Kerr indicators with the NWSL champions till 2030, returning to the US league after six years spent with Chelsea in England.
Revealed On 29 Jun 2026
Australian striker Sam Kerr has signed with Gotham FC, the reigning champions of the Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League (NWSL) in america, the membership introduced after the long-lasting participant ended her dazzling profession with Chelsea, which noticed her win 5 Girls’s Tremendous League titles.
Kerr, who was a free agent, signed the contract on Monday that may see her play in New York by the 2030 season. She beforehand performed within the metropolis between 2015 and 2017.
The all-time main regular-season goal-scorer for the North American league recorded 116 objectives throughout all competitions with Chelsea and was the 2023 Ballon d’Or runner-up.
“This membership was an necessary a part of my journey, and to return again at this second, with all the pieces Gotham has constructed, is admittedly particular. The ambition right here is evident, and I’m trying ahead to serving to this workforce compete for trophies and create extra historical past,” Kerr stated in an announcement.
The signing is a high quality coup for the NWSL, which noticed a number of gamers exit for alternatives in Europe final 12 months, and brings one of many sport’s brightest abilities to the largest sports activities market within the US.
“Sam is without doubt one of the defining gamers of her technology and a game-changing expertise who has constantly delivered on the highest ranges of world soccer,” Yael Averbuch West, the president of soccer operations for Gotham, stated.
“Bringing Sam again to Gotham is a landmark second for our membership, and we couldn’t be extra excited.”
Kerr performed 119 profession regular-season video games (113 begins) throughout her seven seasons with three groups within the NWSL, together with three years with Sky Blue FC (now Gotham FC) from 2015 to 2017.
After taking part in the 2018 season with the Chicago Purple Stars, Kerr performed a season for the Perth Glory in her native Australia (2018-19) earlier than returning to Chicago in 2019. She joined Chelsea within the Girls’s Tremendous League in late 2019.
Regardless of her six-and-a-half-year absence, her 77 regular-season objectives are nonetheless an NWSL file. In 2017, she received the Golden Boot and MVP awards with Sky Blue FC after a season in which she scored 17 objectives in 22 video games.
Kerr will debut for Gotham after the NWSL’s switch window opens on July 14. Gotham host the Washington Spirit on July 15 within the Queens Basic in New York.
