By OkayGoal 
Photo courtesy of NWSL Columbus
The Columbus National Women’s Soccer League expansion team set to begin play in 2028 announced Friday that Lucy Rushton has been named the first general manager in club history. With roughly 20 years of experience across NWSL, Major League Soccer and English soccer, Rushton will oversee all areas of Columbus’ sporting operations, including roster strategy, scouting and recruitment, support staff development and player performance. She will report to Haslam Sports Group President of Global Soccer Tim Bezbatchenko.
Columbus was announced as the NWSL’s 18th franchise earlier this year, in April, and is yet to be named. The club is owned by Haslam Sports Group (HSG), Nationwide and Drs. Christine and Pete Edwards. They will kick off in 2028 alongside Atlanta City FC.
“When we started the global search for our first sporting hire, we prioritized General Manager candidates who shared our values of putting the Club above the individual, pursuing high ambitions with humility, and elevating our team, our players and Columbus through the game. Lucy embodies those traits and is the right leader for this opportunity, bringing an incredible passion for our league and a deep knowledge of the NWSL and women’s soccer around the world,” said Bezbatchenko in the announcement. “Lucy also has a proven track record of success with expansion clubs, which will accelerate our ability to attract top talent, build a comprehensive roster and establish an entertaining style of play as we strive to win trophies for Columbus and our supporters beginning in 2028.”
The aforementioned experience building expansion teams came when she served as Bay FC’s first general manager from 2023-2024. That team became only the second in league history to reach the playoffs in its inaugural year, with the head coach she hired and roster she built. She becomes the first person to be the inaugural GM of two different NWSL expansion teams.
Rushton resigned three months into Bay FC’s inaugural season, calling it “one of the hardest decisions of my life” in a statement at the time. Now she believes that experience gave her a unique advantage when it comes to building an expansion team, for which there is no rulebook, Rushton told ESPN.
“I feel like it definitely gives me a step up,” Rushton said. “I feel like there are so many lessons that I took from Bay that will make me better in this role than I was in that role, just because of the experiences I’ve had and what I gained from it. What to do, what not to do, whether that’s roster building, whether it’s staff, whether it’s player personalities, whether it’s the [salary] cap itself, whether it’s the environment and the training ground and what that needs to be, how to create the culture. There are so many bits and learnings that I had from Bay that I feel made me the best version of myself as a GM and as a leader.”
Over the past two years, she’s served as a consultant and strategic advisor focused on long-term planning and scouting and recruiting processes for the Portland Thorns (2025) and Gotham FC (July 2024-Jan. 2025).
Before that, in April 2021, Rushton became just the second woman general manager in MLS history when she was appointed to the role with D.C. United. She previously served as the Head of Technical Recruitment and Analysis for Atlanta United from 2016-21, helping launch Atlanta United FC as an MLS expansion team ahead of the 2017 MLS season. Atlanta reached the playoffs in its 2017 expansion season and won MLS Cup in 2018.
Rushton said her next steps in her new role are filling out the staff, including a technical director and a director of scouting.
“What I really want is a club that represents Columbus, that represents the community,” Rushton said. “This is a really hard-working [city] … I think it’s important that the brand of football you play represents the people you serve, your community and the lifestyles they lead, and the demographic you have. I feel like it’s going to be something which is representative of them but which ultimately is entertaining.”
