16 Players. 16 Communities. One Award That Actually Matters.

There are awards for goals. Awards for assists. Awards for saves. Awards for MVPs and Golden Boots and championships.

And then there is this one.

The 2026 Lauren Holiday Impact Award nominees were announced last week. Sixteen players. One from every NWSL club. Each of them were chosen not for what they did on the pitch but for what they do when the final whistle blows, and nobody is watching the scoreboard anymore.

This is the award that actually tells you who these women are.

Who Lauren Holiday Is and Why Her Name Is on This

Before you can understand the award, you have to understand the person it honors.

Lauren Holiday spent her career being one of the best soccer players in the world. Two Olympic gold medals. A World Cup championship. Back to back NWSL titles with FC Kansas City. The inaugural NWSL MVP in 2013. The Golden Boot. A spot in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Her jersey was the first in NWSL history to be retired.

She did all of that. And then she kept going.

In 2016, one year after retiring from professional soccer, Holiday was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor while pregnant with her first child. She recovered. She didn’t slow down. She and her husband Jrue Holiday, an NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks, founded the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Impact Fund in 2020 to combat systemic racism and socioeconomic inequality in cities they call home. They were awarded the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian ESPY Award in 2023 for that work. She is now an investor and adviser with the North Carolina Courage.

The award carries her name because she has spent her entire adult life proving that an athlete’s platform is a responsibility, not a perk.

What the Award Is and How It Works

Every NWSL club nominates one player. Each nominee selects a community partner, a local nonprofit or organization that reflects their values and their city. Over the course of the season, each club hosts a recognition match for their nominee and their chosen partner. Nationwide donates $5,000 to each partner as part of that recognition.

At championship weekend, one overall winner is announced. Nationwide donates $50,000 to the winning player’s community partner of choice.

There is also a Fan Impact Challenge. From August 14 to 29, fans vote on nwslsoccer.com for their favorite nominee. The player who receives the most fan engagement wins an additional $10,000 donation to their chosen nonprofit. One randomly selected fan who voted for the winning nominee also receives a jersey from the team of their choosing.

This is not a trophy sitting on a shelf. It moves real money into real communities.

Who Got Nominated and Why It Matters

The 2026 nominees tell you everything about the kind of league the NWSL is becoming.

Savy King of Angel City FC did not partner with an existing organization. She built her own. Savy King of Hearts was born out of a personal experience and focuses on raising awareness of lifesaving measures in underserved communities. When you care enough to build the thing yourself, that says something.

Fauzia Najjemba of Boston Legacy FC is partnering with Soccer Without Borders Massachusetts, an organization that uses soccer to support immigrant and newcomer youth. She knows what it means to find your footing somewhere new. She is using that knowledge to open doors for others.

Nya Harrison of San Diego Wave FC grew up in San Diego. She is giving back to her own city through Monarch School, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting and empowering unhoused youth—a hometown player showing up for the most vulnerable people in her hometown.

Katie Atkinson of Chicago Stars FC is directing her platform toward the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. Children who are fighting for their lives. She said she was grateful for the chance to bring awareness to a very good cause. That is exactly the right way to put it.

Bella Bixby of Portland Thorns FC chose Friends of Trees, a community-driven nonprofit that expands and cares for the urban forest across the Pacific Northwest through volunteer-powered programs. It is not flashy. It is the kind of work that changes a city for generations.

Hannah Bebar of Bay FC is supporting the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, which provides free and inclusive sports programs for girls from under-resourced neighborhoods and children with disabilities. Expanding access. Leveling the playing field. Doing exactly what women’s sports have always had to fight for itself.

Izzy Rodriguez of Kansas City Current is partnering with EarlystART, one of Kansas City’s leading innovators in early childhood learning. The idea behind it is simple. Invest in a child early enough, and you change the entire direction of a life.

This Is What Owning Your Platform Looks Like

The NWSL is a league that has been fighting for respect, resources, and visibility for over a decade. And the players in it have consistently shown that they are not waiting for the world to catch up.

They are building hospitals. They are opening doors for immigrant kids. They are planting trees and funding children’s cancer centers and fighting for unhoused youth. They are starting their own nonprofits from scratch.

Lauren Holiday said it herself when the nominations were announced: they continue to redefine the standards on athletes using their platforms to give back and see change.

That is the whole thing. That is the award. That is the league.

Not just the goals. The women behind them.