Several Kansas City Current Players Named Finalists for 2025 NWSL Awards

KANSAS CITY (Nov. 10, 2025) – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) announced the finalists for the 2025 NWSL Awards on Monday, and the Kansas City Current is well represented after its record-breaking regular season which saw the club win its first-ever NWSL Shield. Eight of the 24 individual award finalists up for the league’s prestigious end-of-year honors hail from the Current.

The finalists for Most Valuable Player (MVP), presented by AT&T, include KC Current forwards Temwa Chawinga and Bia Zaneratto while Claire Hutton and Debinha are up for Midfielder of the Year. The final list for Defender of the Year features Izzy Rodriguez and Kayla Sharples, and Lorena is one of three netminders nominated for Goalkeeper of the Year, presented by e.l.f. Additionally, head coach Vlatko Andonovski joins two others vying for Coach of the Year.

Fans wishing to vote on the individual award winners, Best XI First Team and Best XI Second Team can now access the voting ballot HERE. The fan vote accounts for 10 percent of the final tally, with a weighted scale of players (40%), owners/GMs/coaches (25%) and media (25%) rounding it out. Fan voting will conclude Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. CT.

The winners will be announced during the inaugural NWSL Awards, presented by AT&T, which take place Wednesday, Nov. 19, in San Jose, Calif., ahead of the NWSL Championship, presented by Google Pixel. The awards show will broadcast live on ESPN2 beginning at 3:30 p.m. CT (1:30 p.m. PT).

Last year’s MVP, Chawinga led the league with 15 goals in 2025 en route to being the second multi-time NWSL Golden Boot winner in league history. She became the fastest player to reach both 25 and 30 regular season goals and was the first to score in seven consecutive regular season road matches. Six of her 15 regular season goals were game-winners, which equaled her own NWSL record. Chawinga was twice named NWSL Player of the Month this year to bring her career player-of-the-month accolades up to five, the most in league history.

Zaneratto, who is widely considered one of the best 9s in the league, capped off her second year in the NWSL with seven goals and three assists. Her third-minute strike on May 11 against Bay FC was among the fastest regular season goals scored this year. She recorded a goal and an assist in the same match three times this season, including both matches vs. the Chicago Stars plus the game with Gotham FC on Oct. 11. Zaneratto’s game-winning assist against the Stars on May 24 earned her NWSL Assist of the Week honors.

A rising star for club and country, Hutton was ranked No. 1 on ESPN’s list of top Under-19 players in the NWSL – and for good reason. In her second year as a pro, the defensive midfielder led the club with 39 interceptions, 43 tackles won, 139 duels won and 154 possession wins at the conclusion of the regular season, also ranking second on the team with 11 blocks and 154 recoveries. Hutton appeared in all but one regular season match and dished out assists at North Carolina on April 26 and vs. Bay on May 11.

The game-winning goal that clinched the Current’s first-ever NWSL Shield belonged to none other than Debinha. That was one of her eight regular season goals tallied in 2025, and she has scored eight or more goals in five of her eight NWSL regular seasons. She is now tied for second all-time in NWSL history with 79 goals across all competitions and her 55 regular season goals ranks sixth. The midfielder was the only Kansas City player to record a brace this year in NWSL play and she became the first Brazilian player to reach 150 regular season games played.

Rodriguez concluded the regular season tied for first in the league with six assists, which surpassed the five assists she totaled during her first three professional seasons combined. Not only did Rodriguez equal the club single-season record with those six regular season assists, but she also matched the franchise record for career regular season assists with 11. The defender became the first player in club history to play in 26 games in a single regular season, and she helped anchor a back line which conceded just 13 goals during the entire regular season for a new NWSL record.

Like Rodriguez, Sharples played a pivotal role in the Current’s stalwart defensive unit which set NWSL records for clean sheets (16), consecutive shutout minutes (869), consecutive shutouts (9) and shutouts at home (8). With two goals and an assist, she was one of eight defenders in the league who finished the regular season with multiple regular season goals and at least one assist. The center back played 1,890 straight minutes, the most consecutive regular season minutes in a single season in club history, and her 29 consecutive regular season starts set a new club record.

Lorena rewrote the record books during her first season in the NWSL by setting new league marks with 690 consecutive shutout minutes and 14 regular season clean sheets, the latter which also set a new club record for career shutouts. She was the first goalkeeper in NWSL history to go 5-0-0 in her first five league appearances and she tied the league mark for fastest netminder to reach 10 shutouts, doing so in just 17 matches. Lorena started 24 games and logged 2,160 minutes during the regular season, good enough for club records in both.

Kansas City set several NWSL records under Andonovski’s direction, including wins (21), points (65), home wins (11), road wins (10), multi-goal games (18) and multi-goal wins (15). He became the first coach in NWSL history to record multiple seasons with 50 or more points, and he guided the Current to their first Shield in club history – and the first in his career. The 2025 campaign also saw Andonovski, who was named NWSL Coach of the Month in three of the five months it was awarded, become the second head coach to ever reach 100 career regular season wins.

In addition to the six major awards, the winner of the Lauren Holiday Impact Award (LHIA), presented by Nationwide, will be announced live at the 2025 NWSL Awards. Hutton, who was named the LHIA Fan Impact Challenge winner earlier this season, is the Current’s nominee. More information about Hutton’s LHIA nomination can be found HERE. 

2025 NWSL Awards Finalists
Most Valuable Player, pres. by AT&T: Delphine Cascarino (SD), Temwa Chawinga (KC), Esther González (GFC), Manaka Matsukubo (NC), Bia Zaneratto (KC)

Defender of the Year: Jordyn Bugg (SEA), Tara McKeown (WAS), Avery Patterson (HOU), Izzy Rodriguez (KC), Kayla Sharples (KC)

Goalkeeper of the Year, pres. by e.l.f.: Ann-Katrin Berger (GFC), Claudia Dickey (SEA), Lorena (KC)

Midfielder of the Year: Kenza Dali (SD), Debinha (KC), Claire Hutton (KC), Manaka Matsukubo (NC), Olivia Moultrie (POR)

Rookie of the Year, pres. by Ally: Maddie Dahlien (SEA), Lilly Reale (GFC), Riley Tiernan (LA)

Coach of the Year: Vlatko Andonovski (KC), Adrian Gonzalez (WAS), Beverly Yanez (LOU)