The 2023 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) off-season began on October 30, 2022, and the 2023 season competition calendar — which includes its preseason, regular season, and postseason — runs from January 4 to November 11, 2023. This list includes transactions featuring at least one club from the National Women's Soccer League that were completed during the 2023 off-season and competition calendar, and loans from the previous season due to expire during the same period.
Transaction rules The NWSL operates with caps on the number of players that a club can sign; a salary cap the club's total wage bill, extendible by allocation money; minimum and maximum individual player salary caps, which can be surpassed using allocation money; a club's total allocation money; the number of international players (defined as players not eligible to work in the United States without a visa) that a club can sign; and the number of players under the age of 18 that a club can sign.
The 2023 season marked the first time that players with at least six years' tenure in the NWSL and expiring contracts became free agents capable of negotiating contracts with any NWSL team. Following a labor dispute over whether 22 players with unexercised contract options counted as expired contracts in which an arbitrator ruled in favor of the NWSL Players Association, a total of 48 players were designated as the league's first free agents retroactive to August 26, 2023. All other players are subject to the NWSL's systems of distributing players' rights, which assigns the right for clubs to offer or hold a league-centralized standard player agreement (SPA) to a player. These systems include:
Drafts, mechanisms in which player rights are distributed in a league-determined order, such as the annual NWSL Draft, expansion and dispersal drafts, and the Re-entry Wire for waived players Trades, in which teams exchange player contracts, players' rights, or non-player assets such as selection order in NWSL drafts, immunity from selection in expansion drafts, allocation money, and international roster spots allowing the signing of players not eligible to work in the United States through a green card or citizenship Discovery, in which a league-assigned order prioritizes teams' claims to the rights of players not already under contract with the NWSL, including players who registered for the NWSL Draft but were not selected, international players, and waived players who clear the Re-entry Wire Free agency, limited to out-of-contract players with a certain tenure of play in the NWSL Under-18 entry list, limited to players under the age of 18 with additional restrictions, such as minimum contract lengths and limitations on trades, transfers, and loans
Player rights limit only which club within the NWSL that can sign a player to a SPA. Clubs can possess and retain the right to sign a player who is not under contract with the team, and such players have no obligation to report to the team and are not prevented from signing contracts with other leagues. Clubs can also sign players on loan dependent on their league's regulations. SPAs can contain a no-trade clause, and can include either a unilateral or mutual contract option to extend its terms by an additional year.
Clubs can sign players to short-term Injury Replacement Player (IRP) contract should a rostered player be injured, Season-Ending Injury/Illness Replacement (SEI) contracts, short-term National Team Replacement Player (NTRP) contracts to replace rostered players called up to international duty during the season, and short-term Goalkeeper Replacement (GKR) contracts should a team become unable to field two goalkeepers during the season. Such contracts are not subject to league caps and roster freeze dates for the duration of the replaced player's absence, and NTRP contracts must be terminated within three days of the end of the associated international window. Players taking parental leave, using pregnancy benefits, or taking player-elected or mental health leave are also exempt from roster caps.
