Reigning NWSL champions Gotham FC are adding to their remarkable free agency haul, announcing the signing of World Cup champions Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett on Thursday.

Sonnett and Lavelle are the third and fourth USWNT mainstays to sign with the New Jersey club this year after midfielder Crystal Dunn and defender Tierna Davidson also reached multi-year deals with the team. All four World Cup champions will remain with the club through 2026.

Both Lavelle and Sonnett join Gotham most recently from OL Reign, where Lavelle won an NWSL shield and both players reached the 2023 title game (losing in the championship match to Gotham.) 

“Rose is an amazing talent, and we are very excited to have her as a part of the club,” said Amorós in a team release. “She is a very exciting player to watch because of her creative and technical abilities.”

Sonnett is a two-time NWSL champion, first with the Portland Thorns in 2017 and the Washington Spirit in 2021. The 30-year-old flourished in 2023 after making a position change from center-back to defensive midfielder, becoming a USWNT starter at the position during and after the 2023 World Cup.

Both Lavelle and Sonnett are also well-known at the international level, winning the 2019 World Cup with the USWNT as well as a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. They join a stacked Gotham roster, which includes Spanish World Cup champion Esther, Lynn Williams, Midge Purce, Kelley O’Hara, Allie Long and more. The club finished a storybook “worst to first” run in 2023 behind a roster refresh and the clear leadership of manager Juan Carlos Amorós.

“We are incredibly excited to have two exceptional talents like Rose and Emily join the club,” Gotham general manager Yael Averbuch West said. “Rose is a crafty and entertaining player, and our fans and club will be very excited to watch her at Red Bull Arena, and Sonnett is a true professional and competitor, who understands what success in the league looks like. The club and our fans are extremely excited to have players of their stature as we build upon the success of last season.”  

The signings coincide with a Thursday morning announcement by the NWSL that the 2024 salary cap will be $2.75 million, almost doubling teams’ operating budgets from last year. The league is also slowly doing away with allocation money, which limited the flow and usage of funds despite not counting towards a team’s salary cap.

For fans trying to understand how Gotham could possibly afford to bring in four of the biggest stars in the league, the salary cap increase alongside a few big player departures might prove to be a big part of the puzzle. World Cup champion center-back Ali Krieger has retired, and star midfielder Kristie Mewis recently finalized a transfer to West Ham United in the WSL, with an immediate severing of her contract at Gotham. 

It’s possible that Dunn could slot into Mewis’s role, or the team will rethink the midfield with Lavelle as the primary playmaker and Sonnett as a defensive midfielder. 

Long, who most recently came off the bench in a No. 6 role, is currently an unrestricted free agent out of contract with the team, as well as veteran midfielder McCall Zerboni.

Davidson will likely replace Krieger at center-back, who retired at the end of 2023. She’ll slot into a backline that includes 2023 NWSL Rookie of the Year Jenna Nighswonger, rising Brazilian talent Bruninha, and Spanish international Maitane López.

No matter how Gotham lines up on the field in 2024, all four signings should be considered a historic high in the league’s young history with free agency, only in its second year. The era of the NWSL superteam might be upon us, and all roads are leading to New York.

NWSL veteran Sofia Huerta is expanding her investment portfolio, with the Seattle Reign defender joining the ownership group of incoming USL Super League side Athletic Club Boise this week.

"I wasn't sure something like this would ever happen in Boise — so when the opportunity came, it was an easy decision," the Idaho product said in Tuesday's USL press release. "This community is how I got where I am today."

"Soccer has given me so much, and this club is building something that will give those opportunities to others," the 32-year-old continued. "The foundation Athletic Club Boise is laying — with the men's team in 2026 and the women's Gainbridge Super League team in 2027 — makes me proud to invest in the future of soccer here at home."

"Sofia represents exactly what we want this club to be — talented, ambitious, and deeply connected to the Northwest," added the incoming club's fellow co-owner Kasey Keller.

