Trinity Rodman is out of contract. Her relationship with the Washington Spirit ended with the league final and she now has offers from England that her club cannot match due to the salary limit of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The league has promised to “fight” to retain her, but her path may follow that of other stars who have already headed to Europe.
With a salary limit of just $3.3 million in 2025 for the entire squad, NWSL teams have seen in recent years how several of their figures headed to Europe, mainly to England, attracted by higher salaries.
While the big European clubs skyrocketed investment, the American league is confined to a model that was born to guarantee its sustainability – after two failed projects prior to the NWSL – but that threatens to leave it without stars.
The last was Alyssa Thompson, just a month ago, signed by Chelsea for close to a million dollars.
Thompson followed Naomi Girma and Catarina Macario (Chelsea), Jenna Nighswonger (Arsenal), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United) or Lily Yohannes and Korbin Shrader (OL Lyonnes), where the American captain Lindsey Heaps also competes.
The former Barcelona and Spirit coach, Jonatan Giráldez, referred to this salary limit in an interview with EFE months before taking over the OL Lyonnes bench this season.
“You have a salary limit that conditions you. There are many salaries that are being paid, surely Europe, with which here (the United States) you cannot compete. You cannot attract depending on which players, it is impossible,” he said.
The could interest: How the Premier League tries to stop football’s financial arms race, without a salary cap
Rodman’s decision
“I’ve always thought about playing abroad at some point in my career. I think I would regret it if I retired without having done so. So I think it’s just a question of when,” said the striker at the beginning of the season.
At 23 years old and with immense charisma, Rodman is the fashionable player in the United States. Daughter of Dennis Rodman, legend of the Chicago Bulls, Rodman won Olympic gold, top ten of the Ballon d’Or in 2024 and two-time NWSL finalist.
While the Spirit works to retain her, Rodman, without a contract and as a free agent, has at least three offers on the table from England, several American media reported.
In addition, Rodman also has a surprising proposal from DC Power, an American club that participates in the new USL Super League, a league that competes with the NWSL and operates without a salary limit.
Her case threatens to become an even bigger earthquake for American women’s soccer if the NWSL fails to retain its franchise player.
The American League on the ropes
Amid all the noise generated by Rodman’s possible departure, NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman promised that the league will do everything possible to keep the player in the United States.
The salary cap will gradually rise to $5.1 million in 2030, a “sustained” growth that remains insufficient but takes into account the closure of operations of the two precursors of the NWSL, the WUSA and the WPS, both with only three seasons of life.
“When it comes to Trinity and, to be honest, any other great players in the world, we want those great players to be here in the NWSL and, in particular, we want Trinity to stay in the NWSL and we are going to fight for her,” Berman said.
In Rodman’s hypothetical jump to Europe there is one more piece to the puzzle. The owner of the Spirit, Michele Kang, also controls the almighty OL Lyonnes de Giráldez – who already had Rodman under her command in Washington – as well as the London City Lionesses of the English Women’s Super League, which opens a range of destinations and solutions for the businesswoman and her franchise player.
With information from EFE
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