I created and maintain a detailed NWSL database. Financial reasons prevent me from making it directly available on the internet (I'm working on that!) but here are some infographics i have created from things that caught my eye or things people asked for. To request particular statistics email me.
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ELEVEN YEARS! 
Here are the twelve players rostered in 2023 who have played every year of the league. And another dozen who have missed one year. And a few other notable longtime players (Apr 2023) |
Multiple Clubs 
Portion of players who played for a single, or multiple teams. (Jan 2023) |
Hat Tricks 
Here is an updated list of all the hat tricks in league history. (Dec 2022) |
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BIRTHDAY GOALS 
Players who scored on their birthday! (2017 updated Apr 2023) |
BIRTHDAY PLAYERS 
Players who played an NWSL match on their birthday. (2017 updated Apr 2023) |
BIRTHDAY NOTES 
birthday notables (2019 updated Apr 2023) |
BIRTHDAY BUMMERS 
birthday yellow cards & birthday bench sitting. (2019 updated Apr 2023) |
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2013 vets 
There are 26 players who were rostered in the first year of the NWSL who have roster activity in 2022. 16 played all nine seasons, ten missed one. Six have remained with a single club! (31 Jan 2022) |
Vets by club 
Club by club breakdown of 2013 vets on 2022 rosters. Dark blue == played for only one club. (31 Jan 2022) |
Vet trend 
Here's a season by season graph of the count of 2013 vets rostered. (31 Jan 2022) |
Vet trend+ 
Here's a season by season graph of the count of NWSL vets from 2013 & 2014 rosters still playing each year. (31 Jan 2022) |
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CLUB OWN GOALS 
In 9 seasons there have been 55 Own Goals, here's how they are split by club. (4 Nov 2021) |
OWN GOALS 
The number of Own Goals varies by season but has been growing significantly. I paired years up to smooth the data. (updated 3 Nov 2021) |
OWN GOAL 
Usually Own Goal finishes about 20th in the top goal scoring list but in 2019 it finished tied 2nd with the same number as Lynn Williams and only behind Kerr. This year Own Goal beat the boot!! (updated 3 Nov 2021) by request |
SINCE SCORED 
In two weeks, two defenders, Huster & McNabb have scored after historic gaps since their last goals. Here are the longest gaps between goals. (27 Aug 2021) |
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Most PENALTY KICKS 
On Aug 26 Christine Sinclair tied Kim Little for the most PKs scored in the NWSL. Ten players are 0 for 1, Twenty are 1 for 1, Two are 1 for 2, Six are 2 for 2 and Groom is 0 for 2. Here's a list of every player who has attempted more than 2. (27 Aug 2021) |
Played EVERY MINUTE 
Player/seasons where the player played every minute that their team played. Brooks & Barnhart have done it THREE times each. (30 Jun 2021) |
FEMALE REF RATE 
Updated rate of female referees. (8 Sep 2021) |
Center REFs 2021 
Early in the season almost all center referees were female, that changed suddenly in late August. (8 Sep 2021) |
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The OYSTER Effect Again 
Megan Oyster is a fantastic center back. For some reason she is traded frequently, but the positive effect she has on teams is astonishing. (12 Mar 2021) |
PLAYERS by STATE 
Number of players from each state (high school), minutes played and top player by minutes. (22 Feb 2021) |
RED CARD BREAKDOWN 
Two out of every five straight red cards in NWSL history were given for last defender/denial of scoring opportunity. Personally i think the FIFA rule needs to be changed. DOSGO should be a penalty kick and not lumped in with the violent conduct a red card implies. (31 Jul 2021) |
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2020 FALL PODS 
I mocked up a quick map of the three region pods for the Fall Series. (6 Sep 2020) |
2020 FALL PODS + 
Then just for fun i added former NWSL locations and prospective expansion sites. (6 Sep 2020) |
BEST & WORST DRAFT COHORTS 
I've long wanted to find a way to grade draft cohorts. Here i simply calculated the number of minutes played for the club by each club's draft cohort. It does not (yet) include trade value. Once i sorted them it became clear that some cohorts played a lot because the team was poor and others were genuinely good. One obviously stands out extrodinarly. So i completely subjectively ranked the top set.(11 Sep 2020) |
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OLDEST PLAYER 
