CHICAGO – The National Women’s Soccer League today released the rules that will guide the 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft, featuring Racing Louisville Football Club, set to take place on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020 at 7p.m. ET. The league has also announced the full draft will stream live exclusively on the NWSL’s Twitch channel here. The trade/waiver window beginning the expansion draft process closed last week and the protected/unprotected player lists will be distributed to all teams on Nov. 5, 2020 by 1 p.m. ET. A public release of those lists will follow.
Except as noted below, teams must designate all Players and U.S. Allocated Players as either Protected (meaning they are INELIGIBLE for selection by Racing Louisville FC in the Expansion Draft) or Unprotected (meaning they are ELIGIBLE for selection by Racing Louisville FC in the Expansion Draft), according to the following requirements:
- Teams may protect up to two (2) U.S. Allocated Players on their rosters. All additional U.S. Allocated Players on a team’s roster must be left Unprotected.
- Teams are permitted to protect a total of eleven (11) Players/U.S. Allocated Players, which may include up to two (2) U.S. Allocated Players. All other Players and other U.S. Allocated Players must be Unprotected.
- Individuals on the Discovery List of any team are not eligible to be selected in the Expansion Draft (meaning that teams are not required to designate Discovery Players as Protected or Unprotected).
- Teams are required to disclose to the League, along with the Protected/Unprotected designation, any Players/U.S. Allocated Players who a team believes will be unavailable to play by January 1, 2021, due to injury, retirement, loan, or any other reason. This information will be shared with Racing Louisville FC.
Racing Louisville FC may select up to two Players, or one U.S. Allocated Player, from each NWSL team, and a total of two U.S. Allocated Players in total from all teams. In the event that Racing Louisville FC chooses less than two U.S. Allocated Players, Racing Louisville FC will receive an Allocation Money Grant of $75,000 for each U.S. Allocated Player allotment not utilized, which can only be used for roster transactions, including the first pick in the 2021 NWSL Draft. Any Team that loses an Unprotected U.S. Allocated Player in the 2020 Expansion Draft will receive an Allocation Money Grant of $75,000.
The full process and procedures document is available here.
