NWSL rosters: a dated guide to all 16 clubs
The NWSL has 16 clubs in the 2026 season, and this guide gives you a starting point for each team's roster: selected players, their club-listed positions and a link to the official squad directory. The references were checked on November 11, 2026. They describe the player groups listed at that check, with match availability and future contracts requiring their own dated confirmation.
Boston Legacy and Denver Summit belong in a current league-wide lookup alongside the established clubs. Older lists can omit those teams, attach a familiar player to a previous club or preserve a preseason trialist who never joined the final squad. Starting with the team and the date avoids carrying those errors into a new season.
The regional groups below are simply a way to browse. They are editorial navigation, with every club included once; they are not NWSL divisions. Within each club, the selected names give you recognizable reference points across the squad rather than a predicted starting eleven. Use the linked directory for the full list, then the match-specific sources when your question becomes who will actually play.
Pacific clubs: five rosters to explore
Angel City FC
Angel City's player directory lists Angelina Anderson among the goalkeepers, Emily Sams among the defenders and Ary Borges among the midfielders. Ally Sentnor is also categorized as a midfielder. Those names give a useful route into the squad from the back line through the middle, especially if you arrived through a national-team search that still connects a player with an older club.
The position filter is more useful than treating jersey order as a depth chart. It lets you compare the players listed in one group without assuming that the first name displayed is the coach's preferred starter. A match lineup supplies that later, narrower answer.
Bay FC
For Bay, goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz, defender Aldana Cometti, midfielder Kennedy Fuller and forward Karlie Lema provide references across four broad groups. The official Bay FC roster attaches positions to the individual cards, rather than requiring you to infer a role from a photograph or shirt number.
A club page may retain more names than one matchday selection contains. These four also appear in Bay's November 1 match record, making them useful dated examples. That corroboration establishes participation in that game; it does not turn the card collection into a guaranteed list for the following season or establish that every listed player was available on that date.
San Diego Wave FC
San Diego's roster directory identifies Sandra Paños as a goalkeeper, Kennedy Wesley as a defender, Kenza Dali as a midfielder and Trinity Byars as a forward. A reader following an attacking highlight can therefore locate Byars while also finding the other units around her. The midfield category includes several different players; sharing that broad label does not mean they have interchangeable assignments.
The page also explicitly marks Jordan Fusco as on loan to Racing Louisville. That is a concrete example of why appearing on a club's website and being available for that club's next match are separate questions. The loan wording matters as much as the name.
Portland Thorns FC
Portland's current roster page includes goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, midfielders Jessie Fleming and Olivia Moultrie, and forward Sophia Wilson. Use that club wording when identifying the players, rather than rebuilding a present squad from an older season preview.
Fleming and Moultrie also illustrate the limits of a roster category. Both are midfielders in the directory, but the label alone does not specify their relationship in a particular formation, who plays higher or whether both start. To explore that question, move from the squad page to a dated match report and its selected team. The directory remains the broader reference.
Seattle Reign FC
Seattle lists Claudia Dickey in goal, Jordyn Bugg in defense, Jess Fishlock in midfield and Mia Fishel among the forwards. The Reign directory is especially useful because some cards also carry public status markers, including loan or leave designations.
At this check, Maddie Dahlien's entry carried an SEI label, while Lynn Biyendolo's carried maternity leave. Those labels should remain attached to their dated source; they do not justify guessing a medical recovery or return date. Seattle therefore offers a clear reading example: identify the player and position first, retain any explicit status wording, and consult the later match information for selection.
Central clubs: Chicago, Houston, Kansas City and Louisville
Chicago Stars FC
Chicago's current club directory includes goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, defender Sam Staab, midfielder Julia Grosso and forward Racheal Kundananji. Those examples span the team without reproducing an entire squad list. They also help distinguish a current lookup from an older Chicago article written before the season's player moves.
