Credit: San Diego Wave FC
The San Diego Wave announced that the club has signed Catarina Macario through 2030. In a press release, the Wave confirmed that through use of funds from the High Impact Player Rule, her agreement is “one of the largest contracts in women’s soccer history.” Previously, Sportico reported that the total is nearly $8 million in fully guaranteed money across the five years, plus a signing bonus and incentives. Macario is eligible for High Impact Player Rule money through just one criteria: being amongst the top 11 field players for 2025 United States Women’s National Team minutes.
The USWNT star comes to the NWSL from English club Chelsea. Her contract with the English titan was set to run until the summer, and San Diego confirms it paid a transfer fee for the forward. Sportico has reported that the fee was $300,000.
Macario’s arrival in San Diego is a homecoming for the player; her family moved to the city from Brazil when she was 12. It also marks the first time she will play professionally in the U.S., as she was one of the first prominent American players in the age of the NWSL to start her pro career outside the country.
After a successful college career at Stanford where she won the MAC Hermann Trophy twice, she joined OL Lyonnes—then Olympique Lyonnais Féminin—in 2021. There, she won a UEFA Women’s Champions League title, among other trophies. In 2023, she joined Chelsea, where, when healthy, she was part of the club’s domestic dominance.
Since her first USWNT appearance in 2021, the American-Brazilian dual national has earned 29 caps and scored 16 goals for the Stars and Stripes. Half of those goals came in 2025, making her the team’s leading goalscorer that year.
Macario will wear kit number 20 for the Wave.
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