With the end of July looming, three months of the NWSL regular season are already in the books and only two remain.

As the league dives further into the second half of the year, Just Women’s Sports is handing out midseason awards for the players and coach who have stood out so far. The San Diego Wave earn two nods, and five teams are represented in total across the six awards. Three NWSL newcomers also get a shoutout.

This list excludes our selection for midseason MVP, which we’ll name Friday from a list of frontrunners. Here we go.

Offensive Player of the Year

Mallory Pugh, Chicago Red Stars

After being named an NWSL MVP nominee last season, Mal Pugh’s impact on the Red Stars has only increased. She’s currently third in the Golden Boot race with six goals and has also contributed two assists. Of her 22 shots so far this season, 19 — or 86 percent — have been on target.

But it’s not just her scoring abilities that make her one of the best players in the league. Pugh has a dribble success rate of 76 percent, and defensively, she wins 67 percent of her tackles and has registered eight interceptions.

Defensive Player of the Year

Naomi Girma, San Diego Wave FC

Naomi Girma, 22, makes everything look easy. The rookie’s transition from college to the pros has been seamless. She looked to veteran and fellow center back Abby Dahlkemper for guidance when first joining the Wave in February, but when Dahlkemper was ruled out for a number of games due to COVID-19 and broken ribs, Girma had no trouble leading the backline line on her own. Playing every minute of the season so far, the 2022 No. 1 pick has displayed a level of composure on the ball well beyond her years and is completing her passes with 84 percent accuracy.

Goalkeeper of the Year

Phallon Tullis-Joyce, OL Reign

When she’s not debating with teammate Nikki Stanton about whether mermaids are real, Phallon Tullis-Joyce is between the posts making people’s jaws drop. Her name was hardly known coming into the 2022 season; she played just one minute as the backup goalkeeper her rookie year. Since she took over the starting spot, Tullis-Joyce’s calm demeanor and on-field leadership have quickly made an impact on the sixth-place Reign. In 12 games so far this season, the goalkeeper has recorded an impressive 83.3 save percentage, six clean sheets and 45 saves.

Phallon Tullis-Joyce Earns Third NWSL Save of the Week

Let’s GO, @phallon91 👏 🤩 😮‍💨

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/LZQMexwzaj#boldtogether pic.twitter.com/kTx44gL386

— OL Reign (@OLReign) April 22, 2022

Rookie of the Year

Savannah DeMelo, Racing Louisville FC

The 2022 rookie class is particularly strong. Savannah DeMelo has been one of the many first years turning heads since the very beginning of the season. The midfielder is confident on the dribble and quick to capitalize on opponents’ mistakes. The fourth overall pick has also proven to be the most lethal player in the NWSL when it comes to scoring off free kicks, having buried a league-high two already this year. To add to that, she’s registered another goal and an assist for Racing Louisville.

Most Improved

Taylor Smith, NJ/NY Gotham FC

From the Courage bench to the waiver wire to a valued member of Gotham FC, Taylor Smith has had a rollercoaster of a season. After playing no more than 45 minutes in four of five games with North Carolina, she parted ways with the club in June and signed with Gotham two days later. There, the 28-year-old has made an instant impact.

In three games in New Jersey, Smith has registered four shots on goal in 219 total minutes, compared to the zero she had with North Carolina. She scored the game-winner in a 2-1 win over Racing Louisville in just her second match with the club while also playing as the lone starting forward. Gotham coach Scott Parkinson has repeatedly expressed how happy he is to have her with the team.

TAYLOR SMITH. WHAT A FINISH. 💥

Her first in a Gotham shirt 👏 pic.twitter.com/BETgF3hyjL

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 9, 2022

Coach of the Year

Casey Stoney, San Diego Wave FC

To get a team to the top of the table is one thing. To keep them there is another. To do all of that with an expansion team is superhuman, and yet that’s exactly what Casey Stoney has achieved through the first 13 games of the season since coming to the NWSL from the FA Women’s Super League.

The coach’s on-field strategy has been executed to plan, her impeccable timing with substitutes has led to goals on multiple occasions, and she treats her players with the care they haven’t always received from coaching staffs elsewhere. Stoney is intentional about never blaming poor results on the effort of her players, creating a nurturing environment that allows for mistakes and generates success.

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The Tour de France Femmes confirmed its course for 2026 this week, setting up next year's event as the longest iteration of the race in the women's tour history.