Grosso demonstrates why the club's broad classification deserves priority in a roster guide: a match graphic can place a midfielder in a more advanced role for one game. That does not automatically change the player's directory category. For a tactical discussion, use the particular selected formation; for finding the player, start with the club's own grouping.
Houston Dash
Houston's Dash roster lists Jane Campbell as a goalkeeper, Paige Nielsen as a defender, Sophie Schmidt as a midfielder and Messiah Bright as a forward. The page belongs to the Dash within the wider Houston club website, so its team heading is useful when moving between men's and women's material.
It also separates loaned players into their own group, including forward Amanda West. A reader counting every card as a player available to Houston would lose that distinction. The main player group and the loan section answer related but different questions about the club's personnel. Keep the section label when sharing a name from that page.
Kansas City Current
Kansas City's team directory identifies Lorena among the goalkeepers, Elizabeth Ball among the defenders, Croix Bethune in midfield and Temwa Chawinga among the forwards. These are useful names to connect with a match report without treating the short selection here as the complete Current squad.
Debinha's card uses the combined description forward/midfielder. That is a helpful reminder that a roster does not always divide neatly into four exclusive buckets. A hybrid description can be retained as the club presents it. The same page also contains coaches and other team staff, whose entries should be kept out of any player count.
Racing Louisville FC
Racing's roster and linked profiles provide goalkeeper Maddie Prohaska, defender Arin Wright and forward Kayla Fischer as reference points. The individual profiles make the role clear even where the main directory displays jersey numbers more prominently than player names.
Those profiles can add meaningful season context: Fischer's club biography records eight league goals in 2026, while Prohaska's describes starts in Racing's final two matches. These details explain why a season-wide player list and a late-season starting team can look different. They do not require assuming that one goalkeeper held the same place for the entire campaign or that a forward's position label reveals every attacking assignment.
Mountain clubs: Denver Summit and Utah Royals
Denver Summit FC
Denver's official player list places Abby Smith in goal, Kaleigh Kurtz in defense, Lindsey Heaps in midfield and Melissa Kössler among the forwards. Delanie Sheehan is another midfield reference. These names help a new supporter begin with the actual inaugural-season squad rather than a launch announcement made before all players arrived.
The list is displayed largely through numbered player cards. Read the position attached to each card: a low or high shirt number is not a reliable substitute for that label. Heaps and Sheehan share a broad category, while Kössler's forward listing identifies a different part of the squad. None of those cards, on its own, specifies the eleven selected for the next game.
For a more detailed introduction to the club's personnel, use the existing Denver Summit roster guide. This hub supplies the route into that fuller resource and the club's directory without reproducing the whole player collection.
Utah Royals
Utah's Royals roster includes goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn, defender Kate Del Fava, midfielder Narumi and forward Jameese Joseph. The page sits within the wider Real Salt Lake website, so retaining the Utah Royals section is important when following a search result or shared link.
Some cards use a single playing name, as Narumi's does. Searching that exact club label can be more effective than guessing which expanded name a separate database uses. Joseph, meanwhile, is classified as a forward even if a particular match graphic places her in an attacking midfield slot. The directory and the match record can both be useful: one identifies the club's player group, while the other describes a role in a dated selection.
Northeastern clubs: Boston, Gotham and Washington
Boston Legacy FC
Boston's Meet Our Players page lists Casey Murphy and Laurel Ivory among the goalkeepers, Lilly Reale as a defender, Josefine Hasbo as a midfielder and Amanda Gutierres as a forward. The position filters and table offer two ways to find the same squad, which is helpful when a card layout is harder to scan on a small screen.
Two listed goalkeepers do not imply two starting places. Ivory appeared in Boston's November 1 starting team, illustrating why a directory and a specific selection answer different questions. Similarly, the presence of a familiar name from another club's older article is a reason to check the date of that article. Boston's 2026 roster belongs to Boston Legacy, and this current directory is the appropriate club reference.
