania 1
• Uruguay 1

The list of imports per team are detailed below, though two teams are comprised of all Mexican players and had no imports—Puebla and Deportivo Guadalajara—with background detail for most of the players, where available.

FC Juarez

• Defender Julitha Singaro (22) Tanzania; she has played 20 matches this season for the club in the border city across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.
• Forward Jasmine Casarez (25) U.S.; she played at Radford University in Virginia and with the Puerto Rico Sol in Mayaguez (See: The Week in Women's Football: OFC Women's Nations Cup review; - Tribal Football). She has scored 10 goals in 37 Liga MX Femenil matches across two seasons with Juarez.
• Forward Jermaine Seposenwe (29) South Africa, has played in Lithuania, Spain and Portugal before moving to Mexico this season; she has over 75 caps for Banyana Banyana and should be on the WWC Finals squad this summer for the second consecutive tournament.
• Manager Milagros Martinez (37) Spain; she joined the club this season after coaching for Suzuka Point Getters male side in Japan. She has had an immediate effect on the fortunes of the Ciudad Juarez side, who are currently fifth in the Clausura and bound for their first ever playoff berth—they finished 11th in the 2022-23 Apertura and were only three points short of a playoff berth last winter.

Mazatlan

• Defender Valeria Rios (24) U.S., played at Highline Community College in Washington State for two years, Cal State-Bakersfield and a year at Louisiana Tech University. She had 2 goals in 9 Apertura matches in the Opening Championship.
• Midfielder Yaritza Arista (26) U.S., played at Modesto Junior College and San Jose State University; she first went to Mexico in January of 2022 to join Puebla.
• Midfielder Cristina Torres (22) Puerto Rico, who played in Puerto Rico with the Sol club; she has played for short stints in France and in the WPSL in the U.S. with Detroit City FC at the semiprofessional level.
• Forward Olivia Jimenez (31) U.S., is from Tucson, Arizona and born in the U.S. but raised in Mexico and played for Mexico at the U-20 level on multiple occasions. In 2012 she was a finalist for the FIFA Puskas Award for the goal of the year—men's and women's goal combined.
• Forward Paola Mercado U.S. (21).

Atletico San Luis

• Defender Marta Perarnau (28) Azerbaijan, who is in her second season with the club and played previously at Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano in Spain; internationally she played for Azerbaijan's U-19 national team.
• Defender Cristel Sandi (25) Costa Rica, moved this season to San Luis from Saprissa at home and was first capped by Costa Rica at the senior level in 2021.
• Midfielder Melissa Espina (28) Chile, joined San Luis in January of 2023 from Palestino in Chile and previously played in Mexico at the University level for the Aztecas of UDPLA [Universidad de las Americas Puebla] while attending university between 2015 and 2020.

• Forward Beatriz Parra (36) Spain, is in her second season with San Luis after moving from Real Betis; she, along with teammate Marta Peramau, were among the first players from the Spanish league to move to the Mexican league, a path that has become a more frequent path of player movement between the two nations' top league. Parra was the first Spaniard to ever score in the Mexican league. She has previously discussed that her transition to Liga MX Femenil has been difficult because of the different style of play between the two leagues: "It's been complicated. The dynamics of Mexican soccer, because of my qualities, do not benefit me too much. Here the players are very physical; they are quite strong. I am a more associative, dynamic player, I prioritize the step before the dribble or the individual duel. In that sense I am having a hard time adapting, I hope it is a matter of time." She certainly has adapted well on the field in Mexico, scoring 21 goals in 51 regular season matches in her two seasons with San Luis.

Bea Parra (left) and Marta Perarnau, trailblazers from Spain's women's league, during a training session in Mexico.

Photo courtesy of Atletico San Luis Women.

Atlas Guadalajara

• Defender Daniela Cruz (31) Costa Rica; Cruz is approaching 40 caps with the Tica women and played in Serbia, Spain and collegiately at the University of West Florida in Pensacola earlier in her career.
• Midfielder Natividad Martinez (22) U.S., who played at the College of Southern Nevada.
• Forward Brenda Ceren (24) El Salvador, a youth and full international who played with Alianza at home for five years and just recently joined Atlas of Guadalajara.
• Forward Maria Cuadrado (24) Uruguay; she first came to Mexico in 2021-22 to play at Mazatlan, before moving to Atlas for the 2022-23 campaign. She has 3 goals in 33 matches.
• Forward Carolina Venegas (31) Costa Rica, who has played at home, in Spain with Madrid CFF, in Portugal with Sporting, in America with Santa Clarita Blue Heat in California and has over a half-century of caps with Costa Rica, including at the 2015 WWC in Canada.

