Jessica Alcheh-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time in the National Women’s Soccer League’s 11 years of existence, free agency and expansion converged in the same offseason. Combined with an influx of international signings, the changes intensified the annual trend of offseason turnover.
Some teams were left with more significant questions than others.
Last season proved again that whatever seems obvious at this stage of preseason likely is not. NJ/NY Gotham FC went from last place in 2022 — miserably so, with a 12-game losing streak — to champions in 2023. Drastic year-over-year fluctuation is the norm in the NWSL, even if Gotham’s makeover was extreme.
Many answers are still to come — and teams aren’t entirely done making signings — but as it stands a few weeks into preseason, these are the teams with the biggest questions heading into the 2024 season (in alphabetical order).
Editor’s note: We’ll be drilling focusing on other teams with big questions, too, as we already did with the Washington Spirit.
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