Macey Fraser Signs With Utah Royals: A Unique Journey, A Record Fee & Wellington Phoenix Pathways
The best transfers are the ones that appear like a lightning bolt from the ether and significantly change the entire scene. Macey Fraser moving from the Wellington Phoenix to the Utah Royals for an A-League Women’s record transfer fee is absolutely one of those. Not only does it send Fraser into the stratosphere tiwards one of the strongest leagues on the planet (after only one year of professional footy!) but it completely changes the dynamic for other kiwi players in the A-League and beyond. The fee was unreported but it’s understood to be a six-figure sum. Those are rare for any player, unprecedented for a New Zealander, and the stuff of cosmic visions for the Wellington Phoenix.
Macey Fraser’s footballing journey has not been a simple one. Despite how suddenly she seemed to emerge during this past Wellington Phoenix campaign, she’d already been on the local scene for several years. By the age of 15 she was already playing for Canterbury United Pride, and this was during their era of National League dominance. That took her into the 2018 U17 World Cup squad where she was a key player in the side that finished third overall, Aotearoa’s best ever finish at a FIFA tournament.
Fraser continued to thrive in the National League after a move to Southern United... then she kinda got lost in the mix. She was in and out of the old FFDP programme with stints in 2018 and 2020. Didn’t settle there, as was the case with many of those Pride players. No surprises considering it required them to relocate to Auckland. Funnily enough, the Wellington Phoenix are now stacked with Cantabs but that’s a different story.
Instead she moved to Wellington where she spent some time with the Ole Academy and then the Wellington Phoenix Academy, training with the boys teams for both until the Welly Nix began making moves towards getting an A-League Women’s team. Meanwhile covid was happening so the U20 World Cup was cancelled in 2020. MF was still young enough to be picked for the 2022 edition... but she couldn’t get a game for that side. Possibly due to injury, dunno. This was when the Wellington Phoenix and NZ U20s were linked by the coaching duo of Gemma Lewis and Natalie Lawrence and, while this isn’t to suggest any blame (football is more complicated than that), despite continually picking her in FFDP and U20s teams there was no place for Fraser in their Phoenix Women’s teams. Not in year one, not in year two. Around that time there were also whispers of her seeking overseas gigs but nothing came of that. She merely stayed put in the academy.
Anyway, it got to where Fraser has said she was considering whether trying to be a professional footballer was the best use of her one wild and precious life, still slogging away with the Phoenix Reserves. Then along came Paul Temple, first as the Wellington Phoenix Academy’s Technical Director and head coach of the Women’s Reserves, then as the head coach of the ALW team. He very quickly signed Fraser on a multi-year contract and immediately threw her into the first team where she started almost every game she was available for and proved to be a key player. Three goals, five assists, and all you could argue she was the main instigator of their Small Ball strategy too. Chuck in a national team debut, where she seems to have instantly become an important player for the Football Ferns as well.
That Phoenix deal was announced on 16 August 2023. Almost exactly eight months later this Utah Royals move has happened. It wasn’t an easy journey but talent plus perseverance eventually lead to good things. For Macey Fraser, that happened very quickly, then very slowly, then very quickly again. She’s now 21 years old and about to join a team in one of the best leagues on the planet.
Fraser’s game is well-placed to make that adjustment to the NWSL where it’s very physical and direct. Not unlike the A-League. For all the creative exploits that Fraser has shown, like the trademarked Fraser Shuffle that gets defenders biting on the shot-fake each and every time without fail, she has a remarkable all-around skill set that includes a high workrate, excellent fitness, and superb tackling ability for someone you don’t necessarily expect it of. She’s not big but she’s got scrappiness for days. That’ll serve her nicely in America – and it’s telling that the Royals, despite giving her a three year contract (with an option for a fourth) aren’t talking about her like a long-term prospect but as a player who can step in and help them from day one.
Utah Royals Sporting Director Kelly Cousins: “Macey is a player that can make an immediate impact on our team. Not only does she have the temperament, but has the technical and physical abilities to succeed in the NWSL. We are excited to welcome her to the club and to watch her develop here in Utah.”
