A UEFA Ladies’s Champions League famous person and U.S. ladies’s nationwide crew captain returns house. Denver Summit FC introduced the signing of Colorado native Lindsey Heaps on Monday. The midfielder will be part of Summit FC following the conclusion of her 2025-26 marketing campaign with OL Lyonnes.
The U.S. midfielder has 170 appearances with the USWNT, is a 2019 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup, 2024 Olympic gold, and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist. She has aided the nationwide crew in successful a number of Concacaf trophies, gained the U.S. Soccer Feminine Participant of the Yr in 2021, and was named to he Greatest FIFA Ladies’s XI in 2024.
“I am extremely excited to come back house to Colorado and be part of Denver Summit FC,” Heaps mentioned. “This membership represents one thing particular, not only for the league, however for this neighborhood and for the subsequent technology of gamers rising up right here. I am totally dedicated to ending the season sturdy with Lyon, and I can not wait to start this subsequent chapter in Denver this summer time.”
A double homecoming
Heaps, born in Golden, Colorado, may have a double homecoming of types when she returns in the summertime — first to her house state as a product of Colorado’s youth system, and likewise again to the NWSL.
“Signing Lindsey Heaps is a defining second for Denver Summit FC,” mentioned Denver Summit FC Common Supervisor Curt Johnson. “She represents the very highest stage of excellence as a participant, a frontrunner, and knowledgeable. To welcome her again house to Colorado and to have her assist form the identification of this membership is extremely significant.”
The 31-year-old midfielder made headlines as a youngster when she turned down her College of North Carolina scholarship to show professional and begin her membership profession with Paris Saint-Germain in 2012. Following a four-year stint in France, she signed with Portland Thorns FC in 2016 and gained a number of accolades in almost each season with the membership, together with the NWSL Defend (2016, 2021), NWSL Championship (2017), NWSL Problem Cup (2021), and NWSL MVP (2018) earlier than her departure in 2022 to OL Lyonnes.
“Lindsey will convey a world-class stage to our crew and represents the ambition of this membership on-and-off the sector,” mentioned Summit FC Head Coach Nick Cushing. “Lindsey has gained at each stage of the sport. Her management, expertise, and professionalism will proceed to lift the usual for Summit FC when she arrives this summer time. We’re thrilled to welcome a hometown participant again to Denver as we work to win championships and develop our membership and neighborhood.”
When will Lindsey Heaps debut for Denver?
The midfielder is to hitch Summit FC following completion of her season with OL Lyonnes, and the NWSL’s latest enlargement franchise expects the midfielder’s arrival in June. She’s presently competing with the French aspect domestically and within the 2025-26 UEFA Ladies’s Champions League.
Heaps has already been a part of a number of trophies with the European giants throughout her time with the membership. She’s gained three Division 1 Féminine titles, a UWCL title, and the Coupe de France Féminine. Her signing is taken into account a high-profile addition to Denver’s enlargement roster constructing.
Whereas the membership expects her arrival in June, when she makes her first look as a member of Summit FC is one other factor solely. The league has already introduced that it’ll take a summer time break in the course of the males’s 2026 FIFA World Cup from June 1 by 28. The month-long pause means regular-season video games will possible resume the primary weekend of July.
When will Denver Summit play its first house recreation?
The whole NWSL schedule is ready for launch at a later date, however the league unveiled a blueprint with key dates.
Formally NWSL’s sixteenth franchise, the Denver Summit will play its first recreation on Saturday, March 28. Billed as “The Kickoff,” the membership will take the pitch at NFL stadium, Empower Discipline at Mile Excessive, in Denver. The marquee occasion is scheduled to be televised on CBS, with the opponent to be introduced in the course of the official regular-season schedule announcement.
What’s subsequent
The membership continues to construct its roster forward of the 2026 NWSL common season. Whereas Lindsey Heaps’ arrival will not impression the crew until the second half of the yr, there are nonetheless loads of league-experienced gamers already on a part of Denver’s inaugural roster. The membership signed free brokers Ally Watt and Kaleigh Kurtz, and lately acquired Canadian worldwide Janine Sonis.
