NWSL announces Distribution Draft for Thursday

The NWSL announced details for a distribution draft to be held on Thursday.  The distribution draft is part of the NWSL Player Distribution Process which was announced moments before the start of the draft in January.  Nine players who were deallocated by Canada and Mexico since the end of the 2015 season are eligible to be selected.  The order puts the non-playoff teams from last season in reverse order of how they finished followed by the semifinal losers, the runner-up, and the NWSL Champion. For this year the Thorns acquired the No. 1 pick from the Breakers who now hold the No. 4 pick. The expansion Pride were slotted in at No. 10.

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The draft eligible players are:  Nkem Ezurike (Canada), Jonelle Filigno (Canada), Monica Ocampo (Mexico), Veronica Perez (Mexico), Ariana Romero (Mexico), Lauren Sesselmann (Canada), Bianca Sierra (Mexico), Melissa Tancredi (Canada), and Rhian Wilkinson (Canada).

Sesselmann is in FC Kansas City camp as a non-roster invite and was in with the Dash earlier.  Several other players are under contract overseas. According to a source, FC Kansas City was aware when they invited Sesselmann to camp that she could not be offered a contract and could be taken by a team with a higher priority.

In the case of Rachel Quon, she is not included in the draft because the Red Stars retained her NWSL rights after she was deallocated by Canada. Quon is apparently exploring options to play overseas. She is not expected to play in Chicago this season.

A source also confirmed that the allocation order will reset at the conclusion of the NWSL Championship. That means the last place team could feasibly land a top new allocated player (now known as federation players) plus the best player coming out of college.

Additionally, NWSL released the full rules regarding the Player Distribution Process.