Gotham FC signs midfielder Tess Boade. JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Aug. 20, 2026) - Gotham FC has signed free agent midfielder Tess Boade through the end of the 2026 season, the club announced Thursday in partnership with Dove. Boade joins Gotham FC as a free agent after two and a half seasons with Bay FC. She will wear No. 28. The move brings Boade back to the club that originally drafted her with the 40th overall pick in the 2021 NWSL Draft. Boade elected to return to Duke University for an additional season of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic before beginning her professional career with the North Carolina Courage in 2022. "Returning to the club that first drafted me is an exciting full-circle moment," said Boade. "I've long admired Gotham FC for their play style, professionalism and commitment to winning. I'm eager and excited for what the rest of this season will bring." "Tess brings NWSL experience and a strong understanding of what it takes to compete in this league," said Yael Averbuch West, the president of soccer operations for Gotham FC. "We're happy to welcome her to Gotham and look forward to having her join the group." Boade, 27, has made 63 career NWSL regular season appearances, including 48 starts, totaling 4,105 minutes with six goals and five assists. She began her professional career with the Courage in 2022 and was part of the club's NWSL Challenge Cup-winning teams in both 2022 and 2023. Boade joined Bay FC as one of the club's three expansion draft selections ahead of its inaugural 2024 season. She tallied three goals and two assists during her time in the Bay Area, including the assist on the first goal in Bay FC history, the match-winner on March 17, 2024, at Angel City FC. She appeared in two matches for Bay FC this season. Prior to turning professional, Boade played five seasons at Duke, finishing her career tied for fourth in program history with 93 appearances and tied for eighth with 10 game-winning goals. She earned All-ACC First Team honors as a graduate student in 2021 after recording eight goals and five assists. Boade represented the United States at the U-17 level and trained with the U.S. at the U-18 and U-19 levels.

Raising Black voices with Hella Creative. In an effort to raise Black voices past and present, Bay FC is honored to host the Black Heritage Match on Sunday, August 23. Guests will be able to purchase the Item of the Match - the Black Heritage Tee designed by Yonas Tesfai - with proceeds benefiting Hella Creative and their work. Hella Creative 101. Founded in 2020, Hella Creative is a collective of designers, strategists and community leaders whose mission is to elevate Black voices through campaigns, experiences and storytelling. Established during the COVID-19 pandemic, this was developed as a space for Black creatives to connect, build community, and share resources to create change in the Bay Area. Their big moment came with the #HellaJuneteenth viral grassroots campaign in their founding year, which garnered over 250 million impressions, encouraged over 800 companies to recognize the paid holiday, and led to its adoption as a federal holiday. This has since evolved into the Hella Juneteenth Festival and Oakland Juneteenth Week, which hosts over 4,000 guests every year. Moreover, the collective received Congressional Certificates of Special Recognition for their work building Hella Juneteenth in 2026. (To learn more about Juneteenth, watch Bay FC players discuss the holiday in this video.) On the collaboration. When asked about the Bay FC partnership, Hella Creative stated that they're, "honored to be recognized by an organization that's committed to celebrating Black heritage and the ongoing work for equity and justice. We are especially honored to be in collaboration with an organization that functions as a powerful platform for women, which speaks to the same values Hella Creative has centered since 2020: creating space for voices that have too often been pushed to the margins." Item of the Match. The Item of the Match, the Black Heritage Tee, features a design by Oakland-based artist Yonas W. Tesfai. Tesfai is an Eritrean-American, mixed-media illustrator and digital artist whose portrait work celebrates, "the human spirit and Black experience with a powerful social and political commentary." He designed the medals and logo for the 2024 Oakland Marathon and has exhibited locally and regionally. Get this tee, secure your match day tickets, and join Bay FC and members of Hella Creative at the Black Heritage Match against Houston Dash at PayPal Park on Sunday, August 23. Explore Hella Creative and Hella Juneteenth further:

Bay FC sign Nighswonger after difficult Arsenal spell ends. To help deliver timely coverage of women's football, She Kicks Ltd may use AI tools to support content creation and editing. While She Kicks Ltd strive for accuracy and editorial quality, readers should independently verify important information. Jenna Nighswonger is leaving Arsenal and returning to the NWSL with Bay FC, according to ESPN, in a deal reported to be worth around $200,000. She found limited game time during her time in England, and her departure signals that the WSL stint did not deliver what either side had hoped for. A short and difficult chapter at Arsenal comes to a close. Arsenal signed Nighswonger from Gotham FC in January 2025 for around $100,000, with the 24-year-old arriving as part of a broader wave of NWSL-to-WSL movement that also brought Naomi Girma to Chelsea. She had been one of the most exciting young defenders in American football, winning the 2023 NWSL Rookie of the Year award and an NWSL Championship with Gotham in the same season, before earning a place in the USWNT squad that won Olympic gold in Paris in 2024. According to Just Women's Sports, Nighswonger described the opportunity as something she had always wanted, playing in England, and spoke of taking her chance even while content at her previous club. But the reality proved harder to navigate. She made just five league appearances for Arsenal before heading out on loan to Aston Villa, where she featured in eight league matches. Villa held an option to buy her permanently at the end of the loan but chose not to exercise it. By this summer, the direction of travel was already clear. Nighswonger did not join Arsenal for pre-season, training in the US instead while the Bay FC move was finalised, and her squad number had already been reassigned to new signing Ona Batlle. Bay FC bring her back to familiar territory. Bay FC have agreed to sign Nighswonger on a permanent basis for around $200,000, according to ESPN. That decision reflects how the NWSL market values USWNT-capped defenders with her profile, even when a European adventure has not gone entirely to plan. Nighswonger played as a forward during her college career at Florida State, where she won a national championship in 2021 and was a Hermann Trophy finalist in 2022, before being used as a full-back from her rookie season at Gotham onward and establishing herself in that role for both club and country. She joins a Bay FC side currently sitting 14th of 16 in the NWSL under first-year head coach Emma Coates, who has also brought in Claire Hutton, Kennedy Fuller, and Argentine forward Agostina Holzheier this year as the club looks to turn its season around. What Nighswonger's departure means for Arsenal. Nighswonger's exit is a notable departure from Arsenal Women, coming after the club signed her from Gotham FC in the January 2025 window. Her time in England was marked by limited appearances, and a return to the NWSL gives her the platform to rebuild her club-level form.