Club America

• Defender Andrea Pereira (29) Spain moved from Barcelona in Spain after four seasons. She won three league titles, two Spanish cups and one European Champions League title at Barca. She has played internationally for Spain—with over 40 caps—and Catalonia, which is not an official member.
• Midfield Aurelie Kaci (33) France; she played with Lyon and PSG in France and in Spain with Atletico de Madrid, CD Tacon and Real Madrid for the past two seasons. She joined America's Aguilas (Eagles) in 2022 and has scored 5 goals in 26 games, including 3 in 7 games during the 2022-23 Clausura campaign. She played internationally for France from 2013-2016 and was an alternate for the 2015 WWC in Canada but had to withdraw due to an injury.
• Midfield Sarah Luebbert (25) U.S.; she first came on loan from Chicago Red Stars in 2021-22 and was a revelation with her scoring, with 9 goals in 27 matches. She has three goals and in six matches thus far in the 2022-23 Clausura. She played collegiately at the University of Missouri.
• Forward Andrea Sanchez (25) Spain; another former Barcelona player who joined the club this season. She has won five league titles with Barca in two different stints dating back to 2013 and a UEFA WCL title in 2020-21.
• Manager Angel Villacampa (46) Spain has coached Atletico Madrid, Athletic Club Bilbao and Levante womens' sides in Spain and China's U-17 national team in 2018-19; she joined America in Mexico City for the 2022-23 season.

Note: Mexican international Kiana Palacios was born in the U.S. but is registered as a Mexican national (see more below in the review of Club America's game versus OL Reign this spring in Seattle).

Monterrey

• Defender Valeria Del Campo (22) Costa Rica; she is a full international and has been with the Rayados club for two seasons.
• Defender Isabella Echeverri (28) Colombia, as her fellow Colombian Natalie Gaitan (see Tigres below), played at the University of Toledo and in Greece, Spain and semi-professionally in the U.S. She joined Monterrey for the 2022-23 season after three campaigns with Sevilla in Spain. She won a Gold Medal in the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru.
• Forward Chinwendu Ihezuo (25) Nigeria; she played at home with Pelican Stars and Delta Queens, with BIIK Kazygurt in Kazakhstan, Henan Jianye in China, and with Meizhou Hakka in China for the last two years and joined Monterrey for this season. She has one goal in three matches thus far in the Clausura after her move from China.
• Forward Maria Salas (20) Costa Rica is a full international and played for her country in the 2022 CONCACAF WWC Qualifiers in Monterrey last summer.

Note: Midfielder Barbara Oliveri, who grew up in Texas but plays internationally for Venezuela, has recently left the club to join the NWSL's Houston Dash.

Club Leon

• Defender Sophia Braun (23) U.S.; she plays internationally for Argentina and signed for the 2023 calendar year with Leon.
• Midfielder Linda Bravo (30) Argentina; a full international who has played professionally at home, in Spain and was with Pachuca last season in Mexico before moving to Leon.
• Midfielder Lixy Rodriguez (32) Costa Rica; she has a half century of caps for Costa Rica and played professionally in Spain.
• Midfielder Briana Woodall (24) U.S.; she has played international for Mexico at the youth level and collegiately at Oklahoma State University for one season and finished her career at Sam Houston State.
• Forward Miariana Larroquette (30) Argentina; she scored 2 goals in 19 matches with Kansas City in the NWSL in 2021 and has also played in Norway, Chile, Portugal and at home.
• Forward Mayalu Rausch (21) Germany; she moved from Hoffenheim of the German second division to Liga MX Femenil.

Santos Laguna

• Midfielder Desarae Felix (25) U.S. played at California Baptist University, where she totaled 59 points from 24 goals and 11 assists at the school that played at the Division II level before moving up to Division 1 in 2018. She has made a strong impact at Santos this season with 5 goals in 23 matches.

• Forward Sofia Varela (24) Costa Rica; she joined Santos this season after time at home with Saprissa. She has been capped at the U-17 level—including the 2014 Finals which her country hosted—the U-20 and full international level by Costa Rica.

