Seattle Reign sign Mia Fishel through 2029
Seattle Reign announced on Thursday that the club signed Chelsea forward Mia Fishel to a multi-year contract that runs through the 2029 season. That marks the longest active contract on the team. The 24-year-old forward, who grew up in San Diego, was under contract at Chelsea through 2026. The Reign paid an undisclosed transfer fee to acquire Fishel.
According to ESPN, Fishel's four-and-a-half-year contract is worth a total of $2.5 million, which could be the largest cumulative deal in NWSL history.
“I’m incredibly excited to sign a long-term contract in the NWSL and take this next step in my career with Seattle Reign FC,” said Fishel in a team release. “This league is one of the best in the world, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity. I can’t wait to get started and contribute to the team’s success.”
Fishel, who has three U.S. women's national team caps, will be available immediately for the Reign and is already in Seattle. She'll join Reign general manager Lesle Gallimore and head coach Laura Harvey on Thursday afternoon for an introductory press conference with reporters. It will be a reunion for the forward and Harvey, who coached Fishel in 2020 when she was the U.S. U-20 women's national team coach, with Fishel scoring 13 goals during the U-20 CONCACAF Championship, a U.S. youth national team record.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to bring Mia into our squad,” said Harvey. “She’s a forward with world-class potential who’s already accomplished so much in her young career. Mia’s ability to disrupt defenses [and] finish in different ways makes her a dangerous addition to our group. We’re excited to help her take the next step and can’t wait to see her on the field soon.”
Fishel was apparently ready for a move to the NWSL to become a more central figure in a team's attack and make a case for a role on the USWNT heading into the 2027 World Cup. As her highlights demonstrate, she is a great hold-up player who also has an uncanny ability to find the ball in the box and score with her head. In true Harvey fashion, Fishel is also tenacious on the defensive end. Former coaches and teammates describe her as being humble, hardworking, technical, and comfortable in tight spaces. She'll bring strong competition to the center forward position for the Reign.
“Mia is a player with tremendous upside – a goal-scorer with presence, creativity and a drive to keep growing,” said Reign General Manager Lesle Gallimore. “This move represents an important step in her return to top form, and we’re committed to giving her the environment and support to thrive. We believe in her ability to make a real impact in the NWSL and are looking forward to what she’ll bring to the club and our fans.”
After three standout seasons at UCLA, where she tallied 32 goals and 14 assists, Fishel was drafted by the Orlando Pride in 2022. She told the RE-INC podcast that Orlando wasn't a team that had talked to her ahead of the draft, so she didn't know their plan for her. Instead of joining the Pride, Fishel elected to take more control of her career and signed with Tigres in Liga MX Femenil. In her first season there, she helped Tigres win the title, finishing as the league’s top scorer. She went on to score 38 goals in 48 matches for Tigres.
Chelsea paid a $250,000 transfer fee to sign Fishel ahead of the 2023/24 season, one of the largest fees at the time in women's soccer. She made 15 appearances in her first year with the club, starting six times and scoring two goals and assisting one. That includes a goal in Champions League play against Paris FC.
Fishel earned the nickname "Big Fish" in college due to her ferocity on the soccer field and her love of fishing. When she scores, she puts two hands over her head, mimicking a fish fin, in what has become her signature "Big Fish" celebration. In late 2024, Fishel released a children's book, Big Fish, that "follows a young character learning to be brave, stay determined, and follow their dreams."
Her performances at Chelsea earned Fishel three caps for the U.S. Women's National Team in 2023. She scored her first goal in her second match with the senior national team, heading in a cross and finishing with her signature "Big Fish" celebration.
Fishel looked poised to fight for a spot on the 2024 Olympic roster but missed out on the opportunity after tearing her ACL while training with the USWNT ahead of the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup. She successfully recovered and returned to the Chelsea lineup at the end of the 2025 season, scoring once in 128 minutes of play.
As she continued to build up match fitness after her injury, Fishel was recently called up to the USWNT U-23 squad and played alongside Reign players Maddie Dahlien, Sam Meza, and Emily Mason in a pair of games against Germany's U-23s. She captained the squad that won 2-1 in stoppage time.
The striker has represented the United States 28 times at the youth international level. She and the U-20 squad — which included Reign teammates Claudia Dickey, Shae Holmes, Mason, and Meza — won the 2020 U-20 Concacaf championship but were unfortunately unable to play in the U-20 World Cup, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fishel played club soccer with the San Diego Surf and played two years of soccer and basketball at Patrick Henry High School. She was named to the U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s Best XI for the West Conference in 2019.