The following is a list of drafts held by

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL), with a brief description of each.

Preseason 2013 (inaugural)

2013 NWSL College Draft The 2013 NWSL College Draft was the first annual college draft held by the National Women's Soccer League to assign the NWSL rights of college players to the eight NWSL teams. It took place on January 18, 2013 at the National Soccer Coaches Asso ...

: Held January 18 at the annual

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

convention, this year in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, the draft allowed all eight teams to draft four players who had completed their college eligibility. While they had originally announced that the draft would be in snake format with randomly determined order, NWSL announced several days before the draft that the order would be the same in each of the four rounds, with the order semi-randomly determined with weighting based on evaluation of the

allocation Allocation may refer to: Computing * Block allocation map * C++ allocators * Delayed allocation * File allocation table * IP address allocation * Memory allocation * No-write allocation (cache) * Register allocation Economics * Asset alloca ...

results. * 2013 NWSL Supplemental Draft: After a limited free agency period, NWSL pooled remaining players who were identified by the teams to be distributed via draft. Each team submitted 8–10 player names to the draft pool, with players picked over six rounds. *2013 Preseason Waiver Draft: Players who were waived by their teams were available for other teams to pick up. Of the 6 players available, only

Lauren Alkek Lauren may be a given name or surname.The name's meaning may be "laurel tree", "sweet of honor", or "wisdom". It is derived from the French name Laurence, a feminine version of Laurent, which is in turn derived from the Roman surname Laurentius. ...

(drafted by

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

) was selected by

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...

Offseason 201314

*2013 Postseason Waiver Draft: Players who were waived by their teams were available for other teams to pick up. Of the 11 players available, only Nikki Marshall (previously of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

) was selected by

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. * 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft * 2014 NWSL College Draft

Offseason 201415

*2014 Postseason Waiver Wire: Players who were waived by their teams were available for other teams to pick up. Twelve players were made available, two-thirds of them coming from teams that finished in the bottom three. FC Kansas City selected Rafaelle Souza,

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 ...

selected

Danesha Adams Danesha LaVonne Adams (born June 6, 1986) is an American retired soccer forward and midfielder. She is an assistant coach for the Houston Cougars. She played for Portland Thorns FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She previously pl ...

, and the

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 ...

selected

Lydia Williams Lydia Grace Yilkari Williams (born 13 May 1988) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Women's Super League club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Australia national team. Williams previously played for Melbour ...

and

Joanna Lohman Joanna Christie Lohman (born June 26, 1982) is a retired American professional soccer midfielder/ defender who last played for the Washington Spirit of the American National Women's Soccer League. She previously played for the Washington Freed ...

. *

2015 NWSL College Draft The 2015 NWSL College Draft was the third annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 16, 2015 at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, PA. Format *Draft order wa ...

Offseason 201516

*2015 Postseason Waiver Wire: Players who were waived by their teams were available for other teams to pick up. Originally announced for October 12, the Waiver Wire process was delayed to October 21–22, presumably to allow for the October 20 announcement of expansion with the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to th ...

, who were granted top tie-break in the process. Of the 8 players available, all from non-playoff teams, only

Brittany Bock Brittany Christine Bock (born April 11, 1987) is an American soccer midfielder. Early life Bock was born in Naperville, Illinois and attended Neuqua Valley High School. In 2009, she was enrolled in the Mendoza College of Business The Mendoz ...

(an Illinois native previously of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

) was selected by

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. * 2015 NWSL Expansion Draft * 2016 NWSL College Draft * 2016 NWSL Distribution Draft: Players who were no longer allocated and whose former teams did not offer a new contract were made available in the Distribution Draft, held on March 31. Of the nine players whose NWSL rights were available, only Verónica Pérez and Arianna Romero were selected, both by

Seattle Reign FC 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, ...

Offseason 201617

* 2016 Postseason Re-Entry Wire: Players who were waived by their teams, or whose contracts were allowed to lapse, were available for other teams to pick up on the re-entry wire (previously known as the waiver wire) on October 19. Of the 13 players available, the only player selected was

Sinead Farrelly Sinead Louise Farrelly (born November 16, 1989) is an American former soccer player who played as a midfielder. She previously played for Boston Breakers of the National Women's Soccer League. In 2011, she played for the Philadelphia Independen ...

, who was left on the wire by the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

and selected by

. * 2017 NWSL College Draft

Offseason 201718

*2017 Postseason Re-Entry Wire: Eight players were waived by their clubs; none were selected. * 2018 NWSL College Draft *

2018 NWSL Dispersal Draft The 2018 NWSL Dispersal Draft was held by the National Women's Soccer League on January 30, 2018, after the Boston Breakers ceased operations on January 28, 2018. The draft order is determined using a random weighted draw based on teams' playoffs q ...

Offseason 201819

*2018 Postseason Re-Entry Wire: Seven players were waived by their clubs; none were selected. * 2019 NWSL College Draft

Offseason 201920

*2019 Re-Entry Wire: 19 players were made available by their clubs on the Re-Entry Wire; five were selected. *

2020 NWSL College Draft The 2020 NWSL College Draft was the eighth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select newly eligible college players for the 2020 NWSL season. It was held on January 16, 2020 in conjunction with the United Soc ...

Offseason 202021

*2020 Re-Entry Wire: Eight players were available for selection; one was selected. *

2020 NWSL Expansion Draft 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, an expansion team, to select players from existing teams in the league. Louisville would be able to ...

* 2021 NWSL Draft

Offseason 202122

2022 NWSL Expansion Draft The 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft (formerly named the 2021 NWSL Expansion Draft) was an expansion draft held by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) on December 16, 2021, for two expansion teams, Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC, to select pla ...

* 2022 NWSL Draft

Offseason 202223

Per the collective bargaining agreement between the NWSL and the

NWSL Players Association The National Women's Soccer League Players Association (often known as NWSL Players Association or NWSLPA) is the officially recognized union of players in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). History The NWSLPA was formed in May 2017 und ...

, the 2022–23 offseason included the first-ever free agency period in league history. Pending free agents could begin negotiating with teams on August 26, 2022, and signing new contracts on November 15, 2022. *

2023 NWSL Draft The 2023 NWSL Draft presented by Ally was the eleventh annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select amateur players above the age of 18 playing in the United States who exhausted, lost, or renounced any remaining ...

References

{{NWSL drafts

Drafts Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

National Women's Soccer League drafts

Preseason 2013 (inaugural)

Offseason 201314

Offseason 201415

Offseason 201516

Offseason 201617

Offseason 201718

Offseason 201819

Offseason 201920

Offseason 202021

Offseason 202122

Offseason 202223

See also

References