Racing Louisville FC will select at No. 2 overall in the 2021 NWSL Draft in addition to its natural picks throughout the Dec. 18 event.
The order was set Friday with a coin toss to randomly determine which 2022 expansion team — either San Diego Wave or Angel City FC from Los Angeles — would receive the first pick.
Under terms of a prior trade sending forward Christen Press’ NWSL playing rights to Angel City, Racing received that club’s 2022 first-round pick now confirmed as second overall.
Louisville will also select fourth in each round, at No. 4 (first round), No. 16 (second), No. 30 (third) and No. 42 (fourth).
Based on recent history, either of the top-two picks are extremely valuable. Racing picked up U.S. Women’s National Team member Emily Fox first in the 2021 draft, while the Washington Spirit’s Trinity Rodman went on to be Rookie of the Year after going second.
Prior to the NWSL Draft, the league’s entry process primarily for college players, is the Dec. 16 NWSL Expansion Draft.
Teams that haven’t previously arranged immunity from Angel City and San Diego can expect to lose one player apiece to those clubs beyond a list of nine protected players to be announced next Friday.
Racing, also as part of the Press trade, has negotiated full protection from Angel City. The club is still in line to lose a player to San Diego.
Both the NWSL Expansion Draft and the NWSL Draft will take place at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. Further information regarding coverage of the drafts will be announced in the coming days.
Additionally, it was announced Friday, the league’s board of governors voted to increase the number of draft-eligible players.
Registration was not required for the 2021 NWSL Draft due to the pandemic-altered NCAA soccer schedule. Those players who were draft-eligible but went undrafted were therefore NWSL discovery-eligible in 2021 even if they retained NCAA eligibility. The updated rules for the NWSL 2022 Draft allow players who are otherwise eligible, but currently on a NWSL team’s discovery list, the choice to either remain on that team’s discovery list or be removed in order to register for 2022 NWSL Draft. Impacted players have been notified of this update.
The current draft order is as follows…
Round 1
No. 1: San Diego Wave FC
No. 2: Racing Louisville FC
No. 3: North Carolina Courage
No. 4: Racing Louisville FC
No. 5: Orlando Pride
No. 6: Houston Dash
No. 7: North Carolina Courage
No. 8: NJ/NY Gotham FC
No. 9: San Diego Wave FC
No. 10: OL Reign
No. 11: Chicago Red Stars
No. 12: Kansas City Current
Round 2
No. 13: Angel City FC
No. 14: San Diego Wave FC
No. 15: OL Reign
No. 16: Racing Louisville FC
No. 17: Kansas City Current
No. 18: Chicago Red Stars
No. 19: Chicago Red Stars
No. 20: OL Reign
No. 21: Houston Dash
No. 22: Portland Thorns FC
No. 23: Chicago Red Stars
No. 24: NJ/NY Gotham FC
No. 25: San Diego Wave FC
No. 26: Angel City FC
Round 3
No. 27: San Diego Wave FC
No. 28: Angel City FC
No. 29: Orlando Pride
No. 30: Racing Louisville FC
No. 31: Orlando Pride
No. 32: OL Reign
No. 33: OL Reign
No. 34: NJ/NY Gotham FC
No. 35: Chicago Red Stars
No. 36: OL Reign
No. 37: Chicago Red Stars
No. 38: Washington Spirit
Round 4
No. 39: Angel City FC
No. 40: San Diego Wave FC
No. 41: Kansas City Current
No. 42: Racing Louisville FC
No. 43: Kansas City Current
No. 44: Houston Dash
No. 45: North Carolina Courage
No. 46: NJ/NY Gotham FC
No. 47: OL Reign
No. 48: Portland Thorns
No. 49: Chicago Red Stars
No. 50: Washington Spirit
