NWSL MVP Predictions for 2026 Season start with a calendar, not a highlight reel. The 2025 season ended in late November with Gotham lifting the trophy on a single Rose Lavelle strike in the 80th minute. Kansas City owned the regular season and still left the year with the one bruise the Shield cannot hide. That split matters because 2026 asks a harsher question. Who carries a team through the weeks when the legs go flat and the travel turns mean.
Two new markets join the league in 2026. Boston Legacy FC arrives with a long runway and a loud microscope. Denver Summit FC arrives with altitude and the kind of civic hunger that can swallow a roster whole. The league also moves into a balanced 30 match schedule designed to avoid FIFA windows, with a planned pause from June 1 to June 28. This is not just more soccer. It is more strain.
Why 2026 will feel heavier than 2025
At the time, MVP talk usually starts with goals. That approach misses what will decide 2026. Availability will decide it. Rotations will decide it. Coaches will manage minutes like they manage money, and the best player on a team might play fewer minutes than her reputation demands.
Yet still, the award does not go to the toughest story. It goes to the player who changes results. In these NWSL MVP Predictions for 2026 Season, that means a forward who forces a low block to crack. It also means a midfielder who can drag a match back to her tempo. It can even mean a goalkeeper who turns one goal leads into a weekly habit.
Because of this loss in 2025, voters will also keep one eye on proof. Kansas City clinched the Shield early and set a points pace the league had not seen. Gotham finished eighth and still found a way to win four straight when the stakes got sharp. That tension will follow the 2026 race from March to November.
The 2026 MVP blueprint
Hours later, the pattern becomes obvious on film. MVP seasons usually include three traits that repeat.
One, the player produces in ways defenses cannot scheme away. Two, the player stays on the pitch when the schedule turns ugly. Three, the player’s impact shows up in the standings, not just in clips. Before long, those traits narrow the board to a familiar group, plus one wild card that can swing the whole conversation.
These NWSL MVP Predictions for 2026 Season rank the candidates from 10 to 1, with each entry built on one defining scene, one hard data point, and one piece of league context that explains why the player’s season would matter beyond her own team.
The candidates who can take the award
10. Sophia Wilson Portland Thorns FC
The Portland version of a comeback never looks quiet. Wilson missed the entire 2025 season while on maternity leave. Her return for 2026 comes with real weight because it changes Portland’s ceiling the second she takes a first touch in front of the Riveters.
A reported $1 million option year would make it the first seven figure contract year in NWSL history, and it is not charity. Portland’s own accounting of her career production is blunt: 50 goals and 15 assists in 97 matches for the club. That is not a resume. That is a pressure point.
Years passed, and the league learned to hunt stars with double teams and cynical fouls. Wilson can still win anyway because her pace forces defenders to turn, and turning defenders start making mistakes. If Portland climbs early in the NWSL standings, her name will show up on ballots fast.
9. Tara McKeown Washington Spirit
Washington’s best teams have always played with bite. McKeown brings that bite without the theatrics. She wins duels, cleans up loose balls, and dares attackers to play perfect.
The league backed that impact in 2025 by naming her Defender of the Year. That award matters in a league that rarely hands MVP trophies to defenders, because it signals elite influence that does not rely on goals.
Across the pitch, you can feel what she gives Washington. She lets the midfield press higher. She lets the fullbacks run. If the Spirit make another deep push and the defense stays intact through the 30 match grind, her candidacy will look less unusual than it sounds.
8. Lorena Kansas City Current
Kansas City built a regular season machine in 2025. The Current finished on 65 points and took the No. 1 seed into the playoffs. That kind of season usually starts with a forward. It also starts with a goalkeeper who makes opponents feel like the net shrank.
Lorena took Goalkeeper of the Year at the 2025 awards. That is the cleanest data point a keeper can bring into an MVP debate, because it confirms she did not just play well. She separated from her peers.
Yet still, the real case is psychological. When Kansas City leads 1 0, the opponent starts forcing shots that are not there. Lorena benefits from that panic, and she also creates it. If Kansas City turns 2026 into another points chase, she will sit in the middle of the argument.
7. Delphine Cascarino San Diego Wave FC
Some players change a match by speeding it up. Cascarino changes a match by deciding when to slow it down, then hitting the accelerator at the exact wrong moment for a defender.
Her 2025 production gives her a real statistical spine: 5 goals, 6 assists, and 40 shots in league play. That line tells you she created chances and demanded the ball, even when the Wave did not look smooth.
San Diego’s next step is clarity. If the Wave settle into a consistent identity in 2026, Cascarino can become the face of it because her final ball actually matches her movement. A top four finish would make her season feel bigger than her stat line.
6. Esther González Gotham FC
Gotham’s title run in 2025 turned on one late Lavelle moment. Esther still played the season like Gotham’s attack ran through her instincts inside the box.
The numbers are ruthless. She finished 2025 with 13 goals on 61 shots in league play. That volume signals repeatable pressure, not a lucky hot streak.
Yet still, the cultural hook is Gotham’s identity. The club proved it can win ugly and still win. If Gotham starts 2026 with more stability and Esther keeps scoring at a Golden Boot pace, the MVP case becomes simple. The champions had a striker who forced defenses to break.
