They’ve got the Reign just sneaking into the playoffs at number 8:

In 2025, Laura Harvey’s side showed a new side of them with defense at the forefront. With world class goalkeeper Claudia Dickey in goal, this club will be hard to beat, period.
The only question that remains, who will step up and score the goals? With the impending departure of Jordyn Huitema, the answer is even more mysterious…

They also announced a new expansion club:

In addition to dropping rule changes, Wednesday saw NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman lay out the league’s expansion plans in her season kickoff address, with the now-16-team league gearing up to announce an 18th club later this year.

That new franchise will join the previously announced Atlanta-based team in making their NWSL debuts in 2028, the first year of a new league media rights deal.

Looks like they’re doing away with the goalkeeper timeouts:

One of the most interesting developments was the new protocol during in-game goalkeeper injuries. In the past and often in the 2025 NWSL season during a stoppage in play a goalkeeper would seemingly pretend to go down with an injury giving time for both teams to take a break to hydrate and receive instructions from their technical staff.

The official guidelines state: “Players must either remain in the area they were located when play was stopped, or may congregate on their team’s side of the midfield center circle. In the event of a team’s players approaching the technical area during a stoppage for a goalkeeper injury, the respective team and/or its head coach may be subject to league discipline.”

I guess this is the replacement for Jordyn? Doesn’t sound exactly like the proven goalscorer we already knew we needed to add before that.

Hladek signs with Reign FC after three standout seasons at Utah Valley University, where she started in all 60 matches she appeared in and recorded 24 goals and 32 assists, helping the Wolverines win three consecutive WAC regular-season titles from 2023-2025. She closes out her collegiate career at UVU as the program’s all-time assists leader.

Must be nice:

She won 13 trophies with Chelsea including: six Women’s Super League titles, four Women’s FA Cups and three Women’s League Cups. She scored 59 goals and tallied 44 assists in 207 appearances across all competitions.

The past four years, the world class winger has been listed on The Guardian’s 100 Best Footballers.

How you get your computer traffic to the correct country is left as a exercise to the reader:

ESPN will exclusively air three select matches per week and highlight packages in Sub-Saharan Africa
In Canada, TSN will exclusively air one select match per week, and One Soccer will exclusively air select matches
TV Azteca will exclusively air four select matches per week and highlight packages in Mexico and Central America
TNT Sports will exclusively air two select matches per week and highlight packages in the UK and Ireland
Australian-based broadcaster Stan will exclusively air four select matches per week and highlight packages
Canal Goat and XSports will exclusively air two select matches per week each and highlight packages in Brazil
Sky K will air one game per week and highlight packages in South Korea
Dubai TV will exclusively air two select matches per week and highlight packages in the Middle East and North Africa

I love them both, but it doesn’t seem great that there are only two forwards to mention?

The Reign have options to generate offense this season. Teenaged forward Emeri Adames netted six goals last season, tying midfielder Jess Fishlock to lead the team. Mia Fishel was transferred from England’s Chelsea FC last summer and is expected to contribute in Seattle’s attack.

I think so? I’m pretty sure I saw her playing in the one preseason friendly that got aired. But the Reign haven’t had a double digit goalscorer since Pinoe had a dozen in 2017, and Mia didn’t score even once last season in 12 appearances, so I’m hesitant to put it all on her shoulders.

I’m also not sure how I feel about this as a Reign fan. You’re right that Jordyn has had a quiet couple of years, but $500k allocation isn’t going to score any goals on its own, and I’m not sure, looking at our roster, where we think those goals are going to come from. There was at least a chance Huitema might put together a big year this year. Hopefully ownership will make a big signing here soon.

I think Denver’s entry into the league is gonna be huge:

That number would not only top the previous record held by Bay FC at Oracle Park versus Washington Spirit 2025, but the all-time stand-alone USWNT record as well.

Anyone gonna see if they pack Soph?

Trading cards will be released this Friday, March 13, when the league kicks off its 2026 season when the Washington Spirit host the Portland Thorns. The launch will be on the Panini Instant platform. Those trading cards will include outstanding player performances and milestones throughout the season.