Pachuca

• Goalkeeper Esthefanny Barreras (26) U.S.; she grew up in Phoenix, Arizona but finished college at the University of West Florida and played for Mexico at the U-17 WWC in 2012, at the 2016 U-20 WWC and been capped once at the senior level in 2016. She has played 72 matches for Puebla since joining for the 2020-21 season.
• Defender Daniela Arias (28) Colombia; in her first stint abroad, she has previously played in Colombia for Atletico Bucaramanga, Independiente Medellin, Atletico Junior and America de Cali. Arias was also on Colombia's Copa America Femenina third place finisher as the host nation last summer.
• Defender Jillian Jennings (23) U.S.; she played at Penn State University and Boston College.

Penn State midfielder Jillian Jennings (#2) moves away from her goal against Michigan in a 3-0 home win on October 16, 2022.

Photo by Katelyn Supancik—Penn State University.

• Midfielder Marta Cox Villarreal (25) Panama; Cox was one of the first imports into Liga MX Femenil in 2021-22 with Leon and joined Pachuca this season. Cox has previously played professionally at home and in Colombia. She scored the winner for Panama against Papua New Guinea in a 2-0 semifinal win in the Intercontinental Playoffs last month in New Zealand as her nation qualified for the WWC for the first time. She is expected to be a starter on that side (see: The Week in Women's Football: Canada Soccer controversy; exciting World Cup playoffs still need reform - Tribal Football).
• Forward Jenni Hermoso (32) Spain; an iconic player in Spain who won seven league titles at home—five with Barcelona and one each Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano along with the 2020-21 UEFA Women's Champions League title with Barcelona—and also played at Paris St. Germain along with over 90 caps for Spain's WNT. Her signing with Pachuca for the 2022-23 season made a huge statement for Liga MX Femenil around the world and she has 9 goals in 15 matches this season.

• Forward Leyla McFarland (22) U.S.; she played for Northern Ireland for the U-19 European Championships in 2019 while at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She joined the Gophers of Pachuca in January of this year and has played in four matches thus far.

Club Necaxa

• Midfielder Nikkole Teja (23) U.S.; she is in her second season at the Aguascalientes club—originally Necaxa was based in Mexico City for decades—and grew up in Washington State and is in her second season at Necaxa.
• Forward Ximena D'acosta (19) U.S. has played nine games with the club this season.
• Forward Karen Reyes (25) U.S.; she grew up in Virginia and played at Marymount University in the D.C. area, then professionally for Aland United in Finland before joining Necaxa this season. Reyes plays internationally for El Salvador.

Club Tijuana

• Goalkeeper Areli Reyes (20) U.S; she played at Cal State-Los Angeles and played for Mexico at the U-15 level.
• Defender Adyson Willett (25) U.S.; she also played at Cal State-Los Angeles. After college, she played for Malaga in Spain, ZFK Masinac Trace in Serbia and joined the Xolos of Tijuana, Mexico in July of 2022.

Adyson Willett in Tijuana Xolos kit upon signing for the Liga MX Femenil side.

Photo courtesy Tijuana Xolos.

• Defender Kaitlin Fregulia (24) U.S., is a recent signing with the club. She played at Long Beach State University and was the 12th overall selection in the 2021 NWSL draft by the North Carolina Courage; she was on the team that won the 2022 Challenge Cup Preseason Tournament but did not appear in any regular season matches.

• Midfielder Mailin Orozco (18) U.S.; she is from the San Francisco Bay Area and has committed to playing at Santa Clara University in the Bay Area and her contract with Xolos—signed this January—was approved by the NCAA, as usually, if a player signs professionally anywhere, they lose their ability to play college soccer and would forfeit any scholarships, but under an amateur contract that pays just expenses, she will still be able to play in college. She has played 5 games thus far in the Clausura.
• Midfielder Amanda Marroquin (19) U.S.; a native of San Diego, she has played for Mexico's U-20 National team and was at Washington State University for a short time. She started this season with Tigres but joined Tijuana in February of 2023.
• Midfielder Paola Villamizar (28) Venezuela; she has played for clubs at home and in Brazil and Chile. Villamizar is in her second season in Tijuana and has 7 goals in 51 games.
• Forward Angelina Hix (29) U.S.; she has played with Spartak Subotica in Serbia and Santiago Morning in Chile. She is from the San Diego area and played at Mira Costa College and the San Diego SeaLions of the WPSL. She has 18 goals in 55 matches, with two in four games coming in the current Clausura.

Note: Long-time Mexican international Renae Cuellar (32) counts as a Mexican in the league registration, though she was born in California and played collegiately and professionally in the U.S. in the NWSL and then in Germany, Iceland, Israel, Korea Republic and Sweden. She has 72 goals in 115 Liga MX Femenil matches over four campaigns, including 4 goals in 7 Clausura matches thus far.

