List of National Women's Soccer League transactions 2023

The NWSL operates with caps on the number of players that a club can sign;[2]^: 11 a salary cap the club's total wage bill, extendible by allocation money; minimum and maximum individual player salary caps, which can be surpassed using allocation money; a club's total allocation money;[2]^: 24–27 the number of international players (defined as players not eligible to work in the United States without a visa) that a club can sign;[2]^: 14 and the number of players under the age of 18 that a club can sign.

The 2023 season marked the first time that players with at least six years' tenure in the NWSL and expiring contracts became free agents capable of negotiating contracts with any NWSL team.[3] Following a labor dispute over whether 22 players with unexercised contract options counted as expired contracts in which an arbitrator ruled in favor of the NWSL Players Association, a total of 48 players were designated as the league's first free agents retroactive to August 26, 2023.[4] All other players are subject to the NWSL's systems of distributing players' rights, which assigns the right for clubs to offer or hold a league-centralized standard player agreement (SPA) to a player. These systems include:[2]^: 28–50

• Drafts, mechanisms in which player rights are distributed in a league-determined order, such as the annual NWSL Draft, expansion and dispersal drafts, and the Re-entry Wire for waived players
• Trades, in which teams exchange player contracts, players' rights, or non-player assets such as selection order in NWSL drafts, immunity from selection in expansion drafts, allocation money, and international roster spots allowing the signing of players not eligible to work in the United States through a green card or citizenship
• Discovery, in which a league-assigned order prioritizes teams' claims to the rights of players not already under contract with the NWSL, including players who registered for the NWSL Draft but were not selected, international players, and waived players who clear the Re-entry Wire
• Free agency, limited to out-of-contract players with a certain tenure of play in the NWSL
• Under-18 entry list, limited to players under the age of 18 with additional restrictions, such as minimum contract lengths and limitations on trades, transfers, and loans

Player rights limit only which club within the NWSL that can sign a player to a SPA. Clubs can possess and retain the right to sign a player who is not under contract with the team, and such players have no obligation to report to the team and are not prevented from signing contracts with other leagues. Clubs can also sign players on loan dependent on their league's regulations. SPAs can contain a no-trade clause, and can include either a unilateral or mutual contract option to extend its terms by an additional year.[2]^: 16

Clubs can sign players to short-term Injury Replacement Player (IRP) contract should a rostered player be injured, Season-Ending Injury/Illness Replacement (SEI) contracts, short-term National Team Replacement Player (NTRP) contracts to replace rostered players called up to international duty during the season, and short-term Goalkeeper Replacement (GKR) contracts should a team become unable to field two goalkeepers during the season. Such contracts are not subject to league caps and roster freeze dates for the duration of the replaced player's absence,[2]^: 13 and NTRP contracts must be terminated within three days of the end of the associated international window.[5][6] Players taking parental leave, using pregnancy benefits, or taking player-elected or mental health leave are also exempt from roster caps.[2]^: 13[6]