This kind of transfer business may be unprecedented for a New Zealander but it’s becoming quite common in the NWSL. 2024 expansion side Bay FC broke the world record before they’d ever played a game when they signed Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF for €805k. A month later, Orlando Pride signed Barbra Banda from Shanghai Shengli for €681k, moving into second place. Both are Zambian internationals, coincidentally. Four of the top five fees have occurred in 2024 and that’s a reflection of the rapidly expanding finances at the top of the women’s game these days. A financially successful World Cup the year before no doubt played a heavy role in that.
The World Cup might also have affected the NWSL in another way, given how poorly the USA performed in Aotearoa & Australia. It was pretty obvious to see that America’s reliance of supreme athleticism and unwavering confidence had met its match in the tactical and technical superiority on display from Spain, England, and a few of those other European nations. Possibly even nations like Colombia and Australia too, who have access to the developmental benefits of those top leagues in Europe due to the heaps of top Colombian players employed in Spain and the same thing is true of all the Matildas currently in England. Men’s clubs have begun feeding good money into their women’s teams. Not enough but still a lot more than they used to. But even more so, they’re providing elite coaching, organisational structures, media exposure, and training facilities too (albeit begrudgingly in some cases).
The NWSL has some of the best facilities going around so no dramas there. It has its issues with media exposure sometimes but is in a pretty good place at the moment (by the way, NWSL games are free to stream in NZ on NWSL+). Clearly they’ve got money too. However, that technical/tactical stuff isn’t going to appear by magic. Maybe this is pure projection... but it feels like American women’s soccer is having a moment of reconciliation with the wider world around it. In the last couple years we’ve seen them open the door to college age players to go professional prior to the draft system, probably to keep the best teenagers in the country from simply moving to European clubs instead. They’re phasing out allocation money which will lessen the trade market, instead turning more towards that European system of transfer fees. Englishwoman Emma Hayes is going to be the next USWNT head coach. There’s always been a strong international player base in the league so that’s no different even if the fees being paid might be. Overall it’s a funky period of existence for the National Women’s Soccer League of America.
There are only six NZers who’ve played in the NWSL: Abby Erceg, Katie Bowen, Ali Riley, Rosie White, Rebekah Stott, and Emma Kete. At the beginning of the year, only Erceg and Riley were still there flying the flag – and with Erceg aged 34 and Riley aged 36 that affiliation was at risk of fizzling out entirely. Then Milly Clegg and Macey Fraser came along. 18 and 21 respectively. Not only two of Aotearoa’s finest young players but also, crucially, two attack-minded players at a time when the Football Ferns are tentatively moving out of an unfortunate era where all of their key players were defensively-orientated and they therefore could hardly score a goal. The NWSL vets are defenders. The rookies are a striker and a creative midfielder. If that doesn’t reflect the new age then dunno what does. The Ferns can’t be developing their own players, that needs to happen at club level by getting them playing and training at the highest level possible. This is what that looks like.
By the way, Fraser won’t get the kiwi comrade help that Milly Clegg does for landing at the same club that Abby Erceg already plays for. However there are still some links. Katie Bowen played 38 times for the Utah Royals after they acquired the licence of FC Kansas City where KB had been previously. That incarnation of the Royals disappeared after two years with their assets transferred to the Kansas City Currents. But that Utah Royals brand has since been re-established, returning to the NWSL for this 2024 season... where their head coach is Amy Rodriguez who was a long-time teammate (and close friend) of Bowen’s during those NWSL years.
The fact that Clegg and Fraser got to the NWSL via the A-League and not via college is probably worth a mention. Not as any kinda dig against the college system but as a reflection of how well that ALW launching pad is operating. Look at those two. Look at Claudia Bunge, Malia Steinmetz, and Ally Green in Denmark. Indi Riley in the Netherlands. Paige Satchell in England. And the current ALW season isn’t even over yet so Fraser could easily have some compatriot company in the outgoing transfer column. The A-League is producing, nurturing, and promoting kiwi players (and that goes beyond the Wellington Phoenix).
Only Fraser has drawn a fee though. Not a completely unique outcome for a New Zealander but it’s pretty rare. Most contracts are only for one-year in women’s football as clubs prioritise their finances and players prioritise their flexibility in a volatile environment. Fraser’s three-year deal with the Nix was the longest the club had ever offered... even if she only ended up serving one-third of it. So while there’s heaps of player movement every year, almost all of it is off-contract stuff.