Only two players have been the oldest in the league, it changed when Rampone retired Aug 18 2017. Three times the oldest played every minute. This is the top 3 or 4 each year. (1 Oct 2019) |
OLDEST ACTIVE 
The oldest players active in the NWSL. HAO has already announced her retirement. (1 Oct 2019) |
MINUTES PER GOAL 
All time top minutes per goal seasons. Kerr is very consistant! (2 Jun 2020) |
MINUTES PER GOAL 
2019 top players by minutes per goal. (2 Jun 2020) |
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DRAFT ROUND MINS 
First round picks play about 2,700 minutes for the drafting team, 2nd & 3rd rounders 1,000 and last rounders only 500. Drafted players play 25% of league minutes. Does not include trade value. (16 Jan 2020) |
BEST 4th ROUNDERS 
Fourth round picks tend to not even show up in lineups, but there are some gems that are the exception that prove the rule. Here are the twelve most succesful (by minutes played) fourth round draft picks. (16 Jan 2020) |
US REGIONAL TEAMS 
I divided the US team pool by home (high school) region using minutes played and personal impression. I actually think all 5 of these teams could be competitive in the World Cup. The map shows the regions i used. (29 Sep 2019) |
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SALARY RANGE 
The new NWSL salary plan is out, this is the minimum and the maximum all 8 years (5 Nov 2019) |
2020 SALARY LIMITS 
Last year i did a mock up of the salary structure using Reign FC as an example. With the new min-max and cap i did it again, and it's immediatly obvious that the new cap makes a huge difference (even without the allocation fund). Last year only one player could make the maximum and that forced every other player to the minimum, this year 5 or 6 can make the maximum while no one is on the minimum. Big change! These are not real salaries! This is just an exercise. (5 Nov 2019) |
OTHER MINIMUMS 
Here's a plot of the MINIMUM salary in various major sports leagues. (5 Nov 2019) |
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KEEPER HEIGHTS 
Here are all 83 keepers ever rostered in the league, graphed in rosters against height (19 Dec 2019) by request |
PLAYED KEEPER HEIGHTS 
Here are the 47 keepers who have played minutes in the league, graphed in rosters against height with bubble size as minutes played. (19 Dec 2019) by request |
ALL PLAYER HEIGHTS 
Bar graph of minutes played by height reveals a reporting bias. (19 Dec 2019) |
HEIGHT & AGE TRENDS 
Trends leaguewide of average height and age by season. (28 Apr 2020) |
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HAT TRICKS 
Every hat trick in the history of the league. (Nov 2019) |
KERR SCORES AGAIN 
Sam Kerr's multi goal NWSL games. (Nov 2019) by request |
MATCHES PLAYED LEADER 
The league leader, often a tie, in matches played since the start of the first season. Scale is games played. (11 Nov 2019) |
TOP INACTIVE BY MINS 
The 26 currently INACTIVE players with the most NWSL minutes. (28 Feb 2020) |
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IRON WOMEN 
Two players have been trading the career lead in games played for 7 years. At the moment one has the regular season record and the other shares the all time record. (updated Oct 2019) |
POSSIBLE PLAYED 
Players with the highest percentage of POSSIBLE games played. (More than one season.) Buczkowski is included because she retired partway through a season after playing 100% of possible games for 3.25 seasons. (26 Dec 2019) by request |
100 MATCH PLAYERS 
All players with 100 NWSL matches. The three leaders are still neck and neck on 155/154. Two interesting things: notice that the first two to reach 100 did it in the SAME GAME and notice that the highest ranking player with ZERO playoff matches is on 114. (updated Nov 2019) |
CAREER MATCHES PLAYED .jpg)
The games played trend lines of some (not all) leading players through 2019. You can clearly see the effect of the national call ups on Sauerbrun, Long & McDonald and the unfortunate season ending injuries on Fishlock, Spencer & Mathaias. (11 Nov 2019) |
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CLUB MINUTE LEADERS 
The leader in minutes played for each club in the league. Most have played for only one team, but not all. (10 Nov 2019) |
ROSTERED NEVER PLAYED 
99 players have been placed on a game day roster ('the 18') but never made it into a game. They have only 'sat' (on the bench). (updated Nov 2019) by request |
LEADING SITTERS 
Here are all players who have sat more than 30 times. Notice Parkhill & Gay, at #22 & #23 have never gotten into a game! Most of the top 20 are goalkeepers since they are rarely subbed. Henninger's 113 is amazing. (updated Nov 2019) by request |
