NWSL Most Valuable Player

2024 and 2025 winner Temwa Chawinga

The NWSL Most Valuable Player award is presented annually to the best player in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).

Lauren Holiday (2013) won the first MVP award in the NWSL's inaugural season. Lindsey Horan (2018) was the first winner not also to win the Golden Boot presented to the NWSL's top goal scorer. ^[1] Sam Kerr (2017 and 2019) and Temwa Chawinga (2024 and 2025) are the only players to win multiple MVP awards. Five players born outside the United States have won the award: Kim Little (2014), Kerr, Jess Fishlock (2021), Kerolin (2023), and Chawinga. ^[2]

As of 2025, ^[update] the NWSL's individual end-of-year awards are voted upon in two rounds: in the first round, players (50%), owners/general managers/coaches (25%), and media (25%) vote to determine the nominees; in the second round, players (40%), owners/general managers/coaches (25%), media (25%), and fans (10%) vote among the nominees to determine the winner. ^[3]

Winners

Season	Player	Position	Nationality	Club	Other finalists	Ref.
2013	Lauren Holiday	Midfielder	United States	FC Kansas City	Lori Chalupny, Abby Wambach	[4]
2014	Kim Little	Midfielder	Scotland	Seattle Reign FC	Verónica Boquete, Amy Rodriguez	[5]
2015	Crystal Dunn	Forward	United States	Washington Spirit		[6]
2016	Lynn Williams	Forward	United States	Western New York Flash	Tobin Heath, Allie Long, Kealia Ohai, Christen Press	[7]
2017	Sam Kerr	Forward	Australia	Sky Blue FC	Marta, Sam Mewis, Christen Press, Megan Rapinoe	[8]
2018	Lindsey Horan	Midfielder	United States	Portland Thorns FC	Sam Kerr, Megan Rapinoe, Lynn Williams, McCall Zerboni	[9]
2019	Sam Kerr (2)	Forward	Australia	Chicago Red Stars	Debinha, Kristen Hamilton, Yūki Nagasato, Lynn Williams	[10]
2020	2020 regular season cancelled due COVID-19 pandemic					[11]
2021	Jess Fishlock	Midfielder	Wales	OL Reign [a]	Ashley Hatch, Mallory Pugh, Midge Purce, Angela Salem	[12]
2022	Sophia Smith	Forward	United States	Portland Thorns FC	Debinha, Naomi Girma, Alex Morgan, Mallory Pugh	[13]
2023	Kerolin	Forward	Brazil	North Carolina Courage	Sam Coffey, Debinha, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith	[14]
2024	Temwa Chawinga	Forward	Malawi	Kansas City Current	Barbra Banda, Marta, Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith	[15]
2025	Temwa Chawinga (2)	Forward	Malawi	Kansas City Current	Delphine Cascarino, Esther González, Manaka Matsukubo, Bia Zaneratto	[16]

Wins by team

Club	Wins
Kansas City Current	2
Portland Thorns FC	2
Seattle Reign FC [a]	2
Chicago Red Stars	1
FC Kansas City	1
North Carolina Courage	1
Sky Blue FC	1
Washington Spirit	1
Western New York Flash	1

Wins by nationality

Nationality	Wins
United States	5
Australia	2
Malawi	2
Brazil	1
Scotland	1
Wales	1

See also

• Women's association football portal
• Association football portal
• Sports portal

• List of sports awards honoring women
• NWSL Players' Awards
• NWSL awards
• NWSL records and statistics
• Women's soccer in the United States

Notes

1. Seattle Reign FC was previously known as OL Reign.

References

1. Best, Katelyn (September 21, 2018). "Lindsey Horan awarded NWSL MVP". Stumptown Footy. SB Nation . Retrieved June 26, 2024.
2. Goff, Steven (November 10, 2023). "North Carolina Courage attacker Kerolin voted NWSL MVP". The Washington Post . Retrieved June 26, 2024.
3. "NWSL Announces 2025 NWSL Award Finalists, Opens Fan Voting Round". National Women's Soccer League. November 10, 2025. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
4. Kassouf, Jeff (August 27, 2013). "Holiday named 2013 NWSL MVP; KC sweeps awards". The Equalizer. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
5. "Reign midfielder Little named 2014 NWSL MVP". The Equalizer. August 28, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
6. "Top-scorer Dunn becomes youngest-ever NWSL MVP". The Equalizer. September 23, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
   "Spirit Forward Crystal Dunn Voted NWSL MVP". National Women's Soccer League. September 23, 2015. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015.
7. "2016 NWSL MVP: Lynn Williams". The Equalizer. October 6, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
8. "Kerr caps remarkable season with NWSL Most Valuable Player nod". The Equalizer. October 20, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
   "2017 NWSL Awards Finalists Revealed". National Women's Soccer League. October 5, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
9. Bush, Chelsey (September 21, 2018). "Horan's MVP season is only the beginning". The Equalizer. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
   Purdy, Jacqueline (September 16, 2018). "2018 NWSL Awards Finalists Revealed". National Women's Soccer League . Retrieved June 26, 2024.
10. "Sam Kerr is NWSL's first two-time NWSL MVP". The Equalizer. October 25, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
11. "2020 Champions Cup Presented by P&G and Secret Roster Rules" (PDF). NWSL. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
12. "Jess Fishlock named 2021 NWSL MVP". The Equalizer. November 16, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
    "National Women's Soccer League Announces Nominees for the 2021 NWSL Awards". National Women's Soccer League. November 5, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
13. Kriger, Rachael (October 27, 2022). "Sophia Smith wins 2022 NWSL MVP Award". The Equalizer. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
    "National Women's Soccer League Announces Nominees for the 2021 NWSL Awards". National Women's Soccer League. October 14, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
14. Cascone, Arianna (November 10, 2023). "Kerolin named NWSL MVP after outstanding season with the Courage". The Equalizer. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
    "2023 NWSL End-of-Year Awards: NWSL Most Valuable Player, Presented by Bud Light Finalists". National Women's Soccer League. November 3, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
15. NWSL (November 22, 2024). "Kansas City Current Forward Temwa Chawinga Named 2024 NWSL Most Valuable Player | National Women's Soccer League Official Site". NWSL. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
16. Henderson, Cydney (November 19, 2025). "2025 NWSL Awards live updates: Full list of winners, highlights". USA Today . Retrieved November 19, 2025.