The 2024 NWSL Draft presented by Ally was the twelfth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select from a list of amateur players above the age of 18 playing in the United States who exhausted, lost, or renounced any remaining collegiate eligibility. It was held on January 12, 2024, at the 2024 United Soccer Coaches Convention in Anaheim, California, and broadcast by ION.
Expansion sides Utah Royals and Bay FC held the first and second overall picks respectively. Ally Sentnor was selected by Utah Royals with the first overall pick. It was the first time Utah Royals had selected first and the third time a player out of North Carolina was selected first.
It was the final NWSL college draft to be held prior to the draft's abolition as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in August 2024, making the NWSL the first major professional sports league in the United States to eliminate the draft system. Beginning with the 2025 rookie class, first-year players could sign with teams as free agents.
Format All 14 teams of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) took turns making their selections over four rounds, with 14 picks per round. Draft order in each round was determined by the reverse order of the final 2023 regular season standings, with the exceptions being Utah Royals and Bay FC taking the first two selections as expansion teams and the two teams that contested the 2023 Championship game, Seattle Reign FC (formerly OL Reign) and NJ/NY Gotham FC, taking the last two selections. The final list of players eligible for selection was released on January 9, 2024. 230 players representing 138 schools declared for the draft. Gaining the first choice in the asset selection process through a random generator, Utah Royals selected priority in the NWSL Draft. As a result, Utah received pick No. 1 in both the first and third rounds of the draft, while Bay will select first in rounds two and four. By virtue, Bay were given the first pick in the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft. Ion Television covered the draft domestically. International broadcast was available on the NWSL website.
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 Round Pick Player NWSL team Notes College Round 1 1 M Utah Royals North Carolina 2 D Bay FC North Carolina 3 *^ M Washington Spirit Georgia 4 F Utah Royals BYU 5 * M Washington Spirit Clemson 6 F Racing Louisville FC UCLA 7 D Washington Spirit Penn State 8 M Bay FC Stanford 9 M Orlando Pride UCLA 10 M Chicago Red Stars Florida State 11 F Portland Thorns FC Penn State 12 D San Diego Wave FC Stanford 13 D Washington Spirit Clemson 14 D NJ/NY Gotham FC North Carolina Round 2 15 F Chicago Red Stars NC State 16 D Utah Royals Florida State 17 M Seattle Reign FC North Carolina 18 D Kansas City Current Penn State 19 * F Houston Dash North Carolina 20 D Utah Royals BYU 21 F Houston Dash Notre Dame 22 M Orlando Pride Penn State 23 M Portland Thorns FC BYU 24 D North Carolina Courage Virginia 25 # D Portland Thorns FC Utah State 26 # M Utah Royals Wisconsin 27 F Seattle Reign FC Notre Dame 28 * F Racing Louisville FC Ohio State Round 3 29 D Utah Royals USC 30 M Bay FC BYU 31 D Chicago Red Stars Texas Tech 32 G Kansas City Current Clemson 33 G Utah Royals Florida State 34 M Bay FC Clemson 35 # F Washington Spirit Arkansas 36 F Houston Dash Pittsburgh 37 # M Angel City FC Alabama 38 G Houston Dash South Carolina 39 G Portland Thorns FC Penn State 40 # D North Carolina Courage North Carolina 41 M Chicago Red Stars Arkansas 42 F San Diego Wave FC Memphis Round 4 43 # M Seattle Reign FC Saint Mary's 44 # M Angel City FC St. John's 45 # M Chicago Red Stars Michigan State 46 # G Kansas City Current Arizona 47 # D Houston Dash Santa Clara 48 D Racing Louisville FC Iowa 49 M Washington Spirit Utah 50 F Orlando Pride Texas Tech 51 D Angel City FC Princeton 52 F North Carolina Courage Pittsburgh 53 # M Portland Thorns FC Stanford 54 # G Racing Louisville FC Texas Tech 55 # D Bay FC BYU 56 # M Orlando Pride UCF
Notable undrafted players Below is a list of undrafted rookies who appeared in a competitive NWSL game in 2024. Player Original NWSL team College D Houston Dash Xavier F Chicago Red Stars UCLA M Portland Thorns FC Georgia D Bay FC West Virginia M Washington Spirit Utah Valley
Trades Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Round 4:
Summary In 2024, a total of 30 colleges had players selected. Of these, five had a player drafted to the NWSL for the first time: Iowa, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Saint Mary's and Utah State. The draft also saw North Carolina equal the record for most selections from a school in a draft with six.
Schools with multiple draft selections SelectionsSchools 6 North Carolina 5 BYU, Penn State 4 Clemson 3 Florida State, Stanford, Texas Tech 2 Arkansas, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, UCLA
Selections by college athletic conference ConferenceRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4TotalACC675119Big East00011Big Ten24129Big 1212249Ivy League00011Mountain West01001Pac-1240138SEC10405The American00101West Coast00022
Selections by position PositionRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4TotalGoalkeeper00426Defender553417Midfielder644620Forward353213
Future draft trades 2025 NWSL Draft trades Round 3 (conditional), Racing Louisville FC → Washington Spirit. Washington Spirit acquired the natural second-round pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft, and a conditional third-round draft pick in the 2025 NWSL Draft if she reaches 10 appearances in 2024, from Racing Louisville FC in exchange for Jordan Baggett.
See also List of drafts held by the NWSL List of National Women's Soccer League draftees by college team 2024 National Women's Soccer League season
References
External links