Cruz Azul

• Defender Maria Peraza (29) Venezuela; she played at home, in Ecuador and for three clubs in Colombia—Santa Fe, Millonarios and Atletico Nacional—before joining Cruz Azul this year and has scored one goal thus far in seven Clausura games and 2 goals in 19 games thus far in 2022-23.
• Midfielder Cori Sullivan (23) U.S.; she played at Arizona State University for four seasons and then a final season in 2022 at the University of Washington. She joined her former ASU teammate and Mexican international midfielder Alexia Delgado, who signed with Cruz Azul of Mexico City after the fall 2022 ASU season (see: Nicole Douglas exclusive: From Chelsea academy to ASU record-breaker 'once in career talent' - Tribal Football). Sullivan has one goal in three matches with CA while Delgado has one goal in six games.
• Forward Karla Riley (25) Panama; she played at home and in Spain before joining Mexico City side Cruz Azul this year. She has played in 8 matches this season.

Deportivo Toluca

• Midfielder Brenda (24) Brazil; she has been a revelation for Toluca this season with 9 goals in 24 matches in her first season in Mexico.
• Midfielder Vanessa Penuna (26) U.S., has one goal in two Clausura games to date. She previously played for River Plate in Argentina and at San Francisco State University.
• Forward Gloria Villamayor (30) Paraguay; she joined Toluca this season after playing professionally at home, in Chile, Spain and Colombia

Gallos Blanco

• Goalkeeper Marta Alemany (24) Spain; she has played 23 matches this season—her first in Mexico—and spent time with FC Barcelona and finished second in the 2014 FIFA U-17 WWC with Spain in Costa Rica, where they lost to Japan 2-0. She also played at Long Beach State in California.
• Defender Deisy Ojeda (23) Paraguay; she has one goal in six matches this season and has played for Paraguay at the 2016 U-17 and 2018 U-20 Women's World Cups and at the senior level.
• Defender Eliza Quiroz (17) U.S.; she is from Georgia in the Southeaster U.S. but qualifies to play for Mexico.
• Midfielder Stephanie Zuniga (26) El Salvador; born in San Francisco, California, she played at the University of Colorado in Boulder and then at Cruzeiro in Belo Horizonte in Central Brazil in 2021. Zuniga hen joined Queretaro with Gallos Blanco of Queretaro, a few hours north of Mexico City.

Pumas UNAM

• Midfielder Aerial Chavarin (24) U.S.; she played at Yale University and spent time with the Chicago Red Stars and in Iceland with Keflavik. She has 10 goals in 28 matches across two seasons with Pumas.
• Midfielder Chandra Eigenberger (30) U.S.; she went to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and was on the rosters of the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL, but did not play in any regular season matches. She also played with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat of the summer semi-professional UWS in 2017, which made the championship final. She also played with the Chicago Mustangs of the UWS in 2021 which made the playoffs in their first season but lost in the conference semifinals. The Mustangs won the league title the next season in 2022.
• Forward Venecia Juarez (22) U.S.; she has seven goals in 21 matches across the two championships this season.
• Forward Nathalia Lopez (21) U.S.; she played at DePaul University in Chicago and grew up in Los Angeles.
• Forward Irma Pinzon (23) U.S.; she played at Cal State-Los Angeles, which has always a pipeline for Mexican-American players as former Mexican Women's National Team coach for many years and then Technical Director at Club America Women Leo Cuellar coached their women's college team in the past
• Forward Stephanie Ribeiro (28) U.S.; she played professionally in Norway, Iceland—scoring 10 goals in 15 games with Throttur in the summer of 2020—and in the 2020-21 season with Koge of Denmark, where she had 5 goals in 12 games and won the 2020-21 title. In two seasons in Mexico, she has scored 15 times in 37 matches.

