Washington Spirit Signs Paraguayan Forward Claudia Martínez for Record Fee

The Washington Spirit has signed 18-year-old Paraguayan forward Claudia Martínez from Club Olimpia for a reported transfer fee of $950,000, as confirmed by an informed source to ESPN.

This fee, which includes a sell-on percentage payable to Olimpia for any future transfer of Martínez, ranks among the top ten in the history of women’s soccer to date.

Martínez, who just celebrated her 18th birthday last week, has made a significant impact for Paraguay at youth international levels before advancing to the senior team.

In December, Olimpia announced a new long-term contract for Martínez, which reportedly included a multi-million-dollar termination clause. However, sources clarified to ESPN that this clause is not applicable to the current transfer, and the $950,000 (inclusive of the sell-on fee) represents the total of the transaction.

In soccer, it is common for transfers to occur at fees below the specified release clauses, which often serve as triggers rather than strict minimums.

Last year, during her senior tournament debut, Martínez was a co-leading scorer at the Copa América Femenina. She made headlines by scoring a hat trick against Bolivia and netting additional goals against Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela throughout the tournament.

Martínez will join the NWSL team on a contract that runs through 2028, with a team option for 2029.

Significantly, due to the NWSL’s regulations regarding annual net transfer thresholds, the payment of $950,000 will be divided into two installments: $500,000 in the current year and $450,000 the following year, as confirmed by a source to ESPN.

The NWSL’s net transfer threshold governs the amount each team can spend on transfers annually, similar to how a salary cap restricts player salaries. This threshold is set to increase by 10% each year throughout the current NWSL collective bargaining agreement, with an anticipated threshold of $605,000 for each team by 2026. Any net fees exceeding this threshold incur a 25% penalty on the salary cap.

To illustrate, if a team invests $500,000 in a player but transfers out a player for $400,000, their net expenditure would be $100,000.

Before her breakout performance at Copa América, Martínez played a pivotal role in leading Paraguay to its first U17 CONMEBOL title, finishing as the competition’s top scorer with 10 goals.

She joins a Spirit team that has finished as runners-up for both the NWSL Shield and the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.