Catarina Macario has signed a record contract with the NWSL‘s San Diego Wave, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. It is believed to be the largest deal by total value in the history of women’s professional soccer.

The U.S. Women’s National Team star is set to earn nearly $8 million in fully guaranteed money over the next five seasons, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the details are private. Her contract, which runs through the 2030 season, also includes a bonus at signing and incentives that could push the total value higher. Macario is expected to join the club imminently.

The Wave declined to comment.

Trinity Rodman previously held the NWSL record for largest contract after signing a three-year pact with the Washington Spirit in January. That deal reportedly pays her more than $2 million annually with bonuses. It came after a protracted saga that yielded the creation of the High-Impact Player Rule a month earlier, a designation that allows clubs to spend up to $1 million over the league’s $3.7 million salary cap for stars in certain circumstances. Macario’s San Diego deal falls under that provision.

Prying the 26-year-old striker away from Chelsea as the club chases a Women’s Super League title wasn’t cheap. The Wave shelled out a roughly $300,000 transfer fee to bring Macario over this month before her contract expires this summer, one of the people said. ESPN first reported that she was in advanced talks with the club in February.

The move is a homecoming for Macario, who was born in Brazil and moved to the U.S. at age 12. Settling in Southern California, she starred for the San Diego Surf youth club before earning an athletic scholarship to Stanford University. In three seasons with the Cardinal from 2017 to 2019, Macario scored 63 goals in 69 appearances, winning two NCAA Division I national championships and claiming a pair of MAC Hermann trophies, which is awarded to the nation’s top soccer collegiate player.

After forgoing her senior season to turn professional, Macario was widely considered a contender for the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NWSL Draft, which was held by Racing Louisville. Instead, she opted to start her career with France’s OL Lyonnes in the Première Ligue and spurned the NWSL at a time when it had restrictive player-movement rules. The league has since abolished the draft, added player consent to trades and established free agency.

Up to this point, Macario’s professional club career has been confined to Europe. Three years after arriving in Lyon, she moved to Chelsea in England’s Women’s Super League. But injuries have limited her ability to stay on the field. Macario has made 105 appearances in six years, scoring 44 goals.

That’s been the case for her international career, too. In 2021, she debuted with the USWNT, becoming the first naturalized citizen to do so. Macario won the 2021, 2022 and 2024 SheBelieves Cups and took home a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. She didn’t play in the 2023 Women’s World Cup after tearing her ACL in the prior year, and she withdrew from the 2024 Paris Olympics because of knee irritation.

While staying healthy has been an issue, Macario’s popularity has continued to rise. She joined Nike last summer on a 10-year, $10 million deal, replacing Adidas as her apparel and shoe sponsor, according to Forbes. Those deals usually pay women’s soccer players between $60,000 to $70,000, with top stars earning as much as $800,000.

Meanwhile, the Wave could stand to benefit from the injection of star power, both on and off the field. The club returned to the playoffs in 2025, yet attendance still dropped 26% a year after Alex Morgan retired, according to ESPN. Lauren Leichtman, the Wave’s billionaire owner, shelled out an $800,000 transfer fee in January to land Brazilian forward Ludmila from the Chicago Stars in hopes of strengthening the club’s championship aspirations. The addition of Macario only raises the bar even higher.