Ivana Andres (SPA)
Levante to Real Madrid
Chloe Arthur (SCO)
BirminghamCity to Aston Villa
Viviane Asseyi (FRA)
Bordeaux to Bayern Munich
Ramona Bachmann (SUI)
Chelsea to Paris Saint-Germain
Ona Batlle (SPA)
Levante to Manchester United
Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir (ICE)
Wolfsburg toLyon
Klara Buhl (GER)
Freiburg to Bayern Munich
Ellie Carpenter (AUS)
Portland Thorns toLyon
Niamh Charles (ENG)
Liverpool to Chelsea
Marta Corredera (SPA)
Levante to Real Madrid
Jess Fishlock (WAL)
OL Reign to Reading (Loan)
Alia Guagni (ITA)
ACF Fiorentina to Atletico Madrid
Kathrin Hendrich (GER)
Bayern Munich to Wolfsburg
Katarzyna Kiedrzynek (POL)
Paris Saint-Germain to Wolfsburg
Virginia Kirchberger (AUT)
Freiburg toEintracht Frankfurt
Elena Linari (ITA)
Atletico Madrid to Bordeaux
Caroline Moller Hansen (DEN)
Fortuna Hjorring to Inter
Jade Moore (ENG)
Orlando Pride to Atletico Madrid (Loan)
Erin Nayler (NZL)
Bordeaux toReading
Lena Oberdorf (GER)
Essen to Wolfsburg
Osinachi Ohale (NIG)
Real Madrid to Roma
Eve Perisset (FRA)
Paris Saint-Germain to Bordeaux
Daniela Sabatino (ITA)
SassuolotoACF Fiorentina
Diana Silva (POR)
Sporting to Aston Villa
Merel van Dongen (NED)
RealBetistoAtleticoMadridNWSL Challenge Cup
Houston Dash claim victory in a successful tournament
both on and off the pitch
With the coronavirus laying waste to the
football calendar, the National Women’s
Soccer League (NWSL) hurriedly put
together a tournament – the NWSL
Challenge Cup. After an uncertain
start, with Orlando Pride being forced
to withdraw on the competition’s eve
after a slew of positive tests, it was
an unqualified success.
The short format also threw up a
surprise, with Houston Dash, a hitherto
unremarkable expansion franchise,
emerging as victors while favourites
North Carolina Courage failed to
make the last four.
While the Dash were understandably
jubilant, the real winners were the NWSL
front office for successfully pulling off
the challenge of making women’s
soccer the first sport back in the US.
They were rewarded with excellent
TV ratings at home (the final drew
653,000 on CBS) and a spark of
interest in England prompted by Lioness
Rachel Daly, the Dash captain, winning
MVP and the Golden Boot.
The tournament was staged in
Utah with all players ensconced in
a quarantined “bubble” in housing
provided by Dell Loy Hansen, owner of
Utah Royals. Regular COVID-19 tests
were conducted with zero positives.
Several players opted out, including
US internationals Megan Rapinoe,
Tobin Heath and Christen Press; others
were injured or had playing time limited
by the national team. However, in the
circumstances it was a solid effort and
if there was some stardust absent at
times qualities such as resilience and
unity came to the fore.
Courage were the best team by
a distance in the initial group stage,
winning all four matches to finish five
points clear of the pack. Second
favourites Portland Thorns were
unexpectedly last, with three draws
and a loss. This pitted them together
in the seeded quarter-finals and Thorns
subsequently produced the first upset,
back-up goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom
denying Courage with a string of saves
either side of rookie Morgan Weaver’s
debut goal. That proved the only goal
of the quarter-finals with the other
ties all going to penalties.
Having put out the hosts in the
shoot-out, the Dash beat Thorns in
the semi-finals with an opportunist
goal by Daly, the competition’s first for
six hours. With the drought broken,
Chicago Red Stars then edged a
five-goal thriller in the other semi,
holding off a resurgent Sky Blue.
Red Stars, championship play-off
finalists in 2019, were favoured but
the Dash had grown to relish their
underdog role. Sophie Schmidt’s
early penalty gave them something to
defend which they did valiantly before
Shea Groom’s injury-time breakaway
sealed victory. “It’s just been a special
journey,” said Groom. “We took it one
step at a time, one game at a time,
one minute at a time.”
Head coachJames Clarkson added:
“We’ve got to go on and prove that
we can do these kinds of things on a
week-to-week basis when the league
gets back up and running. It’s just going
to get harder for us. It’s exciting. We’re
at the start of something.”Transfer round-up
A look at some of the other major
transfers in the women’s game:Champions...Dash
striker Daly lifts
the trophy