The 2021 NWSL Draft was the ninth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 13, 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first NWSL Draft to be held virtually via videoconferencing and web streaming.
Format All 10 teams of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) take turns making their selections over four rounds, with 10 picks per round. Draft order in each round was determined by the reverse order of standings after the preliminary stage of the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, with the exceptions being Racing Louisville FC taking the first selection as an expansion team and Orlando Pride slotting into the fourth spot as decided by the board of governors after the team was unable to participate in the Challenge Cup. The Kansas City expansion team took over all player-related assets (including draft picks) of defunct team Utah Royals FC. The draft was broadcast live via the NWSL's official Twitch channel. Final list of players who registered was released on January 12, 2021.
COVID-19 pandemic Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NWSL made the following changes to the draft regulations that apply only to the 2021 NWSL Draft: Due to the disruption of college soccer and resulting NCAA D-I spring season in 2021, the NWSL applied for and received a waiver from the NCAA so that D-I players who are drafted could choose to report immediately for the 2021 NWSL season and forfeit their remaining collegiate eligibility, or remain with their collegiate teams until the conclusion of the NCAA D-I spring season in May 2021. The NWSL waived registration requirements so that all D-I players who had exhausted three years of collegiate soccer eligibility prior to the 2020–21 academic year were automatically eligible to be drafted. The NWSL playing rights of drafted players will be held until the start of the 2022 preseason rather than the end of the 2021 season as was the case previously.
Results
Key + Denotes player who has been selected as NWSL Most Valuable Player* Denotes player who has been selected for an NWSL Best XI or NWSL Second XI team^ Denotes player who has been selected as NWSL Rookie of the Year# Denotes player who has never appeared in a competitive NWSL game (regular season, playoff, or Challenge Cup)
Picks RoundPickPlayerNWSL teamNotesCollegeRound 11 * D Racing Louisville FC North Carolina2 *^ F Washington Spirit Washington State3 M Sky Blue FC North Carolina4 D Kansas City NWSL Stanford5 M Racing Louisville FC Louisville6 * M Portland Thorns FC TCU7 # F Chicago Red Stars Stanford8 * F Washington Spirit USC9 M Orlando Pride UCLA10 # F North Carolina Courage FloridaRound 211 M Racing Louisville FC North Carolina12 * M Portland Thorns FC Penn State13 F Racing Louisville FC Texas Tech14 M Orlando Pride BYU15 M Kansas City NWSL Wisconsin16 # D Kansas City NWSL UCLA17 M Kansas City NWSL Texas A&M18 F Chicago Red Stars Santa Clara19 F Washington Spirit Boston University20 D North Carolina Courage AuburnRound 321 F Racing Louisville FC Arkansas22 F Portland Thorns FC Rutgers23 M Sky Blue FC Virginia24 * D Orlando Pride Penn State25 # D Chicago Red Stars Washington State26 M Houston Dash Pepperdine27 F Houston Dash Washington State28 D OL Reign Texas A&M29 # G Washington Spirit UNC Wilmington30 # D North Carolina Courage VanderbiltRound 431 # D Racing Louisville FC California32 F Chicago Red Stars Ole Miss33 D Sky Blue FC UCLA34 G Orlando Pride USC35 # F Chicago Red Stars Virginia36 M Kansas City NWSL Santa Clara37 D Portland Thorns FC Wake Forest38 # M Kansas City NWSL Kansas State39 F Washington Spirit Clemson40 F Sky Blue FC Duke
Notable undrafted players Below is a list of undrafted rookies who appeared in a competitive NWSL game in 2021. Player Original NWSL team College Notes M Houston Dash Utah State M Orlando Pride Florida D Washington Spirit UCLA
Trades Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Round 4:
Summary In 2021, a total of 28 colleges had players selected. Of these, five had a player drafted to the NWSL for the first time: Boston University, Kansas State, Louisville, UNC Wilmington, and Vanderbilt.
Schools with multiple draft selections SelectionsSchools 3 North Carolina, UCLA, Washington State 2 Penn State, Santa Clara, Stanford, Texas A&M, USC, Virginia
Selections by college athletic conference ConferenceRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4TotalACC31149Big Ten02204Big 1211013Colonial00101Pac-12512311Patriot League01001SEC12317West Coast02114
Selections by position PositionRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4TotalGoalkeeper00112Defender224311Midfielder452213Forward433414
See also List of drafts held by the NWSL List of National Women's Soccer League draftees by college team 2021 National Women's Soccer League season
References
External links