What Naomi Girma’s record $1.1 million transfer to Chelsea means for NWSL
Full Time: A show about women's soccer
The Athletic
4.8 • 808 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's an emergency episode of Full Time.
On Sunday, Chelsea officially announced the transfer of U.S. women's national team defender Naomi Girma from the San Diego Wave for a record fee of $1.1 million.
Hosts Tamerra Griffin and Meg Linehan break down the deal, from the timeline of Girma's transfer request to the chain reaction around the globe.
Jessy Parker Humphreys joins from Stamford Bridge where Girma was unveiled ahead of Chelsea's WSL match against Arsenal. Then, Matt Slater unpacks the business and economics of this historic transfer.
Before closing out, Tamerra and Meg discuss listeners' burning questions about the stunning move, and what it means to see one of the biggest USWNT players leave the NWSL.
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Articles mentioned on the show:
Chelsea and San Diego finalizing record $1.1 million transfer for USWNT’s Naomi Girma: Sources
USWNT’s Naomi Girma completes Chelsea move for record transfer fee in women’s soccer
The first $1m female footballer will be a defender and that feels just right
USWNT defender Naomi Girma as $1m transfer pioneer should surprise nobody
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HOSTS: Meg Linehan, Tamerra Griffin
GUESTS: Jessy Parker Humphreys, Matt Slater
PRODUCER: Theo Lloyd-Hughes
VIDEO PRODUCER: Lia Griffin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Olsen
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | He's having a blinder. He's clipped the post. He's looking formidable. Then... |
| 0:09.0 | His game might be over, but yours isn't. |
| 0:14.0 | With Betfair's safe so, your bet simply rolls onto the player coming on. |
| 0:18.0 | Playing a different league with Betfair. Fallidon selected leagues and markets only applies to singles, multiples and bet-builder bets on qualified player outcome selections does not apply to odds, boosts, season season exclusions apply 18 plus gamblerware.org. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, this atmosphere is incredible. |
| 0:43.6 | I think, you know, Chelsea just have that winning culture, that mentality. |
| 0:47.3 | And I think I just really wanted to be a part of that group with the players and the staff |
| 0:51.4 | and what the club stands for. |
| 0:52.7 | I think it's amazing. |
| 0:56.8 | Those were Naomi Germa's first words officially as a blue. |
| 1:02.0 | I'm Tamara Griffin, and you are listening to a special emergency edition of Full Time with Meg |
| 1:07.8 | Linnehan, where we are going to be diving deep into the details and the specifics |
| 1:12.8 | of this historic, record-breaking $1.1 million transfer of Naomi Gierma from the San Diego Wave |
| 1:21.4 | to Chelsea Women. And of course, I cannot do this alone. I am joined, as always, by my co-host, Meg, |
| 1:31.1 | history. We're here. How are you doing? Good. You know, it has been a week. It's going to be |
| 1:39.5 | another week of still reporting around this deal. Obviously, this is, I think, the big story that so many of us |
| 1:47.7 | who cover the sport have been waiting for that first million dollar transfer. It is kind of |
| 1:52.4 | amusing to me of like, we've all decided that it's $1 million and not one million pounds. It is |
| 1:58.3 | going to be the threshold that we care about. So I appreciate that. |
| 2:02.5 | Yeah. There's always that tension between units of measurement, money included. But it's Naomi. |
| 2:07.9 | So I think it makes sense for it to be dollars, right? |
| 2:10.9 | 100%. All right. Before we go even further, we want to set the scene. So in order to do that, we are bringing |
| 2:19.6 | in Jesse Parker Humphreys, who covers the WSL for the athletic and was seated at Stanford Bridge |
... |
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