The NWSL Draft is an annual event which takes place in January of each year where the teams of the
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) select players who are in their senior season in college or have exhausted their collegiate eligibility. Prior to 2021, it was known as the NWSL College Draft.
The NWSL Draft was first instituted in 2013 a few months prior to the start of the inaugural season of the league. The draft is composed of four rounds in which each club has a selection, the order of which is determined by a combination of the teams' playoff and regular season positions, with the last-placed team or any expansion teams picking first.
Eligible players
Players from the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
and the
NAIA who have completed their senior season or who are no longer eligible to play collegiate soccer are eligible to participate in the draft.
If a collegiate player is eligible but does not register for the draft, that player will not be available for selection by a team until the upcoming season is complete. In those cases, the player will become available to teams as a discovery player.
[ Any player that registered for the draft but was not drafted becomes available to all NWSL teams as a discovery player.]
Rules of draft selection
The draft order is primarily built upon the team's final ranking during the previous season. If teams were tied, the league follows Tie Breaking procedures.[ Draft order may also be impacted by trades involving draft picks and expansion teams.][
]
List of NWSL Drafts
See also
*Draft (sports)
A draft is a process used in some countries (especially in North America) and sports (especially in closed leagues) to allocate certain players to teams. In a draft, teams take turns selecting from a pool of eligible players. When a team selec ...
References
{{NWSL drafts
College Draft
Annual sporting events in the United States
Recurring sporting events established in 2013