Boston Legacy FC is a brand new kind of expansion team for the National Women’s Soccer League.
Beginning play this year alongside the Denver Summit, Boston will be one of just two expansion teams to join the league without the benefit of an expansion draft or of a collegiate draft.
The Legacy have to rely almost exclusively on free agency, with some trades mixed in. The result is a roster with:
Still, even though the roster construction mechanisms were different, it’s beneficial to see how other expansion clubs fared in their first seasons in the NWSL.
The following is a list of the eight teams that have joined the NWSL after its inaugural season in 2013 and how they did in their first season. Some teams, like Utah, went defunct after joining as an expansion team but later reformed.
Not included are the North Carolina Courage, who rebranded from the Western New York Flash after being sold in 2017.
Bay FC (2024), 11-1-14 (7th)
The winningest expansion team in the history of the league, Bay FC had a strong start two years ago, grabbing points in six of its first 10 matches before slowing down in the back half of the year.
In their follow-up season, the squad slid, winning just four matches and finishing in 13th place.
Utah Royals (restarted in 2024), 7-4-15 (11th)
Joining alongside Bay FC, Utah’s second attempt in the NWSL didn’t have the sharpest start. The club had the second-worst goal differential in the league at -18 and scored the second-fewest goals.
Last year had similar results, fewer losses, but also fewer wins, which led to a 12th-place finish in the table.
Angel City FC (2022), 8-5-9 (8th)
Angel City relied on a high-end defense to finish nearly .500 in its first season. The club’s 27 goals allowed in the regular season were tied for the fourth fewest in the NWSL that year.
After moving up to fifth in 2023, Angel City has struggled the last two years and has not finished above 11th.
San Diego Wave FC (2022), 10-6-6 (3rd)
San Diego is the ideal for Boston. Though they don’t have an Alex Morgan to carry the scoring, the Legacy do have Amanda Gutieres who has the potential to be one of the league’s top goal scorers in year one.
Subsequent years for San Diego have been a mixed bag with one first-place finish in the table followed by a 10th place and sixth place.
Kansas City Current (2021), 3-7-14 (10th)
Kansas City was the last in a certain kind of tradition of expansion teams in the NWSL. Year one in the league was a struggle, particularly when it came to scoring. The Current’s 15 goals were six fewer than the next fewest team.
An influx of resources, however, pushed Kansas City up to fourth in 2024 and first place this past regular season.
Racing Louisville FC (2021), 5-7-12 (9th)
Finishing one spot above Kansas City in 2021, Louisville was the next closest team, scoring just 21 goals while allowing a league high 40.
Unlike the Current, Louisville has struggled to establish themselves among the top tier in the league. The club’s highest finish in the table was seventh this past season.
Orlando Pride (2016), 6-1-13 (9th)
Joining in the toddler years of the league, Orlando finished one spot ahead of Boston’s previous team, the Breakers in 2016.
Though the build has been slow, the past two years finally showed it was worth it. The Pride finished first in the table in 2024 and fourth last season.
Houston Dash (2014), 5-3-16 (9th)
Joining the NWSL as an expansion club just one year after the league began, the Dash were nearly one of the original eight teams. In that first season, Houston, like many expansion clubs, struggled to score, and finished with the fewest goals in the league with 23.
Since then, the club earned a fourth-place finish in 2022 but never any higher. The last three years the Dynamo slid back, finishing in 10th, 14th, and 10th in 2025.
