NWSL awards season can sometimes feel like a prank, so much so that the classy, self-aware United States defender Becky Sauerbrunn had to casually denounce her own title as Defender of the Year due to funky voting --- not once, but twice!
Snubs season has returned in fine form in 2025, with the initial voting period preventing an MVP candidate from even making the five-player shortlist for her positional award. This is the NWSL's 2000 election moment. Who cast these ballots? Have we accounted for the hanging chads?
Reasonable people can disagree about the winners of each category -- and to set the ground rules up front, an argument for a player here is not a slight on a fellow professional -- but some egregious omissions from shortlists have us fired up about the same thing all over again. Let's get into the ballots and cast public votes for MVP and the best midfielder, defender, goalkeeper, rookie and coach this year.
Official winners will be announced at the NWSL Award Show on Nov. 19 in San Jose, Calif. (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2). Before that, though, here's how we voted.
- NWSL playoff recap: Gotham FC stun K.C. Current, Spirit advance, more
- USWNT big board: Girma, Rodman injuries cloud 2027 World Cup plans
- Kassouf: Why are USWNT players leaving the NWSL for Europe?
MVP: Temwa Chawinga, Kansas City Current
There are exactly zero arguments that don't end with Chawinga as MVP. With all due respect to Gotham FC forward Esther González and the rest of the field, Chawinga sealed the deal as league MVP a couple months ago (if you followed our MVP tracker, you already knew that).
If there is any doubt about her greatness, her importance -- her value -- just look at Kansas City's attacking struggles without Chawinga in their quarterfinal loss to Gotham. With Chawinga (and Michelle Cooper) out and Bia Zaneratto laboring through pain, the Current struggled to find the outlet ball to Chawinga around which they have modeled their identity.
Chawinga won her second straight NWSL Golden Boot this year with 15 goals. She is the single player in this league whose presence so dramatically changes both the way her opponent and her team play. Yes, she can run in behind and torch defenses, but she added a layer of precision and maturity to her game in 2025.
Yes, Gotham would not make the playoffs without Esther. San Diego Wave FC doesn't either without its French connection of Kenza Dali and Delphine Cascarino. Heck, North Carolina Courage midfielder/forward Manaka Matsukubo is even overlooked on my own ballot (there are only five slots; this is MVP after all).
Chawinga, however, is a talent unlike any we've seen before in this league. Only Sam Kerr, who won back-to-back NWSL Golden Boots in 2018 and 2019, has individually changed games like Chawinga, but Chawinga has achieved it as more an inevitable threat behind and over the top.
Also on my ballot: Esther Gonzalez, Sam Coffey, Kenza Dali, Delphine Cascarino
Midfielder of the Year: Sam Coffey, Portland Thorns
Voters, what are we doing here? Coffey is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world -- an opinion widely shared by technical staff members across the NWSL -- and she isn't even an official finalist for the award? The absence of Racing Louisville midfielder Taylor Flint from the official shortlist compounds the issue and is an equally appalling omission. Flint ranked atop the league in interceptions and duels, and second in tackles and aerials, per TruMedia.
But let's talk about Coffey, who is still playing for team hardware as the Thorns chase a historic fourth NWSL championship. Where are the Portland Thorns without Coffey? Allow me to answer: Not hosting a playoff game, and probably not in the playoffs at all.
Coffey is a two-way midfielder who controls games from deep-lying areas both with and without the ball. She led the league in ball recoveries, had the seventh most tackles, and created the eighth most chances, per TruMedia. The Thorns started this season on another wayward journey of uncertainty (and absences) that could have spiraled out of control. They treaded water at times thanks to the individual brilliance of Coffey and Olivia Moultrie, and they finally found a rhythm after the summer break because -- you guessed it -- Coffey and Moultrie hit their stride.
Jaelin Howell is worthy of this shortlist too, especially if we scrutinize the starting positions of Manaka and Debinha. Where are they, you ask? Debinha was the early-season MVP favorite, and Manaka might win that award if we only count games after the summer break. But both players spent most of their time -- far too many games -- lined up more at forward this year to win the Midfielder of the Year award.
Dali also seems bizarrely overlooked in this entire conversation (including MVP) as a player who led the league in expected assists, touches, passes completed and attempted, and as someone who reversed the fortunes of her team.
But c'mon, people. No Coffey or Flint on the official list? Recognize greatness when it keeps hitting you in the face.
Also on my ballot: Kenza Dali, Taylor Flint, Olivia Moultrie, Jaelin Howell
Defender of the Year: Kayla Sharples, Kansas City Current
Kansas City's defense only conceded 13 goals in 26 regular-season games, which set a new NWSL record that frankly I'm not sure will ever be broken. That team record makes it difficult to pinpoint who was most responsible for the success: Lorena in net? Sharples centrally or Izzy Rodriguez out wide?
Sharples gets my vote for a few reasons.
Let's rewind to what feels like an eternity ago in May, when a rejuvenated Alana Cook tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus right as the Cook-Sharples center-back partnership was beginning to thrive. Sharples rarely put a foot wrong this season (she did on Gotham's opening goal in the quarterfinal, cruelly), and she did so while adapting to different center back partners. She was one of the constants amid Kansas City's defensive success, with USWNT head coach Emma Hayes recently saying she thought hard about bringing Sharples into the most recent camp.