FEWEST MINUTES 
Players with the fewest career minutes (excluding active players). Of note is Ashley Baker who in her 1 minute at the end of a game saved a PK by Sanderson! (Dec 2019) |
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MINUTES BY COLLEGE 
NWSL minutes played by university. There are 32 universities with over 10,000 minutes played in the league. (updated Nov 2019) by request |
MINUTES BY NATION 
NWSL minutes played by birth nation. (updated Nov 2019) |
YELLOW CARDS 
Most yellow cards, least yellow cards, zero yellow cards. All historical players with over 2500 minutes, sorted by minutes per yellow card. Most are as expected, but there are some surprises (Nov 2019) |
YELLOW HOME & AWAY 
Team yellow cards home and away. An attempt to gauge home field advantage, but the largest crowd, Portland, does not seem to have a major effect. (5 Nov 2019) by request |
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GOAL LEADERS 
All 33 players with more than 16 goals in their NWSL careers. (updated 28 Oct 2019) |
SCORED AGAINST ALL 
Players who have scored against all NWSL clubs. (updated Nov 2019) |
SCORED AGAINST LEADERS 
Each club's scored AGAINST leader (and scored FOR leader). Check out SkyBlue! (Nov 2019) |
MEWIS v MEWIS 
Two of the best players in the league are sisters. They've swapped the annual goal lead, but it's kind of a blow out by win loss record. (updated Nov 2019) |
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TALL & SHORT ACTIVE 
The tallest and shortest players active in the NWSL. (1 Oct 2019) |
TALL & SHORT EVER 
The tallest and shortest in the history of the NWSL 2013 - 2019. (Nov 2019) |
DUPLICATE LAST NAMES 
A dozen different last names have appeared head to head on the field, one name has been duplicated as teammates! (updated Nov 2019) |
FIRST NAMES 
Name counts. (Nov 2019) |
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GOALS vs YELLOW 
Only 11 team seasons have had more yellow cards than goals. Only one has ever made the playoffs. (Nov 2019) |
TROHPY TRIOKAS 
By year 2 of the league we had 4 teams monopolizing the trophies and unfortunately 5 years later that hasn't changed. Only three teams have won the Shield and only three teams have won the Cup. (updated Nov 2019) |
FINISHING TRENDS 
All the positions a team has finished in, for all 12 teams. (updated Nov 2019) |
FINISHING TRENDS .jpg)
Same trends but with only 10 teams, combining 2 the moved franchises. (updated Nov 2019) |
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SHORTER OR TALLER 
Wins by relative lineup height. Average is for the announced roster (the '18'). Surprisingly there is no statistical difference, that speaks well for skill being important. (updated Nov 2019) |
OLDER OR YOUNGER 
Wins by relative lineup age. Average is for the announced roster (the '18'). Older teams have a significant statistical advantage, that speaks well for skill being important. (updated Nov 2019) |
HOME WINS LESS 
Home team record by head ref gender. Including overall home win pie. Male refs are easier on home teams. (Nov 2019) |
FEMALE REFS 
NWSL female referee trend. It's clear there is an effort to increase female referees. The first three years the refs were terrible, but the last 3 years there has been a noticeable improvement in the quality of officiating. (updated Nov 2019) |
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ATTENDANCE TRENDS 
Average annual attendance trends for all teams. Two scales, excluding Portland and Utah and all inclusive. The 5 team cluster in 2019 is interesting. (updated Nov 2019) |
ALL STADIA 
Details on every stadium used in the league. (updated Nov 2019) |
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MULITPLE-MATCH DAYS 
Rarely do all teams play on one day. But it does happen. (May 2019) |
ALL SEASON STATS 
Details and statistics on each season. (updated Nov 2019) |
NWSL MANAGERS 
Consistent managers. (updated through 2019) |
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LIFETIME VIEWERSHIP 
Lifetime TV network match of the week viewers by match and team. (Sep 2017) |
NWSL MANAGERS 
Four consistent managers and one big shift. (Aug 2017) |
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AIR MILES 
Air miles for every NWSL matchup. (Jun 2017) |
AIR MILE STATS 
Air miles for every NWSL matchup. (Jun 2017) |
AIR MILES PER DAY 
How hard is each team's schedule. (Jun 2017) |
GOAL OF THE WEAK  Pay The Players [Adrienne] 2.jpg)
I wrote this blog post calling for the commissioner's firing during the 2015 - 2016 off-season. (Feb 2016) |
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