NWSL Expansion Draft 2024: Order, how to watch and everything you need to know as Utah Royals and Bay FC make picks

The 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft took place on Friday December 15, 2023, and started at 7pm ET.

Unlike previous expansion drafts, the 2024 edition did not have a specific location and was instead held virtually.

The format for the 2024 NWSL Expansion was relatively straight forward, with both the Utah Royals and Bay FC having 12 picks as they selected the players they wanted for their rosters from the 12 teams already in the NWSL. The two clubs took it in turns to make their picks, with Bay FC going first. Teams could pass on their picks if they did not want to take a player in a particular round.

Before the event took place, each NWSL team hadthe opportunity to protect nine players, meaning they could not be taken in the draft by either of the expansion teams. If a team lost a player to one of the two expansion teams, it could protect one further player.

Trades took place ahead of the Expansion Draft, too, meaning that not only did both the Utah Royals and Bay FC already have a few players on their respective rosters, but some teams in the NWSL had secured protection from further picks going into the draft.

Seven teams had full protection from both Bay FC and the Utah Royals in the expansion draft. Three teams were protected from one of the two expansion sides while two, OL Reign and Chicago Red Stars, had not traded for protection from either.

On November 13, the Orlando Pride announced it had traded its No.8 overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft (in which the best college players will be selected) to Bay FC in exchange for 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft roster protection, meaning Bay FC cannot select any of the Orlando Pride's players on December 15. Two days later, the Pride announced it had also reached an agreement with the Royals for roster protection, secured at the expense of midfielder Mikayla Cluff and the No. 26 overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft.

On November 15, the Kansas City Current announced that it had completed a trade with Bay FC that meant, in exchange for midfielder Alex Loera, the Current will receive roster protection in the draft.

On November 17, Racing Louisville traded for roster protection from Bay FC while, on November 20, both the San Diego Wave and the North Carolina Courage announced it had agreed protection in the draft from the Utah Royals. As a result, the Royals added Kaleigh Riehl, Emily Gray and Frankie Tagliaferri to its roster.

December 12 was then a chaotic trade day, with both Bay FC and the Utah Royals picking up five players each in exchange for trade protection, leaving just five teams vulnerable to departures ahead of the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft.

Information on the nine players that each NWSL team has chosen to protect for the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft was released on December 13, with no one on the USWNT roster left unprotected ahead of the draft.

Jess Fishlock and Lauren Barnes were two of the more notable names left unprotected. Both have played huge roles to help OL Reign reach three Championship games in the last 10 years, with the former even named the NWSL's Most Valuable Player in 2021.

Tyler Lussi, who shone as a frequent match-winner for the North Carolina Courage throughout 2023, iswasalso up for grabs in the draft, while Nigeria international Uchenna Kanu, South Africa star Thembi Kgatlana and China's Wang Shuang were all left unprotected by Racing Louisville. Sofia Jakobsson, the Sweden forward, was another notable international star available to be picked up from the San Diego Wave.

The 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft was shown live on CBS Sports Network, with coverage beginning at 7pm on December 15.

The event was available to watch outside of the United States, too, with the NWSL making it available to international fans on its official website.

Below are the picks made by Bay FC and the Utah Royals in the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft. Each team had 12 picks available but neither used them all, with the draft ending after the seventh round.

Both the Utah Royals and Bay FC will compete in the NWSL for its 2024 season, which will get underway on March 16.

The Utah Royals previously competed in the league between 2018 and 2020, though never made the play-offs in its two full seasons before the 2020 campaign was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. The team ceased operations at the end of that year and its player-related assets were transferred to the Kansas City Current, which was an expansion team at that time.

On its return to the league, Utah will be coached by former USWNT star and World Cup winner Amy Rodriguez, who also won two Olympic gold medals with the national team before announcing her retirement in January 2022. Rodriguez played for the Royals for the entirety of its previous stint in the NWSL.

Bay FC, meanwhile, will be entering the NWSL for the first time, having only been founded in April 2023. It becomes California's third NWSL club, following the additions of both Angel City and the San Diego Wave to the league in the 2022 season.

The team will be led by Albertin Montoya. The 48-year-old coached FC Gold Pride in Women's Professional Soccer, the league that preceded the NWSL, and was the Washington Spirit's interim for a short spell in 2022.