In soccer, defenders struggle to achieve the kinds of milestones that put them in the conversation as their sport’s best player. Their teammates are almost all better positioned for statistical records: goals scored by forwards, assists dished out by midfielders, or clean sheets kept by goalkeepers.

Now, one of the best defenders in the world has found a unique way to make her case, with Naomi Girma set to make the first million-dollar transfer in women’s soccer history.

On Tuesday, the San Diego Wave and England’s Chelsea agreed to terms for the $1.1million transfer of the USWNT defender between the NWSL and WSL clubs. For years, many figured the first million-dollar player in women’s soccer would be a forward. Goals win games after all, and a player who can consistently find the back of the net is always a valuable acquisition. 

As Chelsea finalizes her contract, however, it shouldn’t be a shock that the record-breaker is actually a defender — and, of all defenders in the women’s game around the world, none are more deserving of this distinction than Girma.

First things first. Who is Naomi Girma?

Born in San Jose, Calif. to Ethiopian immigrants, Girma’s development as a player has come in the Golden State. Now, Chelsea will reap the benefits of those efforts.

Girma grew up joining her father and his friends in “Maleda” — an Amharic (Ethiopian) word meaning sunrise or early morning — soccer. It was a “free-for-all” gathering to get the Bay Area’s Ethiopian community of all ages together to play soccer and bond, she told Soccer America in 2020. Girma “thought it was the best thing ever,” allowing her to fall in love with the sport in a pressure-free environment.

In 2010, aged 10, she joined Central Valley Crossfire, staying until that club’s dissolution seven years later, then finished her youth club career with De Anza Force and California Thorns. She played for Pioneer High School in San Jose, also drawing the attention of U.S. Soccer as it scouted for its youth international teams.

She continued her progression in college, committing to nearby Stanford, where she captained the Cardinal as a sophomore (second-year player), winning the 2019 NCAA College Cup. An ACL knee injury in 2021 brought her collegiate career to an abrupt end, as she gave up her final year of eligibility to go professional. The newly formed San Diego Wave selected Girma with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft, ensuring her future remained in her home state.

Once again, Girma wasted no time making her mark. She won both the NWSL Defender of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards in 2022, then was named its Defender of the Year again the following season.

In April 2022, the USWNT’s head coach at the time, Vlatko Andonovski, deemed Girma ready for the senior team. She debuted in a friendly against Uzbekistan, and later linked up with former Stanford teammate and USWNT forward Sophia Smith for a goal in the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship.

Girma’s emergence as a first-choice center back for the U.S. coincided with a rare crossroad for the national team.

The United States has long been the dominant power in international women’s soccer, having won the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 and repeated that feat in 1999, 2015 and 2019. Despite having won consecutive FIFA titles at the time of Girma’s first cap, Andonovski and his staff were stuck between two minds: give a by-now-aging core of 30-somethings a chance to make it three straight in 2023 or usher in a youth movement to advance the program into a new era.

Ultimately, that indecision set the USWNT up for failure at that World Cup 18 months ago, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. In the round of 16, the reigning champions lacked the decisive edge that typified those victorious runs in 2015 and 2019, losing on penalty kicks to longtime rival Sweden following a goalless draw.

Yet during arguably the lowest point in USWNT history, Girma’s quality shone brightly.

While that team struggled to convert chances into goals, its defensive record was sterling. The U.S. conceded two shots on goal across the 390 minutes of game time in that tournament, a total most teams eclipse in a single match. Girma partnered with veteran Julie Ertz in the back, helping lock down opponents while offering her teammates needed distribution in transition.

In the following months, Andonovski was replaced by Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes, who took the job on after a decade of success with the London club. Lauded as among the best soccer coaches of any gender from this era, and named 2024 Ballon d’Or and FIFA Best Coach of the Year, Hayes brought fresh eyes to a program sorely needing a boost.

Girma has remained at the heart of the back line under the new regime, a worthy successor to Becky Sauerbrunn in caliber and spirit.

What makes Girma so special?

When the United States won gold at last year’s Olympics in France, Girma’s praises were sung as loudly as those of the side’s attacking trio of Smith, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson.

Even with the advancement of modern metrics such as expected goals, expected assists and expected goals prevented, it’s difficult to quantify the extent of a defender’s value in numbers. Instead, a combination of data, the eye test and expert endorsement helped drive one point home: Girma had quickly entered her position’s highest echelon.

