The 2000 WUSA foreign player allocation took place on October 30, 2000. It was the first international draft held by Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) to assign the rights of international players to the eight American-based teams. The 16 players were paired and each team selected one pair.
Round 1 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team1 Bente Nordby GK Carolina Courage Athene Moss Hege Riise MF Carolina Courage Asker Fotball
Round 2 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team2 Doris Fitschen DF Philadelphia Charge 1. FFC Frankfurt Kelly Smith FW Philadelphia Charge New Jersey Lady Stallions
Round 3 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team3 Kátia FW Bay Area CyberRays São Paulo Sissi FW Bay Area CyberRays Vasco da Gama
Round 4 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team4 Ann Kristin Aarønes FW New York Power Trondheims-Ørn Gro Espeseth DF New York Power Trondheims-Ørn
Round 5 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team5 Charmaine Hooper FW Atlanta Beat Chicago Cobras Homare Sawa MF Atlanta Beat Denver Diamonds
Round 6 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team6 Maren Meinert FW Boston Breakers FFC Brauweiler Pulheim Bettina Wiegmann MF Boston Breakers FFC Brauweiler Pulheim
Round 7 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team7 Pretinha FW Washington Freedom Vasco da Gama Roseli FW Washington Freedom Vasco da Gama
Round 8 Pick Player Pos. WUSA team Previous team8 Kristin Bengtsson DF San Diego Spirit Landvetter IF Ulrika Karlsson GK San Diego Spirit Bälinge IF
Draft notes Each team had already been allocated three national team players ("founders") on May 24, 2000. The teams then arranged the order for the foreign player allocation between themselves, using a voting system which took account of the previous allocation. The 16 players to be allocated included some of the top players from around the world. Eight of them, including all four Brazilians, had signed for the league the day before the draft. The players were packaged into pairs as part of an effort to help them adapt to life in America.
A 15-round main draft, which also included foreign players, followed on December 10–11, 2000. A supplemental college draft on February 4, 2001 completed the process before the inaugural season began in April 2001. In common with Major League Soccer, WUSA had a single-entity ownership structure. This meant that the league office owned the players' contracts and negotiated all agreements. Each team got an $800,000 salary cap to cover their final roster of 20 players.
Sports Illustrated soccer journalist Grant Wahl described Philadelphia's second round pick of Smith and Fitschen ahead of Sissi and Kátia as "a boneheaded move". The slur angered Smith, who later extracted an apology from Wahl.
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