2024 NWSL expansion draft

2024 NWSL Expansion Draft
2024 NWSL Expansion Draft
General information
Sport	Soccer
Date(s)	December 15, 2023
Network(s)	CBS Sports Network
Sponsored by	Ally
Overview
	7 total selections in 12 rounds
League	National Women's Soccer League
Expansion teams	Bay FC; Utah Royals
Expansion season	2024
	← 2022

The 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft was an expansion draft held by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) on December 15, 2023, for two expansion teams, Bay FC and Utah Royals, to select players from existing teams in the league.^[1]

This was the league's last expansion draft. In September 2024, the league and its players' union entered into a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which effectively superseded the CBA that had been entered to in 2021 and was scheduled to end in 2026. The new CBA eliminated all forms of player drafts, including the expansion draft.^[2]

Format

Bay FC selected first in the expansion draft, followed by Utah Royals.^[3] The expansion draft alternated between both teams across 12 rounds, allowing each team to select up to 12 players.^[3]

Each of the NWSL's 12 current teams was permitted to protect nine players, making them ineligible for selection. Furthermore, it was permitted to protect one additional player after the first expansion team selected a player from its roster.^[1]

Draft results

Italics indicate players who are not under contract but whose NWSL playing rights remain with the team

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Pos.	Previous team	Ref.
1	1	Bay FC	Alyssa Malonson	DF	Seattle Reign FC	^[4]^[5]
1	2	Utah Royals	Elyse Bennett	FW	Seattle Reign FC	^[4]^[6]
2	3	Bay FC	Tess Boade	FW	North Carolina Courage	^[4]^[7]
2	4	Utah Royals	Paige Monaghan	FW	Racing Louisville FC	^[4]^[8]
3	5	Bay FC	Rachel Hill	FW	San Diego Wave FC	^[4]^[9]
3	6	Utah Royals	PASS			^[4]
4	7	Bay FC	Katelyn Rowland	GK	North Carolina Courage	^[4]^[10]
4	8	Utah Royals	PASS			^[4]
5	9	Bay FC	PASS			^[4]
5	10	Utah Royals	PASS			^[4]
6	11	Bay FC	PASS			^[4]
7	12	Bay FC	Sierra Enge	MF	San Diego Wave FC	^[4]^[11]

Protected lists by team

The following teams acquired expansion draft protections:^[12]

On November 14, 2023, Orlando Pride traded for roster protection from Bay FC.
On November 15, 2023, Kansas City Current traded for roster protection from Bay FC and Orlando Pride traded for roster protection from Utah Royals.
On November 17, 2023, Racing Louisville FC traded for roster protection from Bay FC.
On November 20, 2023, North Carolina Courage and San Diego Wave FC both traded for roster protection from Utah Royals.
On December 12, 2023, Washington Spirit, Angel City FC, Portland Thorns FC, Houston Dash and NJ/NY Gotham FC all traded for roster protection from Utah Royals FC and Bay FC. Also, Kansas City Current traded for roster protection from Utah Royals FC.

On December 13, 2023, the NWSL released the protected lists from teams participating in the draft.^[13]

Bold indicates players selected in the Expansion Draft
Italics indicate players who are not under contract but whose NWSL playing rights remain with the team

Chicago Red Stars
Protected	Unprotected
Julia Bianchi (International – Brazil)	Jill Aguilera
Ava Cook	Jenna Bike
Penelope Hocking	Brooke Elby
Taylor Malham	Sami Feller
Tatumn Milazzo	Samantha Fisher
Alyssa Naeher	Zoey Goralski
Cari Roccaro	Sarah Griffith
Ally Schlegel	Sophie Jones
Arin Wright	Amanda Kowalski
	Karina LeBlanc
	Stephanie McCaffrey
	Addie McCain
	Zoe Morse
	Sarah Woldmoe
	Mackenzie Wood
	Grace Yochum (College Protected Player)

North Carolina Courage
Protected	Unprotected
Malia Berkely	Tess Boade
Sydney Collins	Marisa Bova
Kerolin (International – Brazil)	Mille Gejl (International – Denmark)
Riley Jackson	Hensley Hancuff
Kaleigh Kurtz	Haley Hopkins
Narumi Miura (International – Japan)	Estelle Johnson
Casey Murphy	Rikako Kobayashi (International – Japan)
Denise O'Sullivan	Tyler Lussi
Ryan Williams	Rikke Madsen
Manaka Matsukubo^[a] (International – Japan)	Fuka Nagano
	Victoria Pickett
	Brianna Pinto
	Clara Robbins
	Katelyn Rowland
	Meredith Speck
	Olivia Wingate

^ Loan-in protected, does not count towards North Carolina's total of nine (9) protected players

Seattle Reign FC
Protected	Unprotected
Bethany Balcer	Olivia Athens
Alana Cook	Lauren Barnes
Claudia Dickey	Elyse Bennett
Sofia Huerta	Ryanne Brown
Jordyn Huitema (International – Canada)	Jess Fishlock
Veronica Latsko	Samantha Hiatt
Phoebe McClernon	Shae Holmes
Quinn	Laurel Ivory
Olivia Van der Jagt	Jimena López (International – Mexico)
	Luany (International – Brazil)
	Alyssa Malonson
	Maia Pérez
	Morgan Proffitt
	Abby Wambach

