NWSL announces rules for 2021 Expansion Draft

Photo by Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/Getty Images The NWSL announced rules for the 2021 Expansion Draft, which will see Angel City FC and the still-unnamed San Diego expansion team select nine players each as they build rosters for their inaugural seasons next year. Simultaneously, the league announced that each team will gain an additional international slot as of next season, for a total of five per team.

For this year’s expansion draft, each existing team can protect up to 9 players, including one USWNT-allocated player. This is a decrease from the 2020 draft which stocked Racing Louisville, in which teams could protect 11 players and up to two USWNT-allocated players. Kansas City is…