Her teammate, Rodriguez, made a different kind of case for this award as a two-way player who tied for the league lead in assists with six. The two other center backs deserving of attention here are the Spirit's Tara McKeown and Gotham's Emily Sonnett, who for some reason is not a finalist on the league's official list -- another egregious snub.
Also on my ballot: Tara McKeown, Izzy Rodriguez, Emily Sonnett, Avery Patterson
Goalkeeper of the Year: Claudia Dickey, Seattle Reign FC
This is the hardest award to pick this year, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't change my mind multiple times. Kansas City's historic defensive success is also a testament to Lorena, who was as consistent as it gets between the pipes this year, making plenty of big saves.
Looking at this honor as the individual award that it is, however, all signs keep pointing back to Dickey. Per TruMedia, Dickey prevented 13.54 goals as part of her league-leading 91 saves. That goals prevented number is nearly double that of the next closest goalkeeper (Louisville's Jordyn Bloomer, who could earn a breakout player award if the league had one).
Call her CLAW-dia Dickey, because she always gets her hands on the shot. In June, she stretched out to tip an effort shot that Cascarino laced from 18 yards. The ball was so well hit that Cascarino did the knowing hop-step of a player about to celebrate, and whoever controls the celebratory smoke at San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium hit the button a bit too early. Dickey pushed the ball off the woodwork and 10 minutes later, the Reign scored a game-winner. Where there's smoke, there's fire -- and there's Dickey.
Dickey's exceptional play earned her a place in the fight for the USWNT's vacant No. 1 goalkeeper position. She earned her first cap on June 26, and she has appeared in four matches thus far. If Dickey becomes a USWNT regular, we'll look back at this year as the one that changed everything for her.
Also on my ballot: Lorena, Aubrey Kingsbury
Rookie of the Year: Lilly Reale, Gotham FC defender
Yes, Angel City FC forward Riley Tiernan's eight-goal season was impressive. And yes, Gotham midfielder Sarah Schupansky finished tied for second in the league with five assists.
But let's talk about the "Reale Deal" aka Lilly Reale, who 11 months ago was a rookie with a moderate amount of hype around her, though unknown to the wider world. She has played in every single match for Gotham, starting 22 of them, and now has four caps for the USWNT as she shoots up Hayes' wide-open depth chart at fullback.
Reale was a primary anchor -- as reliable as any veteran -- to Gotham's defense, which conceded only 25 goals, second fewest in the league behind Kansas City. She is a left-footed left back who can whip dangerous balls into the box like a winger. She's equally capable of strong recoveries and crunching tackles in a way that I dare say is reminiscent of a young version of Lucy Bronze. (No pressure, really.)
Reale put together the most complete season of any rookie this year. Whereas Tiernan's hot start and scoring streak cooled and Angel City struggled, Reale was omnipresent for Gotham and an important part of a run toward another title. Her 11th professional game was the Concacaf W Champions Cup final at Estadio Universitario, where she started and went the full 90 as Gotham beat Tigres to secure the region's first continental crown.
Honorable mention should go to another defender who won't get much air time in hits conversation: San Diego's Trinity Armstrong. She started the season as a 17-year-old and was quickly thrust into a starting center back role as part of the solution to replace the void left by the departure of Naomi Girma, arguably the world's best defender. The Wave were inconsistent this season, but Armstrong's role could pay off in the long run for her, San Diego, and potentially the USWNT.
Also on my ballot: Riley Tiernan, Trinity Armstrong
Coach of the Year: Vlatko Andonovski, Kansas City Current
I hear you already, peanut gallery: But the Current had so much talent already. And you, writer, admitted above that Chawinga changes the way Kansas City plays.
You're right. Now let me ask you this: Do you believe the coach has a role in attracting, developing and managing said talent? And as a follow up: In what world is the most dominant, record-breaking team in league history not a byproduct of coaching to a significant degree?
I'm not sure the people fully grasp the immortal nature of what Kansas City did this year -- especially in the NWSL, where competition is deep and travel is a slog on every team. The Current's stunning quarterfinal exit is only going to worsen this distorted view for the average person. But make no mistake: Kansas City was the best team in the league this year, and one of the best ever.
Evidence about the difficulty of the feat is right in front of us: The Orlando Pride managed a similar season last year, and a comparable roster couldn't come close to replicating that success (well before Barbra Banda got hurt, too).
Talent is necessary to do that, from Chawinga to Sharples and the loaded midfield in between, but coaching is an essential ingredient, too. Andonovski (and his staff) had to manage teams flipping their entire tactical plans against the Current, including opponents' propensity to try a five-back to provide defensive cover. He had to find the right midfield and defensive schemes to optimize their talent. And he had to manage lineups and games for a deep team that left international-caliber players on the bench as part of the rotation.
Sometimes, we have a resistance to the obvious answer, but the obvious answer is the correct answer here. Racing Louisville head coach Bev Yanez deserves credit for getting the most out of a gritty group and establishing an identity. She may have finally laid a lasting foundation for Louisville. Washington Spirit head coach Adrian Gonzalez has navigated so many injuries that he was even on crutches at one point, not to mention taking over in another mid-season coaching handoff for the Spirit. But Andonovski should win this award for orchestrating history.
Also on my ballot: Adrian Gonzalez, Bev Yanez