“She’s the best defender I’ve ever seen,” Hayes said after a shutout Olympic semifinal victory against Germany. “Ever. She’s got everything: poise, composure, she defends, she anticipates, she leads.”

Smith scored the only goal that day, but Girma’s performance was worthy of plaudits.

Germany had already played the USWNT in the group stage, giving them invaluable tape to study. Despite this attention, Girma had a higher number of completed passes than any other player even attempted. She locked down Germany’s attackers whenever they neared the final third. She carried the ball for 687 meters, 24 percent of the USWNT’s combined distance, giving crucial time for her teammates to make off-ball movements and set up the next sequence.

When the United States finished its tournament with another 1-0 win, this time over Brazil to secure those gold medals, Girma joined the lineage of program greats to win a major tournament.

Why did it take so long for a $1million move?

At this point, it shouldn’t be necessary to ask if Girma is good at her job. She is, and exceptionally so.

Still, we return to a couple of bigger questions around her move to Chelsea; specifically, why is she the record-setter and why has it taken so long for anyone to hit the seven-figure-fee mark?

Girma is a proven winner in a vital position, both for her country and at club level. San Diego topped the NWSL’s regular season table in 2023, led by Girma and since-retired iconic forward Alex Morgan. Successes like those require a team’s top players to maintain a level of consistency. Since 2022, it’s hard to remember a specific game where Girma has played below her usual level.

Marketability is undoubtedly a consideration, as shirt and ticket sales are a way to recoup a sizeable transfer fee. Girma is among the most beloved stars of the current USWNT.

The camera’s view of Rose Lavelle, Hayes, Smith and others celebrating enthusiastically from the sideline in the clip above further illustrates how universally respected Girma has quickly become.

Finally, it’s more difficult to confidently identify a top-class defender, given the aforementioned lack of definitive statistics around these roles. Only a few players doing the game’s thankless tasks reach a level of universal praise akin to the one Girma has. Naturally, it’s hard to convince a club which employs such a player to let them go before their contract expires.

Transfer fees only come into play in soccer when a player has tenure remaining on their deal, leading to many players only maneuvering from club to club after these expire and they become free agents. A paid transfer fee indicates that a player is so valuable to a club’s plans they can’t wait until the contract runs out — and that they don’t want to risk a more competitive market for their signature. Girma’s most recent deal with San Diego ran through the end of 2026, meaning Chelsea had to hit a valuation to make up for two lost years from the Wave’s perspective.

Still, it’s a mark reached far later in women’s soccer than in the men’s game.

Italian forward Pietro Anastasi became the first million-dollar transfer in 1968, moving within his homeland from Varese to Juventus for £500,000 at a time when one British pound was worth $2.39. The ensuing decades have seen the prices for men’s players skyrocket to almost laughable excess, with the current record holder (Neymar, of Brazil) commanding a £200million ($247.4m by current rates) fee when he went from Spain’s Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.

Of course, these decades of delay are sadly common in women’s soccer. The first Women’s World Cup wasn’t held until 1991, some 61 years after the men’s version debuted. The gap between the first million-dollar transfers for each is nearly as long, ending after 57 years thanks to Girma and Chelsea.

Investment in women’s soccer has increased rapidly over the past decade, as interest in all of women’s sports continues to rise. When San Diego announced its launch in 2021, it paid the NWSL roughly $2million as an expansion fee. Earlier this month, Denver was announced as the next NWSL market, with the reported expansion fee hitting $110m — that’s a staggering 5,400 percent increase in just four years.

A player’s market value is often estimated solely compared to their on-field peers, but the increased sums of money being spent in all areas of women’s soccer are vital to milestones like this. Clubs justify fees through some balance of past transfers, the current wage bill and a multitude of revenue streams. If that latter part isn’t healthy, many owners struggle to enable further spending. Such is the way of capitalism and sports ownership.

We should see many more fees requiring two commas in the months and years to come. Now that Girma is about to become the first million-dollar player, clubs won’t have to fret over whether a specific target is “worthy” of setting a new, higher benchmark.

For now, however, Girma is in a class of her own. She is, by many people’s estimation, the best player at her position in the women’s game worldwide. That status also vaults her into the broader conversation about the sport’s greatest players. And on that front, she’s heading towards being among the best in USWNT history.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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