Transactions calendar + Transaction dates and deadlines Date Function scope="row" Trade window opens scope="row" Trade window closes scope="row" Terms of new contracts, list of waived players, and list of exercised contract options due scope="row" End-of-season Re-entry Wire opens scope="row" End-of-season Re-entry Wire closes scope="row" Trade window opens scope="row" Trade window closes, transaction moratorium begins scope="row" Transaction moratorium ends, trade window opens scope="row" Transaction moratorium ends, trade window opens scope="row" 2023 NWSL Draft scope="row" Primary transfer window opens scope="row" Pre-season begins scope="row" Roster compliance deadline, 22–26-player final roster due scope="row" Regular season begins scope="row" Primary transfer window, trade window close scope="row" Secondary transfer window, trade window opens scope="row" Secondary transfer window, trade window close scope="row" Secondary transfer window, trade window close scope="row" Last day to waive players scope="row" Re-entry Wire opens scope="row" Re-entry Wire closes; deadline to exercise contract options on upcoming free agents scope="row" Roster freeze date; free agent negotiations begin scope="row" Regular season ends scope="row" NWSL Playoffs end
Transactions 2023 NWSL Draft
+ 2023 NWSL Draft selections and contract signings Drafting team Name Previous team Contract status Signing date 1 1 Angel City FC Harvard-Westlake Wolverines Signed to a three-year contract. 2 Kansas City Current Duke Blue Devils Signed to a three-year contract. 3 Orlando Pride Florida State Seminoles Signed by the NWSL through 2025 prior to being drafted. 4 NJ/NY Gotham FC Florida State Seminoles Signed to a three-yeaer contract. 5 Portland Thorns FC Alabama Crimson Tide Signed through 2024 with an option for 2025. March 25, 2023 6 North Carolina Courage Notre Dame Fighting Irish Signed through 2025. 7 Chicago Red Stars Penn State Nittany Lions Signed to a three-year contract with an option for a fourth year. 8 North Carolina Courage California Golden Bears Signed through 2025. 9 North Carolina Courage Florida State Seminoles Signed through 2025. 10 Kansas City Current Virginia Cavaliers Signed to a two-year contract. 11 North Carolina Courage Virginia Cavaliers Signed through 2025. 12 Portland Thorns FC Santa Clara Broncos Signed through 2025 with an option for 2026. 2 13 San Diego Wave FC Stanford Cardinal Signed to a one-year contract with a mutual option for an additional year. 14 Chicago Red Stars Oklahoma State Cowgirls Declined to report to preseason training. — 15 Kansas City Current West Virginia Mountaineers Signed to a one-year contract with a one-year option. 16 Racing Louisville FC Ohio State Buckeyes Signed to a two-year contract. 17 Racing Louisville FC Notre Dame Fighting Irish Not signed, rights waived. — 18 Kansas City Current Iowa State Cyclones Signed to a two-year contract. 19 OL Reign Washington Huskies Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. 20 Houston Dash Harvard Crimson Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. 21 Orlando Pride TCU Horned Frogs Signed to a three-year contract. 22 Houston Dash South Carolina Gamecocks Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. 23 Chicago Red Stars Penn State Nittany Lions Signed to a three-year contract with an option for a fourth year. 24 Portland Thorns FC Michigan State Spartans Not signed, rights released. — 3 25 Orlando Pride North Carolina Tar Heels Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. 26 Washington Spirit Arizona State Sun Devils Signed to a two-year contract and rostered as a midfielder. 27 Angel City FC California Golden Bears Signed to a one-year contract. 28 Washington Spirit Gonzaga Bulldogs Signed to a two-year contract with an option for a third year. 29 Racing Louisville FC New Mexico Lobos Not signed, rights waived. — 30 Washington Spirit Alabama Crimson Tide Signed to a two-year contract with an option for a third year and rostered as a midfielder. 31 Racing Louisville FC Alabama Crimson Tide Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. 32 Portland Thorns FC Michigan State Spartans Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. 33 San Diego Wave FC UCLA Bruins Signed to a two-year contract. 34 Washington Spirit Long Beach State Beach Signed to a two-year contract with an option for a third year. 35 Kansas City Current Washington State Cougars Not signed; rights waived. — 36 Houston Dash LSU Tigers Signed to a short-term Injury Replacement Player contract. 4 37 Washington Spirit Colorado Buffaloes Signed to a two-year contract with an option for a third year. 38 Kansas City Current Vanderbilt Commodores Opted to finish college. Signed a National Team Replacement contract on July 20, 2023, with Racing Louisville FC. — 39 Orlando Pride Washington Huskies Signed to a two-year contract with an option for an additional year. 40 Washington Spirit Duke Blue Devils Not signed; recovering from surgery. — 41 Orlando Pride UCF Knights Not signed. Signed a one-year contract with AS Saint-Étienne on July 21, 2023. — 42 Kansas City Current Kansas Jayhawks Signed to a one-year contract. 43 Chicago Red Stars Duke Blue Devils Signed to a two-year contract. 44 NJ/NY Gotham FC Arizona Wildcats Not signed. — 45 San Diego Wave FC Wake Forest Demon Deacons Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. 46 OL Reign Wisconsin Badgers Signed to a short-term National Team Replacement Player contract. 47 Kansas City Current Ole Miss Rebels Not signed; rights waived. — 48 Houston Dash UCLA Bruins Signed to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year.
Players and assets