Ladies’s football has its first million-dollar participant after United States defender Naomi Girma moved from San Diego Wave to Chelsea on Sunday.
Chelsea introduced the signing of Girma with out disclosing the price however The Athletic and the BBC have been amongst the ones reporting the English champions have spent 900,000 kilos ($1.1 million) at the switch.
That surpasses the world-record rate of $788,000 that Bay FC paid to signal Zambia striker Rachael Kundananji from Madrid CFF ultimate 12 months.
It’s the 3rd time Chelsea has paid a world-record rate for a participant, after Denmark ahead Pernille Tougher ($355,000) in 2020 and Colombia ahead Mayra Ramirez ($542,000) ultimate 12 months.
The 24-year-old Girma was once beneath contract with the Wave till 2026. She was once drawing pastime from French membership Lyon and Arsenal, Chelsea’s rival within the Ladies’s Tremendous League.
Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC by way of Getty Photographs
Girma was once offered at the box in entrance of Chelsea’s lovers forward of Sunday’s sport towards Arsenal at Stamford Bridge within the WSL.
“I am so satisfied and in reality excited to be right here. It does not really feel actual,” Girma mentioned.
“There are a large number of issues about Chelsea that made me need to come right here — the tradition, the successful mentality, personnel and avid gamers. It is a most sensible surroundings to be told and develop in. Presently, that is what I am having a look to do. It was once a very simple selection for me.”
Girma made her debut for the nationwide crew in 2022. She has seemed in 44 video games with america and performed at the squad that gained the gold medal on the Paris Olympics.
Daniela Porcelli/ISI Footage / Getty Photographs
Girma was once named U.S. Football Feminine Participant of the Yr for 2023. She additionally gained the federation’s Younger Participant of the Yr award in 2020. All over the Olympics, U.S. trainer Emma Hayes, the previous trainer at Chelsea, known as Girma “the most efficient defender I have ever observed.”
“Naomi is a world-class defender who’s now entering the top years of her profession,” mentioned Paul Inexperienced, Chelsea’s head of ladies’s soccer.
“Her composure at the ball, skill to learn the sport coupled together with her tempo and athleticism will upload prime quality to an already very gifted squad.”
Girma was once captain of the Stanford crew that gained the nationwide championship in 2019. She was once taken at No. 1 within the 2022 Nationwide Ladies’s Football League draft through the Wave. She was once named the league’s Rookie of the Yr and Defender of the Yr in her first season.