5. Bia Zaneratto Kansas City Current
Bia does not need a perfect touch to hurt you. She needs a shoulder into your ribs and one half second of space. Kansas City’s midfield and forward line feed off that physical edge.
Her 2025 stat line reads like a second star season, not a supporting role: 7 goals, 3 assists, 45 shots, with 19 starts. That is enough production to win matches even when the team’s first plan fails.
Because of this loss in the playoffs, the Current will enter 2026 with a sharper edge. If defenses sell out to stop Temwa Chawinga, Bia becomes the release valve that can punish the gamble. MVP voters love the player who makes the best defense look foolish for choosing wrong.
4. Manaka Matsukubo North Carolina Courage
The Courage have always valued control. Matsukubo brings control with a young player’s appetite for risk. She can keep possession and still slice a line with one pass.
In 2025, the league named her Midfielder of the Year. That matters because it places her in the same conversation as the league’s most trusted tempo setters.
North Carolina’s path back to the top runs through her. If the Courage jump into the Shield race in 2026, the narrative will write itself. A young midfielder becomes the league’s most important metronome.
3. Trinity Rodman Washington Spirit
Rodman plays like she owes the game something. She runs into contact. She takes shots defenders beg her not to take. Then she takes them anyway.
Her 2025 league numbers show both impact and hunger: 5 goals, 2 assists, and 44 shots, despite a season shaped by recurring back issues and careful management. That shot volume matters because it signals an attacker who keeps pushing even when the body fights back.
Off the pitch, the league’s contract dispute around her only adds heat. Reuters reported an NWSLPA grievance tied to a vetoed offer that would have pushed record level salary territory in later years. MVP races do not require drama, but they often attract it. If Rodman stays healthy through 2026 and Washington keeps winning, she becomes the award’s most obvious American star case.
2. Rose Lavelle Gotham FC
One moment can define a season. Lavelle’s 80th minute goal decided the 2025 championship and turned Gotham’s eighth seed into history.
Her 2025 league stat line supports more than just the title clip: 5 goals and 2 assists in limited starts, with 29 shots. That is not a passenger season. That is a player who tilts matches when she plays.
Across the pitch, her real value shows up in the choices opponents make. Teams drop a midfielder deeper just to track her. That concession opens space for everyone else. If Gotham’s 2026 season becomes less chaotic and Lavelle stays available, the MVP conversation will treat her as the league’s most elegant answer to a brutal schedule.
1. Temwa Chawinga Kansas City Current
Chawinga has turned elite defenders into sprinters chasing smoke for two straight seasons. The league made that dominance official in November 2025 by naming her MVP again. She became the first player in NWSL history to win the award back to back.
The production explains why. Reuters reported she scored 15 goals in 23 games in 2025 after setting a league record with 20 goals in 2024. That is not just finishing. That is weekly inevitability.
These NWSL MVP Predictions for 2026 Season start and end with one reality. Kansas City’s entire attack bends around her speed and her timing. If the Current stay near the top again, voters will have to talk themselves out of the simplest choice. Can the league actually stop her, or will it spend another year naming her the problem it could not solve.
The question that will decide the award
NWSL MVP Predictions for 2026 Season will get noisy by May, then cruel by August. The schedule pause in June will help bodies recover, but it will also reset momentum. Some teams will come back sharper. Others will come back rusty and angry.
Boston and Denver will also change the weekly texture of the league. Expansion seasons create strange matches. Veterans treat them like a trap. Rookies treat them like a chance to announce themselves. Yet still, the MVP race usually belongs to the player who handles routine better than everyone else. The player who shows up on a humid Saturday in July and wins anyway.
In these NWSL MVP Predictions for 2026 Season, that is why the top tier stays familiar. Chawinga has the cleanest case because she already owns the league’s hardest currency, consistent goals. Lavelle sits right behind her because she can turn one touch into a title and still produce in the regular season. Rodman sits third because her combination of volume and chaos can overwhelm a match when she is healthy.
Before long, the league will force a sharper question. Do voters reward the best player on the best team, again. Or do they reward the player who survives the 30 match season and drags a flawed roster into relevance. That is where the real 2026 tension lives. Not in a single trophy night. In the long weeks when the MVP favorite shows up tired, takes one look at the match, and still decides she is winning it.
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FAQ
Q1: Who is the top pick in NWSL MVP Predictions for 2026 Season?
A: Temwa Chawinga leads the list because her production and durability set the baseline for everyone else.
Q2: How many games are in the 2026 NWSL regular season?
A: The article frames 2026 as a 30-match season. That workload shapes the MVP race from day one.
Q3: Which new teams join the NWSL in 2026?
A: The article spotlights Boston Legacy FC and Denver as new entrants that change the league’s weekly rhythm.
Q4: Why does “availability” matter so much in 2026 MVP voting?
A: The season punishes missed stretches. Voters will reward the star who stays on the pitch and carries the same load every week.
Q5: Can Sophia Wilson win MVP in 2026 after time away?
A: Yes. The article treats her return as the biggest wildcard because a healthy Wilson can tilt the entire league’s balance.
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