KANSAS CITY\u00a0(Dec.\u00a026,\u00a02025) \u2013\u00a0The Kansas City Current\u00a0has agreed to terms on a\u00a0three-year\u00a0contract with forward Gianna Paul from the University of Alabama, the club announced\u00a0Friday.\u00a0Paul,\u00a0a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American,\u00a0will be in Kansas City through the 2028 season with a\u00a0team\u00a0option\u00a0for 2029, and she will join the\u00a0club\u00a0ahead of its upcoming preseason training.<\/p>\n
\u201cGianna is a dynamic forward who is\u202fskilled technically\u202fand tactically,\u201d said general manager Ryan Dell. \u201cShe had a remarkable collegiate career\u202fat\u202fAlabama where she rewrote the record book, and\u202fwe\u2019re\u202fconfident\u202fshe\u2019ll\u202fuse that experience as a springboard to a successful pro career. She has progressed each\u202fseason\u202fand we know she will continue to develop with our world-class technical staff.\u00a0We\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0be\u00a0happier to have Gianna in Kansas City for the next three years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul concluded her time in Tuscaloosa as Alabama\u2019s program record holder with 40 goals, 94 points, 279 shots and 115 shots on\u00a0target\u00a0during her four-year career from\u00a02022-25.\u00a0Paul ranked fifth nationally among active Division I players in career goals (40) and eighth in career points (94)\u00a0at the end of the 2025 season. She started 69 of her 90 career games and logged over\u00a06,000 minutes.<\/p>\n
She had a team-leading\u00a012\u00a0goals\u00a0and 31 points\u00a0as a senior\u00a0en\u00a0route to breaking the school\u2019s 20-year-old record for career goals.\u00a0Paul also\u00a0topped\u00a0the roster with 12 goals\u00a0and 25 points\u00a0in 2024\u00a0as well as with\u00a0eight goals\u00a0and 17 points\u00a0in 2023.\u00a0Her eight goals during her rookie\u00a0year\u00a0in 2022\u00a0was\u00a0tied for 10th nationally among\u00a0freshmen.\u00a0She totaled nine game-winning goals in her career, five of which were in 2023 to lead the Southeastern Conference (SEC).<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I was a little girl, I had always dreamed about playing professional soccer,\u201d said Paul.\u00a0\u201cTo say that that is my current reality will never feel short of surreal. I feel honored,\u00a0blessed\u00a0and overwhelmingly humbled to be accepted with warm arms and enthusiasm into such an incredible program such as Kansas City. The love they have for the sport of women\u2019s football can be felt across the world and to be a small part of that history means everything to me.\u00a0Every step of this journey has been led by God\u2019s hand.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0thankful for the growth, the challenges, and the blessings that brought me here. Additionally, my mother\u2019s decade worth of sacrifices\u00a0has\u00a0made me into the woman and player I am today. Quite\u00a0literally\u00a0none of this would\u00a0be\u00a0possible with her.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0grateful for the journey and ready for this next chapter with the Kansas City Current\u2014let\u2019s\u00a0get to work!\u201d<\/p>\n
Accolades were\u00a0abundant\u00a0for Paul during her standout college\u00a0campaign.\u00a0She was named the\u00a0SEC\u00a0Freshman of the Year in 2022 to\u00a0coincide\u00a0with\u00a0a spot on the\u00a0All-SEC Second Team and SEC All-Freshman Team.\u00a0She landed on the United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast\u00a0Region First Team in 2023 and 2024 before garnering second team praise as a senior. Paul earned All-SEC First Team\u00a0honors\u00a0for three straight\u00a0years and\u00a0collected\u00a0four SEC Player of the Week\u00a0awards.\u00a0She\u00a0is the first player in school history to be a five-time All-SEC honoree.<\/p>\n
Additionally,\u00a0Paul\u2019s\u00a0back-to-back United Soccer Coaches Fourth Team All-America selections\u00a0in 2024 and 2025\u00a0made her the first player in Alabama history to become a two-time All-American.<\/p>\n
A native of\u00a0Huntington Station, N.Y., Paul\u00a0helped lead the Crimson Tide to NCAA Tournament berths in three of her four seasons, including\u00a0the program\u2019s first-ever trip to the College Cup in 2022\u00a0as a No. 1 overall seed. Alabama won the 2022 SEC regular season title\u00a0after an unblemished 10-0 conference record\u00a0and was the SEC Tournament runner-up that year.<\/p>\n
The forward was also called up to United States Youth National Team training camps at the Under-19\/U-18 level in preparation for the 2023 Concacaf Women\u2019s U-20 Championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KANSAS CITY\u00a0(Dec.\u00a026,\u00a02025) \u2013\u00a0The Kansas City Current\u00a0has agreed to terms on a\u00a0three-year\u00a0contract with forward Gianna Paul from the University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-205216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}