Sacramento’s NWSL expansion draft set for Dec. 16

We now know Sacramento will be entering the NWSL in 2022, and the league announced the general league schedule for the 2021 calendar year on Wednesday, and included in that was a date for the expansion draft.

The Expansion Draft is scheduled to be held Dec. 16, 2021, and will include the two announced teams for 2022, Sacramento and Angel City FC, which will be based in Los Angeles.

There was an expansion draft in December for the upcoming 2021 season, featuring newcomers Racing Louisville FC. They had the ability to select up to 18 players with it, although they made a trade with the Chicago Red Stars ahead of time that landed them two players that way, in exchange for no players being taken in the expansion draft itself. Ultimately, Louisville selected 14 players in the expansion draft, including the NWSL rights to Tobin Heath and Christen Press, who are both playing at Manchester United.

Will Sacramento be able to pick 18 players in the expansion draft? To be determined, although I think it’s unlikely the existing teams would be willing to lose three or four players between the two teams. I’m guessing the expansion teams will be allowed to pick one player from each team, so existing teams can lose two players total, but that is just a guess on my part.

We’ll keep you posted on more details about Sacramento’s new NWSL team as we get more info. For now, mark your calendar for the end of the year, and we’ll see some players join up then!

What do you think? Leave a comment below.