January 23 – In 1979, Trevor Frances grew to become the primary English footballer to command a £1 million switch price when he moved from Birmingham Metropolis to Nottingham Forest. 46 years later Naomi Girma is about to make the primary million-dollar switch in girls’s soccer historical past.
Earlier this week, the San Diego Wave from the Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL), and perennial Girls’s Tremendous League (WSL) champions, Chelsea, agreed to phrases for the companies of the USWNT defender.
Girma, 24 was born in San Jose, California, and performed school soccer close by at Stanford College, the place she captained the group profitable the 2019 NCAA Faculty Cup.
Drafted the primary choose within the 2022 NWSL Draft by the Wave, Girma instantly made her mark profitable each the NWSL Defender of the 12 months and Rookie of the 12 months awards in 2022, earlier than profitable Defender of the 12 months once more the next season.
On the worldwide stage, former USWNT coach, Vlatko Andonovski, gave Girma her first style of top-class soccer in a pleasant in opposition to Uzbekistan. In simply three brief years, she has turn out to be one of many world’s finest defenders profitable a Gold medal on the Paris Olympics final summer time.
Former Chelsea, and present USWNT coach Emma Hayes stated after their semi-final victory over Germany: “She’s one of the best defender I’ve ever seen. Ever. She’s bought every part: poise, composure, she defends, she anticipates, she leads.”
With the million-mark damaged, it’s apparent girls’s soccer will proceed its speedy development, and the switch market will certainly turn out to be as aggressive as the boys’s recreation.
Contact the author of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1737604563labto1737604563ofdlr1737604563owedi1737604563sni@o1737604563fni1737604563