2024 Orlando Pride season


The 2024 Orlando Pride season was the Orlando Pride's ninth season in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. The Pride won the NWSL Shield, its first trophy, by finishing the regular season in first place. On November 24, 2024, the Pride defeated the Washington Spirit 1-0 to become NWSL champions for the first time in franchise history.

Notable events

Two new expansion franchises, Bay FC and Utah Royals, joined the NWSL in 2024. Orlando traded for full protection from both teams in the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft and therefore had no players selected.
After four-and-a-half seasons under the Exploria sponsorship name, Orlando City's home stadium was rebranded as Inter&Co Stadium ahead of the 2024 season.
Ahead of the 2024 season it was announced that after four seasons as a league cup competition, the NWSL Challenge Cup would become a super cup between the previous season's NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship winners. As a result, Orlando Pride did not participate in the 2024 Challenge Cup. It made way for the Summer Cup, a similar style tournament including Liga MX Femenil teams.
On March 7, the team signed Zambian forward Barbra Banda from Shanghai Shengli for a transfer fee reported to be $740,000; a new club record transfer fee and the second-highest in women's soccer history.
The Pride won the NWSL Shield, the team's first trophy, clinching it with a win over Washington Spirit on October 6. They did so while setting several NWSL records, notably going undefeated through the first 23 regular season games until a loss to the Portland Thorns FC on October 11. The streak stretched back to the previous season, lasting 24 NWSL regular seasons games and 27 games in all competitions in total. Goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse also set a new NWSL record for shutouts in a single season with 13, beating Adrianna Franch's 11 shutouts set with Portland Thorns in 2017.
Orlando ended a five-year playoff drought and earned the first postseason victory in club history on November 8 with a 4–1 victory over Chicago Red Stars. The team reached the NWSL Championship game for the first time. It also marked the first time an NWSL Shield winner had reached the Championship since North Carolina Courage in 2019 and similarly the first time since 2019 that the #1 and #2 seeds met in the Championship. On November 23, Orlando became the second club after North Carolina to win the double, defeating Washington 1–0 in the final.
At the end of the season, Emily Sams, Marta and Barbra Banda were named NWSL Best XI first team. Anna Moorhouse and Kerry Abello were named NWSL Best XI second team. Seb Hines was named Coach of the Year.

Match results

Friendlies

Orlando Pride opened preseason camp on January 23. Six friendly matches were scheduled with all played behind closed doors.

National Women's Soccer League

The NWSL regular season was played on a balanced schedule i.e. each team will play every other team twice; once at home and once away. The top eight teams qualified for the playoffs, an increase of two from the previous year.
'''Results summary'''

Playoffs

The top eight teams qualified for the playoffs. All rounds were single elimination. Orlando qualified for the first time since 2017 and entered as the #1 seed, matching them at home to the #8 seed in the quarterfinals.

NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup

In 2024, NWSL and Liga MX Femenil combined for a new tournament, the Summer Cup. All 14 NWSL clubs and six Liga MX clubs competed in a group stage before a knockout round.
'''Group stage'''

Squad statistics

Appearances

Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances after the + symbol where applicable.
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Goalkeepers
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Defenders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Midfielders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|''Forwards''

Transfers and loans

2024 NWSL Draft

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2024 college draft was held on January 12, 2024. Orlando made four selections.
RoundPickPlayerCollegeStatus
19

Preseason trialists

Orlando Pride began preseason training on January 23, 2024. The squad included four non-roster invitees on trial with the team during preseason. McKinley Crone returned to Orlando having played with the Pride during the previous season before her contract expired while five-year NWSL veteran Simone Charley was a free agent having been with Angel City FC for the last two seasons. Two undrafted rookies were also included: goalkeeper Kenna Caldwell out of Texas A&M University and defender Raegan Cox out of Michigan State University. Emily Moxley also trained with the team in preseason.