Portland Thorns FC announced today that the club has traded the NWSL playing rights of Christen Westphal and Amirah Ali to San Diego Wave FC. In return, Wave FC did not pick a Portland Thorns player in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft and acquired $50,000 in Allocation Money. The trade was first reported on December 10 by The Equalizer’s Jeff Kassouf.
“Christen has been an important part of this team since her arrival, and we can’t thank her enough for her contributions,” said Thorns FC GM Karina LeBlanc. “This was an extremely difficult decision, but we believe this opportunity has the best interest of Christen and the Thorns in mind.