FootyPop: Trinity Rodman Is Staying With The Washington Spirit

In this week’s women’s soccer news, Trinity Rodman re-signs with the Washington Spirit; Chloe Berryhill suffered a brutal injury; the North Carolina Courage have found their next head coach; and more!

High of the Week

One of the biggest questions during this NWSL offseason was where Trinity Rodman would be playing next season. Her contract with the Washington Spirit was set to expire at the end of the 2025 season, but Spirit fans can breathe a sigh of relief because the club announced that it had re-signed its star forward to a new three-year contract. The new deal makes Rodman the highest-paid player in the NWSL and possibly the world, with her agent saying that the deal will pay the young star over $2 million each year.

With the league sticking to its rules of having a salary cap, there was real concern that Rodman would leave the league with tons of interest from teams around the world. The league’s proposal was to create a High Impact Player rule that would allow certain players to be paid more and let teams go up to one million over the salary cap. The NWSL Players Association is opposing that proposal, though, so time will tell how that situation is handled.

In the short term, though, the league and the Spirit were able to keep Rodman, and that is a huge win for Washington and the league as a whole. It was clear that Rodman wanted to stay with the Spirit, so she was willing to do what it took to get that solution, but also knowing her worth. As teams around the world are investing more in the women’s game, the NWSL is going to have to keep up if it wants to keep its top talent.

Rodman joined the Washington Spirit in 2021 as the second overall pick in the College Draft at just 18 years old. Since then, she has quickly become the face of the team and really the league as a whole.

Low of the Week

Unfortunately, Chloe Logarzo Berryhill’s career came to an abrupt end due to injury. The midfielder had previously announced that this season with the Western Sydney Wanderers would be her last before officially hanging up her boots, but with the injury, her final season was cut short. She suffered a truly brutal knee injury after colliding with a player and ended up having a tendon avulsion as well as tearing her ACL and LCL. In recent years, Berryhill has struggled with injuries, but none more brutal than this to end her career. The Australian international had a decorated career, spending over 10 years representing her country on the senior team, including at a Women’s World Cup and the Olympics. NWSL fans will remember her from her time with the Washington Spirit and the Kansas City Current.

News of the Week

​The North Carolina Courage have their next head coach with the club confirming the hire of Mak Lind. Lind’s coaching career began in 2016, but most recently, he was the head coach of BK Häcken Women from 2023-25. In his last season with the Swedish club, he led them to the Damallsvenskan title with a 21-1-4 record and an insane +68 goal differential. The Courage have struggled to score goals in recent years, but that is expected to change with Lind coming into the fold and putting a real emphasis on the attack. Lind is just the third head coach in Courage history.

It’s official: Mak Lind is all in.

📰 Read more: https://t.co/dKZOSfobjX pic.twitter.com/Hy39gevOYV

— NC Courage (@TheNCCourage) January 24, 2026 

Win of the Week

Arsenal got a massive 2-0 win over Chelsea in WSL play. It’s the first time that Arsenal has beaten Chelsea on the road since 2018. It also marked the first time that Chelsea had lost a league game at Stamford Bridge.  The match was scoreless at halftime, but Arsenal came out firing and found the breakthrough in the 55th minute via Beth Mead. The midfielder would also go on to earn the assist on Mariona Caldentey’s insurance goal in the 61st minute. It’s a huge three points for Arsenal, who are set to take on league-leading Manchester City in their next match. With the win, the Gunners are just one point behind Chelsea for second place. For Chelsea, the loss will make it very difficult to catch up to City for first as they’re currently sitting nine points behind the leaders.

Winning as one ❤️ pic.twitter.com/dRoFtxqEqa

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 24, 2026 

Team of the Week

Manchester United got a massive win over Arsenal to advance to the Women’s League Cup Final for the first time in club history. They’ll face off against Chelsea in the final on March 15. It was a defensive error that got United on the board, with Ellen Wangerheim applying the pressure to Arsenal’s goalkeeper and creating a turnover, and then Elisabeth Terland putting the ball into the back of the net just before halftime. Then, with 30 minutes to go, Arsenal’s Olivia Smith was shown a second yellow to send the Gunners down to 10 players to try to create a comeback. In the end, United got an impressive 1-0 win and are on to the final.

Goal of the Week

It was a terrific senior team debut for Reilyn Turner, who scored her first career USWNT goal in their friendly against Paraguay on Saturday. She made a nice run in between two defenders, and Olivia Moultrie played a terrific ball to the feet of Turner, who then took a heavy first touch but was able to slide the ball into the back of the net at a difficult angle.

Assist of the Week

Gisele Thompson played a beautiful ball around the feet of the Paraguay defender right into the path of Ally Sentnor, who slid it into the far corner for her second goal of the match.

What To Look Forward To

The first-ever FIFA Women’s Champions Cup will take place on January 28th, and then the championship match will be on February 1. There are four teams participating in the tournament. The matchups will see Gotham FC (Concacaf) face off against SC Corinthians (CONMEBOL champions) and then Arsenal (UEFA Women’s Champions League) against ASFAR (CAF Women’s Champions League). The winner of the tournament will take home $2.3 million, and the runner-up will get one million in U.S. currency. The games can be watched on DAZN.