The 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft (formerly named the 2021 NWSL Expansion Draft) was an

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 ...

held by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) on December 16, 2021, for two expansion teams,

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California, and was announced on July 21, 2020. The team has many high-profile owners, including Becky G, Natal ...

and

San Diego Wave FC San Diego Wave FC is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in San Diego, California. The team is owned by Ron Burkle. The team is the San Diego area's first women's professional soccer team s ...

, to select players from existing teams in the league.

Kansas City Current Kansas City Current is an American professional women's soccer team based in Kansas City, Kansas. It began play as an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2021. History Establishment Kansas City last had an NWSL t ...

were exempt from the draft.

Format

Each of the NWSL's current teams (with the exception of

, who were exempt from the draft) was allowed to protect nine players, including a maximum of one United States federation player.

and

were allowed to select one player from each team, for a total of nine players each. Per result of a coin flip,

picked first. Each of the NWSL's existing teams could lose no more than one United States federation player and no more than one player from each position group in total.

and

could select no more than one United States federation player in total.

Draft results

* 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

Besides

, who were already exempt from the draft per their expansion team agreement, the following teams traded for protections prior to December 10, 2021: *On August 23, 2021,

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 ...

traded for roster protection from

. *On December 1,

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

also traded for roster protection from

. *On December 2,

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 ...

traded for roster protection from both

and

. *On December 4,

NJ/NY Gotham FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 201 ...

traded for roster protection also from

. *On December 6,

traded for federation player protection while

OL Reign OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

also traded for a partial protection from

. *On December 8,

and

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

both traded for roster protection from

, while

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

also traded for roster protection from both

and

. On December 10, 2021, the NWSL released the protected lists from teams participating in the draft. * 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

OL Reign

Orlando Pride

Portland Thorns FC

Racing Louisville FC

Washington Spirit

References

{{NWSL drafts National Women's Soccer League drafts 2022 National Women's Soccer League season Angel City FC San Diego Wave FC