The National Women’s Football League (NWSL) announced Wednesday that it will launch a pair of combines later this year to help expand players’ pathways into the league.
The two combinations will be for adult and college players (U18-23), and the other for youth players (U13-17), which will be held for three days in December before the 2026 preseason to help showcase potential players to NWSL clubs. This will be the league’s first set of combines ever, and it is an important step as the team continues to navigate through youth and player development, and the league continues to develop its position.
“The combine is a strategic platform that will enable us to support NWSL clubs in early talent assessments and provide a professional environment for players,” Karla Thompson, the league’s youth development director, said in a statement. “This initiative is to expand the lens of people who are seen and ensure that talent (regardless of where they live) continues to our league.”
The NWSL team is driving an evolving professional landscape that is very different from the football system in the rest of the world, i.e. in Europe.
As part of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NWSL Players Association, the league enjoyed the annual college draft last year and awarded unrestricted free agents to all players, in line with existing standards for global football. The league also got rid of the usual expansion drafts it usually uses to train teams, the Boston Heritage and the Denver Summit.
Although the NWSL became the first American Pro League to cancel a college draft, most leagues have held a joint ball to identify players ahead of those drafts. When building its own combine, the league is aligning with another traditional American sports model.
The league describes adults as new “ramps” for players to enter the NWSL. The league says the programming of this combination will include performance testing, competitive matches and opportunities to interact directly with NWSL clubs.
Meanwhile, the Youth League will act as an “international bridge” in the league's development ecosystem, including training courses, competitive games and off-site educational programs designed to help players prepare for a professional environment.
The league has not shared details on how to identify which combination of players.
Professional football for women continues to develop in the United States. After the USL Premier League kicked off last year, the country now has two I-district leagues. The pipeline from the youth to the captain is also changing.
There is a new generation of players who are giving up college and even club football, inspired by Olivia Moultrie of Portland's Thorns, who turned professional at the age of 13. Her arrival in the NWSL led the league to establish an U18 entry mechanism, which brought a clear path for underage players.
Now, there are more teenagers in the NWSL than ever before, Moultrie has the majority goal record of a teenager in the league, and her 14th professional goal scored a few days before her 20th birthday on September 17.
While expanding the player’s path by identifying youth and college-age talents, the league is aligning with the direction the women’s game has taken at the national level.
Earlier this year, U.S. head coach Emma Hayes ran a starter futures camp held at the same time as the USWNT Senior Camp. The goal is to identify emerging players with potential to shine with the national team.
This allows Hayes to better explore the potential player pool for senior teams, while also filling key gaps for players stuck in the development stage between college and professionals.
(Photo: Matt Cashore/Imagn Image)