There have been some transfer fees through the years though. Rebekah Stott’s return to Melbourne City this year was accompanied by a fee. Also Abby Erceg and Ali Riley’s recent-ish NWSL trades both involved allocation money – which isn’t exactly the same thing but it’s similar. Allocation money is like bonus salary cap... think of it like Monopoly money because you can only spend it on the game. Although, as mentioned earlier, they’re phasing that out now. Orlando Pride also used allocation money to acquire Ali Riley in the first place back in 2020 but since that money went to Bayern Munich we can count it as a transfer fee... so that’s at least three instances. Hit us up if you can find any more.
As for the A-League itself, that record transfer fee has been broken three times this year. Kaityln Torpey’s move from Melbourne City to San Diego Wave followed by Lysianne Proulx’s move from Melbourne City to Bay FC followed by Macey Fraser’s move from Wellington Phoenix to Utah Royals. Three different NWSL clubs all writing cheques for A-League talent. Exact numbers are unavailable (Torpey’s was reportedly around AU$75k) but the overall theme is clear as daylight.
Just last week, there was a Welly Nix Women’s season roundup yarn on this website which pondered whether the Nix would be able to summon a rare transfer fee for Fraser. They also might have just released her if that contract was going to be a barrier from her moving to a dream destination... but we won’t tell the Americans that. The Men’s Academy at the WPX has a stated ambition of being able to develop players capable of drawing transfer fees, thus grabbing a small piece of the pie from those obscene finances floating around in the opulent bubble of European football. It’s worked with Sarpreet Singh, Liberato Cacace, and Ben Waine in the past. They have Alex Paulsen, Ben Old, and Finn Surman in the tank ready to go next. Those fees are what is going to make the club sustainable by their current approach, including the women’s side of things. Well, the women’s side of things just drew in an unexpected six-figure sum all on its own.
Bit stink to see Macey Fraser leave so soon... but not really. The same is true of when Paulsen/Old/Surman inevitably depart too: there is always someone else ready to step up. In the case of the SheNix, they’ve got Alyssa Whinham and Helena Errington hanging around (as long as they re-sign), plus they could reinvest some of the Fraser money in their import signing budget. This club is designed on both sides to be promoting kiwi players into the big time and so far the plan is working beautifully.
Having said that, Shaun Gill’s claim in the Fraser announcement that: “It’s fair to say we’ve almost single-handedly built the high performance pathway for football in New Zealand”... is a little too self-serving for comfort. The Nix are doing brilliant work, stacking out national age grade sides, but they’re not doing it all themselves.
Macey Fraser is from Christchurch and was starring as the youngest player of that 2018 U17 World Cup squad before the SheNix ever existed. The 2022 U17 World Cup squad had 11 players who’ve gone through the Nix Academy (including Ella McMillan, Olivia Ingham, Helena Errington, Manaia Elliott, and Aimee Danieli who all played A-League this past season)... but only two of them were aligned with the Nix when that tournament happened. The rest have all joined since. McMillan, Danieli, and Elliott are from Hamilton. Ingham and Errington from Wellington. Milly Clegg is an Aucklander. Ela Jerez will be the next bright prospect, a Northlander via Western Springs who recently joined the Nix Academy. The Phoenix have provided a crucial platform for those players and more but it’s pretty cheeky to claim all of the credit when you’re signing the already-established best young players from around the country.
Nonetheless, they’re a sturdy rung on the ladder offering that long-wished-for step between domestic football and professional football. Macey Fraser was always a baller but she’s way more equipped for the NWSL having had a season as a day-in day-out professional in the A-League beforehand. It’s not all about the Wellington Phoenix... it is a lot about the Wellington Phoenix though. They’ve done their part in an epoch-altering move for football in Aotearoa. Huge for the player, huge for the club, huge for the sport.
Get amongst our Patreon or a Paid Substack if you rate the yarns and want to support what we do – it’s all for the love of kiwi sports
Also got that Buy Me A Coffee option, plus don’t forget to whack an ad and tell your mates about us
Keep cool but care