NWSL settlement opens High Impact Player eligibility beyond star rankings

The NWSL and its players union have agreed to remove the High Impact Player rule’s eligibility restrictions, the Guardian reported on Friday.

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From January 1, 2027, clubs will be able to select players for the designation without relying on the previous sporting and commercial qualifications. The salary threshold remains: a player must earn at least 12% of the base salary cap. Removing the qualifying lists therefore broadens access to the mechanism without making the additional funding available to every contract regardless of pay.

The league’s published competition rules explain the financial framework behind the change. For 2026, each club received permission to spend up to $1 million beyond its salary cap through the High Impact Player mechanism. That allowance could support one player or be divided among several. The league also specified that the extra funding would increase annually at the same base rate as the cap.

Under the original system, clubs could not simply choose which players merited that investment. Eligibility depended on defined achievements or recognition, including Ballon d’Or voting, media rankings, marketability lists and minutes played for the United States women’s national team. The league’s rules required an individual High Impact Player’s salary-cap charge to equal at least 12% of the base cap.

The restrictions had drawn a formal challenge from the NWSL Players Association. Sports Business Journal reported in January that the union filed a grievance arguing the mechanism breached the collective bargaining agreement and federal labor law. It sought withdrawal of the rule and bargaining over proposed compensation arrangements. Those were the union’s allegations, rather than a finding that the league had acted unlawfully.

Trinity Rodman’s contract negotiations helped bring the mechanism into focus. Sports Business Journal reported in January that Washington Spirit re-signed her to a three-year deal and that soccer operations president Haley Carter confirmed use of the HIP mechanism. The club did not disclose the contract’s financial terms. Carter also acknowledged the union challenge while saying she did not expect it to alter Rodman’s agreement.