Huerta is now the first NWSL player to directly invest in the growing USL Super League, which serves as a top-flight US pro league alongside the NWSL.

That said, some of Huerta's Reign teammates have already crossed league lines, with Lauren Barnes, Jess Fishlock, and Olivia Van der Jagt buying into the semi-pro USL W League's Seattle-based team, Salmon Bay FC, last year.

Notre Dame basketball star Hannah Hidalgo took the mic this week, telling reporters at Tuesday's ACC Media Day that she's eager to erase the memory of last season's March Madness crash-out.

"Knowing how much talent we had last year and underachieving like we did was something that was heartbreaking," the junior guard said, explaining that the one-time No. 1 Fighting Irish lost focus ahead of their Sweet 16 tournament exit.

Hidalgo, whose 23.8 points per game made her the fifth most prolific scorer in the NCAA last season, also vowed to step up as a leader this year in light of Notre Dame losing standouts Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld to the WNBA and fellow star guard Olivia Miles in a transfer to TCU.

"I know how to get the best out of my teammates, I know the steps that I need to take and the things that I need to do," said Hidalgo, dismissing questions about her rumored rift with Miles. "One of the most important things is building that relationship and that connection with my teammates off the court. It's bigger than basketball."

"I know the weight of [the spotlight] is heavy," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said of Hidalgo's role. "But I feel like she has done a great job of surrounding herself with the right network."

OL Lyonnes scored some UEFA Champions League revenge on Tuesday, upending reigning UWCL champs Arsenal 2-1 in the powerhouse pair's 2025/26 league phase opener in London.

In a rematch of last season's Champions League semifinal, Haiti international Melchie Dumornay sealed the OL Lyonnes result with a first-half brace for the French titans, quickly countering Arsenal forward Alessia Russo's seventh-minute strike.

"Errors happen from time to time, but if they happen too often, of course, there's something there," noted Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers, referencing the defensive mistakes that led to both OL Lyonnes goals. "Sometimes it's intangible or hard to put your finger on because it's a mixture of things."

"We won't get too high [or] too low in this situation," the Gunners manager continued, adding "the team went through hard times last year as well, and then we ended the season on a high with an amazing achievement in the Champions League."

OL Lyonnes weren't the only opening-day league phase victors, as Juventus took down Benfica 2-1 while 2024/25 runners-up Barcelona demolished Bundesliga side Bayern Munich 7-1 behind a pair of braces from attackers Ewa Pajor and Clàudia Pina.

Unlike previous iterations, the 2025/26 Champions League format does not include first-round rematches, with each team facing six different opponents before advancing to the knockouts.

How to watch 2025/26 Champions League games

UWCL league phase opening matches conclude with five games on Wednesday, with WSL winners Chelsea FC kicking off the action against Dutch side FC Twente at 12:45 PM ET.

All 2025/26 Champions League matches will air live on Paramount+.

Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier was back on stage this week, opening up about her viral exit interview blasting WNBA leadership to former US Vice President Kamala Harris at the "A Day of Unreasonable Conversation" summit in LA on Monday.

"For so long, we tried to have these conversations and move the needle," she said. "And I saw nothing was changing."

"I think I just got to the point where I was fed up [with WNBA leadership]," Collier told Harris. "Whether I was going to get annihilated for this, or people were gonna support me, I felt like what I was doing was right."

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Collier also doubled down on her position, publicly cancelling a meeting with Cathy Engelbert after the WNBA commissioner denied Collier's account of a past conversation regarding Caitlin Clark and rookie compensation.

"For [Engelbert] to start her speech saying she has the utmost respect for me and for the players, and then to turn around and call me a liar three minutes later... I think it just speaks to that lack of accountability and so I really have nothing further to say [to her]," Collier told Axios on Monday, confirming the meeting's cancellation.

While both Engelbert and NBA commissioner Adam Silver have committed to repairing relationships between players and league leadership, Collier's recent outspokenness shows just how much ground there is to cover.