The 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft was a special draft held on November 12, 2020, by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for

Racing Louisville FC Racing Louisville Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League team based in Louisville, Kentucky. It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team is owned by Soccer Holdings LLC, which also owns Louisville City FC of the USL Cham ...

, an expansion team, to select players from existing teams in the league. Louisville would be able to select up to 18 players from a list of unprotected players provided by the existing nine NWSL teams. On October 26, 2020, the NWSL announced that

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

would receive full roster protection after executing a trade with

Format

Each of the NWSL's nine current teams could protect 11 players, with a limit of two United States federation players.

could select a maximum of two players (or one United States federation players) per team; they could only select a maximum of two United States federation players in total. All players currently under contract, on loan, or whose NWSL rights are held by an NWSL team (e.g., draft picks, waiver claims, retired players) were eligible for selection unless included on the protected list; only unsigned players who are on an NWSL team's discovery list were exempt. The timeline for the Expansion Draft process was as follows: * Thursday, Oct. 22 (1 p.m. ET) – Trade/waiver window closes * Thursday, Oct. 22 (5 p.m. ET) – All previously unannounced trades announced * Thursday, Oct. 29 (5 p.m. ET) – End-of-season process deadline * Wednesday, Nov. 4 (5 p.m. ET) – Protected list due from clubs to the NWSL * Thursday, Nov. 5 (1 p.m. ET) – Protected/unprotected lists distributed and made public * Thursday, Nov. 12 – 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft * Friday, Nov. 13 (9 a.m. ET) – Trade window opens

Draft results

selected 14 players on November 12, 2020. * Blue highlights indicate United States federation players * ''Italics'' indicate players who are not under contract but whose NWSL playing rights remain with the team

Protected lists by team

After

traded for full roster protection, the remaining eight current NWSL teams released their respective protected lists on November 5, 2020. * Bold indicates players selected in the

Expansion Draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

* Blue highlights indicate United States federation players * ''Italics'' indicate players who are not under contract but whose NWSL playing rights remain with the team

Houston Dash

North Carolina Courage

Orlando Pride

Portland Thorns FC

OL Reign

Sky Blue FC

Utah Royals FC

Washington Spirit

References

{{NWSL drafts National Women's Soccer League drafts 2021 National Women's Soccer League season Racing Louisville FC NWSL Expansion Draft