The Chicago Red Stars were given the first overall pick in the inaugural NWSL College Draft, to be held on Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern in Indianpolis. The draft will consist of four rounds and help fill out the 20-player roster for the eight NWSL teams. Early reports suggest the draft would “snake,” but it will actually follow the same order in each round. Full draft order:
NWSL College Draft: Chicago Red Stars get first pick
To determine the order, panel of experts determined strength of each team’s allocation and held a weighted lottery.
Matt Kryger-USA TODAY
1. Chicago Red Stars
2. Washington Spirit
3. FC Kansas City
4. Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey)
5. Boston Breakers
6. Western New York Flash
7. Seattle Reign FC
8. Portland Thorns FC
To determine the draft order, a panel of experts ranked each team’s allocation and then conducted a weighted lottery. The results suggest the Thorns and Reign were two of the strongest teams in their eyes, while the Red Stars and Spirit were among the weakest. Interestingly, the experts considered the Flash to have one of the stronger allocation despite being allocated one fewer player than the other teams.
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