UANL Tigres

• Defender Natalia Gaitan (32) Colombia; she played collegiately at the University of Toledo in Ohio and in the WWC Finals in 2011 and 2015, captaining the side in both events. She also won a Pan American Games title in 2019 in Peru. She has played primarily professionally in Spain, the last two years in Seville and 5 years in total in Spain. She has played in 25 matches for Tigres this season.
• Defender Anika Rodriguez (26) U.S.; born in California, she played at UCLA, and two years with PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands, after not seeing action in 2020 as a National Team Replacement with the Portland Thorns. She was a U.S. U-17 international and capped by Mexico at the full level in 2021.
• Midfielder Noxolo Cesane (22) South Africa; she played 7 games earlier this season in France with Stade de Reims and was a member of the South African side that won the 2022 African Women's Cup of Nations in Morocco.
• Forward Maricarmen Reyes (22) U.S.; she has played internationally for Mexico at the U-17, U-20 and senior levels. She played at UCLA in Southern California and won a UWS league title with La Galaxy-OC [Orange County] in the summer of 2019. She has three goals in seven matches in the 2022-23 Clausura.
• Forward Mia Fishel (21) U.S. (see more about the U.S. youth international, who turned a chance to play with the Orlando Pride in the NWSL to go to Mexico—she is considered a shoe-in for the full national team in the future: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL 2022 Season Preview - Part 2; Melb Victory win A-League Women's play-offs; - Tribal Football and The Week in Women's Football: Tigres win Liga MX with record crowds and TV viewing figures - Tribal Football). She has 37 goals in 47 matches with Tigres over two seasons and has 5 goals in 7 Clausura matches thus far this season.
• Forward Riley Parker (22) U.S.; she was a recent signing on loan from Racing Louisville of the NWSL (see more below on Liga MX Femenil signings and trades) and played at the University of Alabama.
• Manager Carmelina Moscato (38) Canada; as a player she won 94 caps for Canada and played professionally in Sweden, Italy, Canada and the NWSL. She coached at FC Nordsjaelland's women's side in Denmark and also coached youth national sides for Canada. She worked as an administrator in Australia for successful State league Side Illawarra Stingrays in New South Wales. She has been the Commissioner of the semiprofessional League 1 Ontario Women's Division and Director of Football for the Bahamas Football Association.

Note: Forward Uchenna Kanu Nigeria was recently transferred to Racing Louisville of the NWSL (see more below).

Three of the 18 team managers were imports and not from Mexico, with two from Spain and one from Canada.

Tigres defeats Bayern Munich 1-0 in Monterrey in an international friendly in front of almost 35,000 fans in Monterrey.

In other Liga MX Femenil news, UANL Tigres won the first Amazon Cup at home at the Universitario Stadium over visiting Bayern Munich of Germany (1-0) on January 21, 2023. The special friendly match attracted 34,964 fans, the fifth highest home attendance by a Liga MX Femenil team this season (see below). Nigeria international forward Uchenna Kanu scored on a header in the 19th minute. Kanu has since been transferred to Racing Louisville of the NWSL.

Alexander Straus, a native of Norway and Bayern Munich's head coach, said after the match: "Tigres is a team that is very well organized, I'm impressed by what the team did, we struggled to organize, we created chances, but we didn't score a goal, it was something we talked about in the dressing room."

The two clubs also now have a co-operation agreement, described as a multi-year collaboration, which began with the game between four-time German League champions and five times Liga MX champions in January. The partnership is as much about commercial and brand-building opportunities in new markets on different continents for both clubs, as it is about developing players. Andreas Jung, Executive Board Member for Sponsorship and Marketing for Bayern said: "Mexico is home to a large FC Bayern fanbase and therefore is an important market for us. As we work to establish more presence within the country, we are looking to align with the right partners. Tigres UNAL Femenil are leaders in women's football and we look forward to bringing this initiative to life."

The clubs say they hope: "to continue to grow the women's game globally as well as utilizing football as a vehicle for social development in Latin America." As part of the co-operation, three Tigres Femenil players and coaches will travel to Munich every year to train at the FC Bayern campus. One of Tigres' goals for 2026 is to "become the preferred Mexican women's team in the United States (see more below)."

The Bayern game attendance of 34,964 was the fifth highest attendance of the 2022-23 Liga MX Femenil season:

• Club America vs. Tigres (Apertura Liguilla) 52,654
• Monterrey vs. Tigres (Apertura Liguilla) 42,315
• Tigres vs. Club America (Apertura Liguilla) 41,615
• Tigres vs. Monterrey (Apertura Liguilla) 36,509
• Tigres vs. Bayern Munich (friendly) 34,964

As a reference, Tigres average attendance in 2022 was 8,745 per match, above the NWSL average attendance of 7,894—with Angel City of Los Angeles leading the league with 19,105. Leaguewide, Liga MX Femenil is averaging around 2,100 in 2022, which is less than a third of the NWSL average but it would put it above most leagues in Europe.

