Lost among the acquisitions of Nadia Nadim and Emily Sonnett in the NWSL College Draft was the announcement of a new player acquisition process for Canadian and United States' internationals not current attached to an NWSL club.
The league's Press Release states that "An Unattached Subsidized Individual (USI) is an Individual whom a Federation has designated as a potential Subsidized Player (formerly referred to as an "Allocated Player"), but whose rights are not currently controlled by an NWSL club. In addition, a Subsidized Player whose rights have been relinquished by their current Team will also be designated as a USI.