How Kenza Dali became one of the NWSL’s most important players – Equalizer Soccer

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Thinking of the most significant moments in the National Women’s Soccer League in recent years, the 2024 signings of Barbra Banda and Temwa Chawinga by the Orlando Pride and Kansas City Current, respectively, are obvious. Both players were essential in turning solid contenders into winning machines. Of the tactical tweaks, the Portland Thorns’ decision to play Sophia Wilson as a lone striker in 2022 stands out — Wilson, liberated, went from good to great as the Thorns won their third NWSL Championship.

The San Diego Wave’s signing of Kenza Dali in 2025 may not yet have led to a trophy, but it was equally important, because Dali has since become the heartbeat of a side that finds itself playing a different soccer to everyone else, and right in contention for the NWSL Shield doing so.

Dali’s has been an unusual career trajectory, more ups and downs than a straightforward path. The French playmaker started out with Lyon and arrived back there in 2016 after a prolific five-year spell with Paris Saint-Germain. Injuries disrupted her momentum, however, and she left to rebuild with Dijon before landing in English soccer in 2019. There she spent two years with West Ham United and one with Everton before arriving at Aston Villa, where, at the age of 31, she found her best form once again.