The 2015 NWSL Expansion Draft was a special draft held on November 2, 2015, by the National Women's Soccer League to allow expansion side Orlando Pride to select players from existing teams in the league.[ 1] The Pride were allowed to select up to ten players total from the existing nine NWSL teams from a list of unprotected players previously provided by the clubs.[ 2]
2015 playoff teams (Chicago Red Stars , FC Kansas City , Seattle Reign FC and Washington Spirit ) were allowed to protect up to 9 players, and 2015 non-playoff teams (Boston Breakers , Houston Dash , Portland Thorns FC , Sky Blue FC and Western New York Flash ) up to 10.
Clubs with more than two U.S. allocated players could protect up to two of them; the remaining allocated players would be left unprotected.
The Pride were allowed to pick up to two players from any existing team, or just one if they selected a US allocated player.
The Pride were allowed to pick no more than two US allocated players total.
When an existing club loses a player, they may protect one of their remaining unprotected players.
Eligible players included those left unprotected by their club encompassing:
Any current NWSL players including U.S., Mexican and Canadian allocated players
Any unsigned player who was previously claimed via waivers
Any player that has been loaned to a club outside the NWSL
Any player whose rights are held by a specific team
Players on a team's Discovery List were not eligible to be selected by the Pride.
Expansion draft results
edit
Team-by-team breakdown
edit
Bold indicates a player was selected in the expansion draft
Blue highlights indicate US allocated players
^Indicates a player that was protected after a teammate had been drafted
Western New York Flash
edit
^ "NWSL ANNOUNCES EXPANSION DRAFT PROCEDURES" . National Women's Soccer League. October 23, 2015. Archived from the original on October 27, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015 .
^ "NWSL ANNOUNCES PROTECTED AND UNPROTECTED PLAYERS" . National Women's Soccer League. October 26, 2015. Archived from the original on October 28, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015 .
^ Tenorio, Paul (November 2, 2015). "Orlando Pride continues building roster through NWSL expansion draft" . Orlando Sentinel . Retrieved November 2, 2015 .
^ "Orlando Pride Acquires Alex Morgan, Kaylyn Kyle and Sarah Hagen" . Orlando Pride . October 26, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2015 .