Racing Louisville FC
Protected	Unprotected
Ary Borges (International - Brazil)	Jordan Baggett
Kirsten Davis	Hillary Beall
Savannah DeMelo	Jordyn Bloomer
Abby Erceg	Kayla Fischer
Jaelin Howell	Parker Goins
Katie Lund	Uchenna Kanu (International – Nigeria)
Lauren Milliet	Alanna Kennedy
Carson Pickett	Thembi Kgatlana (International – South Africa)
Elli Pikkujämsä (International – Finland)	Julia Lester
	Paige Monaghan
	Maddie Pokorny
	Olivia Sekany
	Wang Shuang

San Diego Wave FC
Protected	Unprotected
Amirah Ali	Belle Briede
Danielle Colaprico	Lauren Brzykcy
Abby Dahlkemper	Kyra Carusa
Naomi Girma	Giovanna DeMarco
Taylor Kornieck	Meggie Dougherty Howard
Kristen McNabb	Sierra Enge
Alex Morgan	Rachel Hill
Jaedyn Shaw	Sofia Jakobsson (International – Sweden)
Kailen Sheridan	Carly Telford
	Kelsey Turnbow
	Shae Yanez

References

^ ^a ^b "National Women's Soccer League Releases Rules and Procedures for 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft, Presented by Ally". www.nwslsoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. November 1, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
^ Kassouf, Jeff (September 24, 2024). "Inside the NWSL's new CBA: Free agency, revenue sharing, more". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
^ ^a ^b "National Women's Soccer League Announces Asset Selection Order for Expansion Sides Bay FC, Utah Royals FC Ahead of 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft Presented by Ally and 2024 NWSL Draft Presented by Ally". National Women's Soccer League. June 28, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Seven Players Selected by Incoming Expansion Clubs in 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft, Presented by Ally". www.NWSLSoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
^ National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "With the first pick of the 2024 Expansion Draft, @wearebayfc selectss Alyssa Malonson from OL Reign" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "The @UtahRoyalsFC select Elyse Bennett with their first selection of the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 16, 2023). "The @wearebayfc select Tess Boade from the North Carolina Courage" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "The @UtahRoyalsFC select Paige Monaghan from Racing Louisville" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "@wearebayfc has selected Rachel Hill from the San Diego Wave" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "@wearebayfc has selected Katelyn Rowland from the North Carolina Courage" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "With their final pick of the night @wearebayfc select Sierra Enge from the San Diego Wave" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ "2023-24 NWSL Offseason Transaction Tracker". www.nwslsoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
^ "NWSL Releases Protected/Unprotected Lists Ahead of 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft Presented by Ally". www.nwslsoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. December 13, 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2023.

[loanin-14] Loan-in protected, does not count towards North Carolina's total of nine (9) protected players

[auto-1] "National Women's Soccer League Releases Rules and Procedures for 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft, Presented by Ally". www.nwslsoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. November 1, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.

[2] Kassouf, Jeff (September 24, 2024). "Inside the NWSL's new CBA: Free agency, revenue sharing, more". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.

[nwsl-order-3] "National Women's Soccer League Announces Asset Selection Order for Expansion Sides Bay FC, Utah Royals FC Ahead of 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft Presented by Ally and 2024 NWSL Draft Presented by Ally". National Women's Soccer League. June 28, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2023.

[draft-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Seven Players Selected by Incoming Expansion Clubs in 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft, Presented by Ally". www.NWSLSoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.

[5] National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "With the first pick of the 2024 Expansion Draft, @wearebayfc selectss Alyssa Malonson from OL Reign" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[6] National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "The @UtahRoyalsFC select Elyse Bennett with their first selection of the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[7] National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 16, 2023). "The @wearebayfc select Tess Boade from the North Carolina Courage" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[8] National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "The @UtahRoyalsFC select Paige Monaghan from Racing Louisville" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[9] National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "@wearebayfc has selected Rachel Hill from the San Diego Wave" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[10] National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "@wearebayfc has selected Katelyn Rowland from the North Carolina Courage" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[11] National Women's Soccer League [@NWSL] (December 15, 2023). "With their final pick of the night @wearebayfc select Sierra Enge from the San Diego Wave" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[12] "2023-24 NWSL Offseason Transaction Tracker". www.nwslsoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.

[13] "NWSL Releases Protected/Unprotected Lists Ahead of 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft Presented by Ally". www.nwslsoccer.com. National Women's Soccer League. December 13, 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2023.

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v t e National Women's Soccer League
Records and statistics Players Association U.S. Soccer NWSL Division 2
Current teams	Angel City FC Bay FC Chicago Stars FC Gotham FC Houston Dash Kansas City Current North Carolina Courage Orlando Pride Portland Thorns FC Racing Louisville FC San Diego Wave FC Seattle Reign FC Utah Royals Washington Spirit
Future teams	Boston Legacy FC (2026) Denver Summit FC (2026)
Former teams	Western New York Flash (2013–16) Boston Breakers (2013–17) FC Kansas City (2013–17)
Seasons	2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Competition	NWSL Shield NWSL Championship Playoffs Challenge Cup Summer Cup Stadiums Attendance Expansion Broadcasters
Personnel	Players Association Draftees Drafts Foreign players Owners Under-18 Entry Mechanism Federation players (2013–21) Jessica Berman
Awards	Most Valuable Player Golden Boot Midfielder of the Year Defender of the Year Goalkeeper of the Year Rookie of the Year Coach of the Year Best XI and Second XI Player of the Month Rookie of the Month Team of the Month Player of the Week Players' awards
Related articles	Sexual harassment Yates Report
Category Portal Multimedia

v t e Drafts held by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
NWSL Draft	2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Dispersal Draft	2018
Expansion Draft	2014 2015 2020 2022 2024
Supplemental Draft	2013

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