U.S. women's national team stalwart Naomi Girma officially became women's soccer's first million-dollar player on Sunday by completing her record-breaking transfer from San Diego to Chelsea.

The English club unveiled Girma at Stamford Bridge moments before its highly-anticipated Women's Super League match against Arsenal.

Simultaneously, Chelsea announced that the move had been finalized. Girma will join Chelsea, the reigning WSL champions and current league-leader, immediately.

And Chelsea will reportedly pay the San Diego Wave, Girma's previous club, a $1.1 million transfer fee. That smashes the previous record set last offseason, when NWSL expansion club Bay FC acquired Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF for $860,000.

Girma, 24, cemented her status as one of the best center backs in the sport at the Paris Olympics last summer. She anchored a USWNT defense that didn't concede a single goal in 330 knockout-round minutes. "Look, she's the best defender I've ever seen,” USWNT head coach Emma Hayes said after a 1-0 semifinal win over Germany. “Ever."

After the 2024 NWSL season ended, Chelsea, Arsenal and Lyon, three European powerhouses, all reportedly showed interest in acquiring the Northern California native, per ESPN. And in the end, Chelsea won out.

"There are a lot of things about Chelsea that made me want to come here — the culture, the winning mentality, staff and players," Girma said in a news release. "It’s a top environment to learn and grow in."

Girma joins USWNT teammates Mia Fishel and Catarina Macario at Chelsea, which is chasing its sixth straight league title this season under manager Sonia Bompastor, who replaced Hayes when she left to take charge of the USWNT.

Girma and Macario were also teammates at Stanford, where they won a national title together. Macario then went overseas. Girma chose to enter the NWSL. The Wave, in its inaugural season, selected Girma as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2022 draft. In three seasons, she helped lead the team to the 2023 NWSL Shield and the 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup.

Girma is a well-decorated, brilliant back line anchor who can not only anticipate opponents' moves but is also key to creating offensive chances in the run of play.

Girma departs San Diego while the team is in the middle of a pretty significant rebuild. The Wave hired Arsenal women's coach Jonas Eidevall as head coach earlier this month, turning the page on the Casey Stoney era. But the team will be missing some of its biggest faces next season, with inaugural player Alex Morgan retiring in September and young forward Jaedyn Shaw being traded to the North Carolina Courage.

Perhaps in anticipation of Girma leaving, the Wave signed 17-year-old defender Trinity Armstrong — another young, talented defender — to a three-year contract on Jan. 16. Armstrong won an NCAA national championship in a standout freshman season at the University of North Carolina, and is one of five nominees for U.S. Soccer's 2024 Young Player of the Year award. She might not be Girma, but Armstrong will be a strong addition to the San Diego back line as the team rebuilds.