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Jeff Kassouf
The Washington Spirit have signed 18-year-old Paraguayan forward Claudia Martínez from Club Olimpia for a $950,000 transfer fee, a source with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.
The fee, which also includes a sell-on fee due to Olimpia for any future transfer, ranks among the top 10 in women’s soccer history to date.
Martínez, who turned 18 years old last week, dazzled for Paraguay at the youth international levels before joining the senior team. She is the first Paraguayan player in NWSL history.
ABC Color 730 AM in Paraguay first reported the news.
Olimpia announced a new long-term contract for Martínez in December, which reportedly included a «multi-million-dollar termination clause,» but sources confirmed to ESPN that the clause is not related to the transfer, and the $950,000 (with a sell-on fee) is the full extent of the transaction.
Even for contracts that feature release clauses, it is not uncommon in soccer for transfers to be agreed to and completed at fees below those thresholds, which often serve as triggers rather than minimum thresholds.
Last year, she was the co-leading scorer at the Copa América Femenina in her senior tournament debut. She scored a hat trick against Bolivia and added goals against Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela later in the tournament.
Martínez will join the NWSL side on a contract through 2028, with a team option for 2029.
Crucially, due to the NWSL’s rules governing annual net transfer thresholds, the $950,000 will be broken up into two payments from the Spirit to Olimpia, a source confirmed to ESPN: $500,000 this year and $450,000 next year.
The NWSL’s net transfer threshold governs how much each team can spend in transfers each year, much like the salary cap restricts how much teams can pay players.
The net transfer threshold is due to rise 10% each year for the duration of the current NWSL collective bargaining agreement, which means a threshold of $605,000 for each team in 2026. Net fees paid by a team over the threshold incur a 25% charge on the salary cap.
In simple terms, if a team spends $500,000 on a player and transfers out a player for $400,000, for example, their net threshold is $100,000.
Prior to her Copa América breakout, Martínez led Paraguay to its first U17 CONMEBOL title, leading the competition with 10 goals.
She joins a Spirit team that has finished runners-up for both the NWSL Shield and the playoffs each of the past two seasons.