Gotham FC
Gotham's Meet Our Squad directory includes Ann-Katrin Berger as a goalkeeper, Tierna Davidson as a defender and Rose Lavelle as a midfielder. Jaedyn Shaw is grouped with the midfielders, while Guro Reiten appears among the forwards. Those are the club's directory categories at this check, even if a report from a specific game locates a player elsewhere in its formation.
That distinction is useful for a squad containing players who can appear in different attacking or wide roles. A roster guide should preserve the directory wording and let the dated lineup describe the particular deployment. For the deeper player introduction already available on this site, follow the Gotham roster guide; use the club link for the complete current card collection and its separate loan group.
Washington Spirit
Washington's Our Athletes page lists Sandy MacIver as a goalkeeper, Esme Morgan as a defender, Leicy Santos as a midfielder and Trinity Rodman as a forward. Starting with those four positions gives a broader picture than following only the best-known attacking name in a search result.
The directory also has an On Loan category. A shared player link should therefore be read with its label rather than treated as proof of match availability. For the four examples here, Washington's November 8 lineup provides a recent match reference as well. That is evidence of selection on that occasion, while the next starting team remains a separate announcement.
Southeastern clubs: North Carolina and Orlando
North Carolina Courage
The Courage's 2026 roster page groups its player cards by position. Kailen Sheridan is identified as a goalkeeper, Feli Rauch as a defender and Ashley Sanchez as a midfielder. Their names and positions are attached to the linked cards, giving readers a route into the individual player profiles.
That structure is useful when a search result finds a profile rather than the complete team page. Return to the roster heading to place the individual within the squad, then follow the profile for the longer biography. It is also a reason to prefer the current club directory over a preseason list: the season label alone does not tell you when a particular squad collection was last checked.
The Courage reference here is the women's NWSL team. A similarly named club or a wider website navigation item should not be added to the list of players. The official team-specific roster remains the anchor for the lookup.
Orlando Pride
Orlando's Pride roster lists McKinley Crone as a goalkeeper, Cori Dyke as a defender, Angelina as a midfielder and Barbra Banda as a forward. The page explicitly separates its active roster from players loaned out, making its section headings particularly important when searching for a familiar player.
Anna Moorhouse, for example, appears in the loaned-out group with Manchester City named as the destination. Finding her on the Pride's website therefore does not establish that she is available to start Orlando's next game. Crone's goalkeeper entry and Moorhouse's loan entry convey different information, even though both concern players connected with the club.
The existing Orlando Pride roster guide offers a more detailed club introduction. Use it alongside the official page, retaining the date and any explicit status label. That approach preserves the value of a fuller player guide while recognizing that transfers, loans and selections can change after an article is written.
Turn a roster lookup into a useful matchday check
Position labels describe a starting point
A club directory usually begins with broad groups: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward. Those groups are useful for finding players and understanding the outline of a squad. They do not describe every movement during a match. A midfielder can be selected in a more advanced slot, a forward can work from a wide area, and a combined label such as Debinha's forward/midfielder can be retained without forcing it into a single category.
Use the match report when the question becomes how a player was deployed against a specific opponent. Use the player availability guide when the question becomes whether a player is expected to be able to participate. Finally, use the announced team to identify the starters and substitutes. This progression adds the evidence needed for each question without asking a general squad page to predict the coach's choice.
Loans and future contracts need a separate check
The loan examples above make the distinction concrete. Fusco is identified with a Racing Louisville loan on San Diego's page; Moorhouse appears in Orlando's separate loaned-out group. Keeping those words attached prevents a familiar name from being assigned to the wrong matchday player pool.
A future contract announcement needs similar attention to its effective date. A player can be announced for a later season while the current club and availability questions still refer to the present one. The league's 2026 rules update discusses future-season negotiations and different contract designations; a website's total number of player cards does not explain all of those administrative categories.
For a useful personal shortlist, save the club directory, the player profile and the date you checked them. Add a transaction announcement if a move is involved, then revisit the match-specific report near kickoff. You will have enough context to follow the player across a changing squad while keeping a clear distinction between being listed, being available and being selected.
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