ASA’s model has us missing the playoffs:

ASA’s model has them pegged for ninth, and 39 points, almost exactly where they were last year, and I agree. They probably won’t look like a title contender statistically yet—but they also shouldn’t fall far down the table.

Some predictably strong words from Iran’s sports minister:

“Considering that this corrupt ⁠regime has ⁠assassinated our leader, under no circumstances ⁠can we ⁠participate in ⁠the World Cup,” Ahmad Donyamali, Iran’s sports minister, told state television, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.

“Our children are not safe and, ​fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist,” Donyamali ​said.

“Given the malicious actions they have carried out against Iran, they ‌have ⁠forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people. Therefore, we certainly cannot have such a presence.”

It’s getting kind of ridiculous:

The latest name added is Hassani Dotson, who is now in concussion protocol. Dotson was able to play all 90 minutes against St. Louis City but apparently noticed some issues afterward. He had previously been removed from the game against the Colorado Rapids two weeks earlier but was cleared to resume playing the next week without having to enter concussion protocol.

That comes along with news that Yeimar Gomez Andrade’s hamstring injury is bad enough that the MRI results have been sent to a specialist in England in order to provide more insight. While there is not yet a timeline on Yeimar’s recovery, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer noted “it’s not good” when the team is inclined to seek an outside opinion. A very conservative estimate would suggest Yeimar is out at least until after the international break, which would keep him out for at least the next four matches.

With Kim Kee-hee still nursing a calf strain and both Ryan Sailor and Stuart Hawkins out for at least a few more weeks, Schmetzer said they are planning to use some short-term loans to add bodies to the defense.

And we still don’t know why?

“After discussions between Caf and its partners, Fifa and other stakeholders, Caf decided to reschedule the dates of the Wafcon 2026, to 25 July–16 August 2026; to ensure the success of this important women’s competition, in the light of certain unforeseen circumstances,” Caf said in its statement. The Guardian asked Luxolo September, the Caf head of communications, to clarify what those unforeseen circumstances were, but received no reply.

It’s not great!

The investigation was triggered in October 2025, whereupon the players were immediately placed on administrative leave. Which is also to say that the league was entirely aware of its vulnerability to manipulation before it went public with Polymarket, with an ongoing case of suspected match-fixing to deal with.

At a minimum, MLS must have understood that the optics of revealing a new deal with a prediction market would be very poor.

It proceeded anyway.

Good on Australia:

“We’re willing to provide assistance to other women in the team, noting that this is a very delicate situation, and it is up to them, but we say to them, if you want our help, help is here, and we will provide that,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.

“I don’t want to begin to imagine how difficult that decision is for each of the individual women, but certainly last night it was joy, it was relief,” said Burke, posting photos with the players to social media. “People were very excited about embarking on a life in Australia.”

I think we could’ve used to go out and sign a proven goalscorer in the offseason:

The Reign actually overperformed their expected goals total last year, so this is a frontline that can score when put in the right position. But they currently don’t have anyone on the roster that analysts might point to as a consistent goal-scoring threat. The Reign need another forward who opponents fear can score or get a shot off at any moment. Biyendolo was poised to be that player last year, but she had an ankle injury, a knee injury, and then was out on maternity leave. Fishel has the potential to be that player, and wingers Adames and Dahlien can also step into this role. At the same time, this feels like another high priority for the Reign — and hopefully they look to bring that kind of player in mid-season or for next year.

Who could have foreseen that Trump would fail to pay his bills?

But the money has yet to reach these cities. Roughly four months out, not one of those cities has received a dollar of it.

At a congressional hearing on 24 February, an official with the Miami World Cup host committee testified that Miami’s Fan Fest – which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands – will be canceled within 30 days if the funding does not arrive.

In Kansas City, which will host six matches and expects 650,000 visitors, the deputy police chief told us in the same hearing that delayed funds stood in the way of security planning.

In Foxborough, Massachusetts, the town has threatened to withhold the license Fifa needs to host games at Gillette Stadium because it has not received the $7.8m it has been promised. For a community of 18,600 people, that figure represents roughly half of what the entire town spends on public safety in a normal year.

Every. Single. Season:

6. Seattle Sounders (-): So many winger injuries already. So many center back injuries already. The Sounders will be fine in the long run but in the short-run, going up against Vancouver like this? Good luck.