As far as their goal to be the major Liga MX Femenil brand in the U.S., Tigres played the Houston Dash home and away in 2019, with Tigres winning 2-1 in Monterrey and then played a return match in Houston, falling 5-1 to the Dash on September 19, 2021. Last season, Tigres went to Texas to play games against the University of Texas (where the college side defeated the Tigres 3-2 on April 7, with U.S. youth international Lexi Missimo (who was on the U.S. U-23 team that went to France for two friendlies last month) scoring twice but then defeated Austin Elite FC of UWS 5-0 two days later. Tigres then announced a partnership with NWSL expansion team Angel City FC, including an exhibition match in Los Angeles that Tigres lost 1-0 in August of 2022.

Signings and Trades—Nigerian international Uchenna Kanu leaves Tigres for Racing Louisville; Young Draftee Riley Parker moves the other way on loan

Tigres traded Nigerian international Uchenna Kanu to Racing Louisville early this year. Kanu, who the NWSL club signed to a two-year deal with an option for a third, will cost Louisville at least a $150,000 transfer fee to Tigres, with additional incentives should the prolific forward meet certain performance benchmarks. Last year, another Tigres player—Brazilian Stefany Ferrer—moved from Tigres to Angel City. (We will look at Kanu's background in more detail next month in our NWSL 2023 season preview).

Separate from the Kanu deal, Racing sent 2023 draft pick Riley Parker on loan to Tigres. Parker, a forward from Alabama, will go on loan to Tigres to play out the rest of the Liga MX Femenil Clausura tournament through June of 203. Per NWSL league roster rules, supplemental players do not count against the salary cap so the move will provide Parker with playing experience in another country as well as take her salary off of their budget, to provide more flexibility to possibly bring in other players this season.

International Exhibitions—North Carolina Courage to play Monterrey in March; OL Reign defeats Club America in Preseason match in Washington State as part of a three-way working relationship with Olympique Lyon in France

The North Carolina Courage and Rayadas de Monterrey on February 9 announced a home-and-home series of friendly matches in 2023. The Courage will visit Estadio BBVA in Monterrey on Thursday, March 9, 2023, for the first match between the clubs. Rayadas will visit WakeMed Soccer Park later this year on a date yet to be determined. This is the first time the Courage will travel internationally for a game and is the first-ever meeting between the Courage and a Liga MX Femenil club.

Rayadas has been in the women's section of C.F. Monterrey since 2017. They are one of only four clubs that have won a Liga MX Femenil title, doing so in both 2019 and 2021. They played their first international tournament in August of 2022, participating in the Women's International Champions Cup in Portland, and reached the finals where they fell to Lyon of France (4-0).

On February 7, 2023, OL Reign and their parent club Olympique Lyonnais in France announced a new international agreement with Club America of Mexico City. The first axis will be developed around aspects related to women's professional teams, with the sharing of knowledge and skills between the various staffs of the three clubs, exchanges of information on recruitment, scouting networks and the organization of friendly games. The inaugural friendly match of this new partnership was held on February 25 at Starfire Stadium between OL Reign and Club America. Starfire in suburban Tukwila—close to Seattle-Tacoma's airport—was the original home of the Reign in 2013 and seats about 4,000 fans. The two clubs played at Lumen Field in Seattle last August in the semifinals of the 2022 Women's Cup, with the Reign winning 2-1.

On February 24, Reign head coach Laura Harvey discussed the Club America exhibition match: "I think, obviously we did play them last year. It was really competitive and a really good game. I think they're a good team in possession. I think they try and work really hard when they don't have the ball. They actually get people a lot in the transitional moments, which are all the things that have been a big focus for us in preseason. So, I think they're a good opponent for us to evaluate where we're at." OL Reign forward Tziarra King added: "They were a great team when we played them last time. They played well out of the back, they build well. I think it's just going to be a matter of making sure that we're playing the game that we play and I think that we should be able to have a good game."

The Reign won the preseason home match 3-1 on February 25 in front of 2,686 fans. Tziarra King opened the scoring in the 11th minute on a lofted ball from Veronica Latsko. The Reign took their lead to 2-0 just before halftime on an own goal by Club America from a Bethany Balcer curling ball. America pulled a goal back in the 74th minute on a goal by Kiana Palacios. Palacios (27) was born in the U.S., played collegiately at the University of California-Irvine and then in Spain with Real Sociedad. She joined Club America for the 2021-22 Apertura season and has 27 goals in 50 matches. She is a full international for Mexico and has over 25 caps since 2017. The Reign scored a third goal via trialist McKenzie Weinert—who played at Oregon State University and her final two seasons at the University of Washington in Seattle—after a fine dribble past her defender.

Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham is on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.

Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey