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The 2022 NWSL Draft Guide

Here’s everything you need to know about the draft today

By Kudzi Musarurwa
2020 NWSL Draft Photo by Jose Argueta/ISI Photos/Getty Images

The 2022 NWSL Draft has finally arrived. Two new teams have joined the draft process this year and with the trade window still open, I fully expect some chaos to happen during this draft process as teams look to boost their ranks sufficiently enough to at least start the season with a solid core.

Formerly known as the college draft, this year’s draft will be slightly different to previous iterations of it. The pandemic altered the NCAA schedule last year and players who were draft-eligible but went undrafted were then NWSL discovery-eligible this year if they retained their NCAA eligibility.

The NWSL board of governors a few weeks ago, voted to increase the number of draft-eligible players ahead of the draft today. The updated rules of the draft now also allows players who were otherwise eligible, but on a NWSL’s team discovery list, the choice to stay on that team’s discover list or to be removed in order to register for the 2022 NWSL Draft.

Draft Rules

  • The draft will have a maximum of 50 selections over the course of four rounds. Each team will have five minutes to announce their picks in the first round but after that, and including compensatory picks, teams will have three minutes to announce their picks or forfeit their selection. As the draft is being held virtually, teams must notify the league via video call of their selection before the clock expires.
  • Expansion clubs may request four timeout throughout the draft while the remaining teams may request three during the draft if they need further discussion or clarification. Timeouts are three minutes long and cannot be continuous between the same two teams. If a team fails to make or forfeit the pick after the timeout, they will not be able to make a selection in that round.
  • The NWSL itself has the power to call timeouts at any time to resolve any rules or anything else in its jurisdiction.
  • After the first round, there will be a five-minute break and after the following rounds, there will be a two-minute break per round.
  • All trades must be approved by the NWSL before they are official and/or announced to the general public. No player name will be made public until they have been informed of the trade by their team. The term “a player to be named later” will be used if a player name cannot be announced as per the league rules.
  • Undrafted players, if eligible and registered for the 2022 NWSL draft, can be assigned as discovery eligible until Sunday. Undrafted players may return to school and retain their college eligibility as per the NCAA if they notify their institution’s Director of Athletics within 72 hours after the draft. The player will then be required to register for the following NWSL drafts in order to play in the league in the season following that draft.

The first round is currently as follows:

Round 1

  1. San Diego Wave
  2. Racing Louisville
  3. North Carolina Courage
  4. Racing Louisville
  5. Orlando Pride
  6. North Carolina Courage
  7. Kansas City Current
  8. NJ/NY Gotham FC
  9. San Diego Wave
  10. OL Reign
  11. Orlando Pride
  12. North Carolina Courage

How to watch:

Every available platform that will be streaming the draft can be found here.

Saturday, December 18

2pm EST / 11am PST

List of all players who declared