The 2026 course will run in nine stages starting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 1st and continuing through the finish line in Nice, France, on August 9th.

Cyclists will cover a total of 1,175 kilometers, with 18,795 meters of climbing.

The course will feature three flat stages and three hilly stages as well as two mountain stages and one individual time trial, with riders tackling Mont Ventoux — an iconic climb from the men's event — for the first time.

Though 2026 will only by the fifth edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes, the race will make its debut in a standalone time slot one full week after the men’s race ends, with recent record viewership fueling the move to separate the races rather than continue the previous tactic of scheduling the two events back-to-back.

"We no longer need men for the Tour de France Femmes to exist,"  said race director Marion Rousse at Thursday's course unveiling. "There's no need to have the men's race as a platform to launch the women's race. Now people are waiting to see us."

"People have embraced us," Rousse continued. "The new dates, separate to the men, prove it."

This weekend's slate of international soccer features more than one blockbuster matchup, as some of the summer's top performers, including England and Brazil, begin the long process of preparing for the 2027 World Cup.

Reigning UEFA Women's Euro champions England will be hosting 2025 Copa América Femenina winners Brazil at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Saturday, when the Lionesses officially kick off their four-game Homecoming Series to close out 2025 play.

The match between world No. 4 England and No. 7 Brazil will serve as the first of the series of friendlies that will span the final two international breaks of the year, with the Lionesses closing out the opening pair of games against No. 15 Australia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, while England fans will be enjoying the team's victory lap after their second-straight Euro title, other top UEFA competition are honing in on 2025 Nations League play.

Behind a long-range goal from winger Klara Bühl, No. 5 Germany snagged a narrow 1-0 victory over No. 6 France on Friday morning, taking the lead in the pair's two-leg semifinal.

The second Nations League semifinal round kicks off at 2 PM ET on Friday, when No. 1 Spain faces No. 3 Sweden live on Prime.

How to watch England vs. Brazil this weekend

England takes on Brazil at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage streaming on Prime.

The Wings have found their next sideline leader, as multiple reports on Thursday linked longtime University of South Florida (USF) head coach Jose Fernandez to the open position in Dallas.

Fernandez is still finalizing his contract with the WNBA team, with the 53-year-old exiting USF having led the Bulls for 25 years, making 10 NCAA tournament appearances along the way.

Calling his impact "profound," USF athletics CEO Rob Higgins acknowledged that Fernandez is leaving for a WNBA position in a Thursday statement.

"While this is a bittersweet moment for our program, it is a well-deserved opportunity for Jose," said Higgins. "We are incredibly proud of him."

Replacing Chris Koclanes after one year, Fernandez will become the fifth Dallas head coach in seven seasons, with the Wings trying to build a title-contending roster around 2025 WNBA Draft overall No. 1 pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers.

Fernandez will also be the third WNBA hiring out of the college ranks in the last two years, joining Atlanta Dream boss Karl Smesko (FGCU) and LA Sparks manager Lynne Roberts (Utah).

Hoping to improve on a 13th-place 2025 finish — and make the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2023 — Dallas could claim a second straight No. 1 draftee next year, with the Wings entering 2026 with the highest odds to snag the top pick in the league's draft lottery.

The WNBA league office and the Players Association (WNBPA) exchanged escalating public statements this week, as both sides dispute terms surrounding a key issue in the ongoing CBA negotiations: revenue sharing.

"When the players opted out [of their CBA] a year ago, they made it clear they wanted a salary system that values their labor and allows them to grow with the business they are very clearly driving," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told ESPN in a statement this week, citing the vast disparity in revenue sharing percentages between the WNBA and the NBA.

Jackson continued by claiming that the WNBA intends to "run out the clock" and double down on a model that "intentionally undervalues the players."

Days ago, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said publicly that "[Revenue] share isn't the right way to look at it," pushing instead for salary increases in "absolute numbers."

WNBA leadership, however, denied that their current offer to players omits all revenue sharing, with the league calling the WNBPA's claim "incorrect and surprising," while indicating that an uncapped revenue sharing model "directly tied to the league's performance" is on the table.

"It is frustrating and counterproductive for the union to be making misrepresentations about our proposals while also accusing the league of engaging in delay," the WNBA's statement continued. "That is simply not true."

With both parties not seeing eye to eye, a resolution before the October 31st CBA deadline appears unlikely, though a formal request for an extension on negotiations is not currently in the cards.