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The NWSL announced Tuesday it will move forward with a controversial plan allowing teams to go up to $1 million over the salary cap for players who meet certain criteria, despite heavy backlash from the NWSL Players Association.
One of the reasons the players opposed the new “High Impact Player” rule was because they said the qualifications were too restrictive, and instead proposed raising the salary cap by $1 million.
The NWSL and its players union have been at odds since the league vetoed a new, multimillion-dollar contract for Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman. The NWSLPA filed a grievance against the league’s decision on the Rodman deal, citing multiple violations of the 2024 collective bargaining agreement. “If the NWSL can interfere with Trinity Rodman’s free-agency rights, they can interfere with anyone’s,” union executive director told Front Office Sports earlier this month.
Rodman’s U.S. Women’s National Team teammates Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson both left the NWSL for Chelsea earlier this year, but the league has said they want to keep Rodman as her contract is expiring.
Two weeks ago, the league’s board of governors approved the “High Impact Player” fund and sent it to the NWSLPA. This rule would function similarly to MLS’s Designated Player rule that originated with David Beckham, permitting teams to pay certain stars bigger salaries while evading a full cap hit, except the men’s league does not limit how much teams can spend on those contracts.
The players overwhelmingly rejected the proposal. Burke told FOS last week that she had “not heard from a single player who thinks this is a good idea.” “Our position is simply, take that million dollars and move it into the team’s salary cap so that teams have flexibility and the opportunity to spend it where they see fit in order to be competitive,” Burke said.
On Tuesday, the league said it would be going forward with the High Impact Player fund. The NWSL laid out its criteria for who would meet the threshold for the contracts, which it said could be signed immediately and would go into effect in July. Athletes who placed high enough on certain lists ranking top and most marketable athletes or those who played the most minutes for the USWNT would qualify. The NWSLPA responded to the announcement: “The League’s unilateral action leaves the NWSLPA no choice but to take action to enforce the rights of the Players we represent.”
According to a list compiled by The Equalizer, just over 100 women’s soccer players globally qualify under the rules. The majority of those players are not currently in the NWSL, and most of them play in Europe.
Of the 30 NWSL players who qualify, several are on the same squads: the KC Current has seven, Gotham has six, and the Washington Spirit has five. (The league said teams can sign multiple players to High Impact Player deals, but cannot go over the new $1 million collective threshold created for them.)
Many of the NWSL and USWNT’s biggest stars made the cut, like Rodman, Thompson, Temwa Chawinga, Barbra Banda, Sam Coffey, Rose Lavelle, Marta, Lindsey Heaps, and Lily Yohannes.
Players are eligible based on meeting the criteria in the past two seasons, and about a third of the list only qualified because of their performances in 2024, not 2025. This group includes players like Girma, Mallory Swanson, Sophia Wilson, Croix Bethune, and Alyssa Naeher, who were all impacted this year by injuries or pregnancies.
But several of the biggest names in the league and the sport at large are not on the list, including several former NWSL MVPs. Some of the notable omissions include:
- Sam Kerr, Australian women’s national team captain who has scored more than 100 goals for Chelsea.
- Bay FC’s Racheal Kundananji, whose move to the new NWSL club broke the women’s soccer transfer world record last year.
- Rebeca Bernal, Washington Spirit player and captain of the Mexico women’s national team.
- Angel City FC captain Sarah Gorden.
- Kansas City Current captain and USWNT player Lo’eau LaBonta.
- Former league MVPs including Kerolin (2023), Jess Fishlock (2021), and Lynn Biyendolo (2016).
- USWNT players including Crystal Dunn, Midge Purce, Emma Sears, and Jaedyn Shaw.
The question remains whether Rodman would actually sign this type of deal, or if she would pursue any of the more lucrative offers her agent said she’s fielded from Europe and the Gainbridge Super League.
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