List of NWSL drafts

The following is a list of drafts held by National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), with a brief description of each.

Preseason 2013 (inaugural)

• NWSL Player Allocation: Fifty-five (55) players from the national team pools of the United States, Canada, and Mexico were distributed to the eight original NWSL teams by a panel of experts based on preferences stated by the players and the teams.
• 2013 NWSL College Draft: Held January 18 at the annual NSCAA convention, this year in Indianapolis, 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 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 (drafted by Boston) was selected by Western New York.^[1]

Offseason 2013–14

• 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) was selected by Washington.^[2]
• NWSL Player Allocation changes: All three federations took the offseason as an opportunity to re-evaluate the allocation process and what players they subsidized. A number of players were added to or dropped from the allocation pool.
• 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft: Held January 10, the Houston Dash expansion team picked a number of players from the existing NWSL teams, including two allocated US players.
• 2014 NWSL College Draft: Held on January 17 at the annual NSCAA convention, this year in Philadelphia, the draft allowed all nine teams to draft up to four players who had completed their college eligibility.

Offseason 2014–15

• 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.^[3] FC Kansas City selected Rafaelle Souza, Portland Thorns FC selected Danesha Adams, and the Washington Spirit selected Lydia Williams and Joanna Lohman.^[4]
• 2015 NWSL Player Allocation changes: The allocation announcements were made on January 14, 2015.
• 2015 NWSL College Draft: The draft was held on January 16, 2015.

Offseason 2015–16

• 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,^[5] presumably to allow for the October 20 announcement of expansion with the Orlando Pride, who were granted top tie-break in the process.^[6] Of the 8 players available, all from non-playoff teams, only Brittany Bock (an Illinois native previously of Houston) was selected by Chicago.^[7]
• 2015 NWSL Expansion Draft: Held on November 2, 2015, the Orlando Pride expansion team selected ten players from the existing NWSL teams.^[6]
• 2016 NWSL College Draft: Held on January 15, 2016 at the annual NSCAA convention, this year in Baltimore. Forty players were selected over four rounds. As an expansion team, the Orlando Pride were granted first pick in each round, ahead of the 2015 last-place Boston Breakers, although many picks changed hands before and during the draft.^[6]
• 2016 NWSL Player Allocation changes: The allocation announcements were made on January 13 for USWNT players^[8] and February 8 for CanWNT players.^[9] At the college draft on January 15, NWSL announced a new allocation process,^[10] with full details released on March 30, a day ahead of a Distribution Draft for players that had lost allocation.^[11][12]
• 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.^[13]

Offseason 2016–17

• 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.^[14] Of the 13 players available, the only player selected was Sinead Farrelly, who was left on the wire by the Boston Breakers and selected by Seattle Reign FC.^[15]
• 2017 NWSL College Draft: Held on January 12, 2017, at the annual NSCAA convention in Los Angeles. The league's 10 teams, including the newly re-minted North Carolina Courage, selected forty players over four rounds. The Boston Breakers, as the 2016 season's last-place team, held the first pick in each round, although many picks changed hands before and during the draft.^[16]

See also

• NWSL College Draft
• NWSL records and statistics
• List of WUSA drafts
• List of WPS drafts

References