She arrived in January 2020 as the most coveted striker in women's football, and she leaves as the greatest player Chelsea Women have ever had. Sam Kerr will depart Stamford Bridge when her contract expires this summer, after six-and-a-half years that produced trophies, records and memories that will define an entire era of the Women's Super League.^[1]

Born in Fremantle, Western Australia, Kerr made her name as the most clinical, instinctive finisher the WSL had ever seen. In her first two full seasons at Chelsea she won back-to-back WSL Golden Boots. She helped the Blues win five league titles, three FA Cups and three League Cups. In October 2023 she finished second in the Ballon d'Or. Then, in January 2024, she suffered a serious knee ligament injury that kept her on the sidelines for twenty months.^[1]

Her comeback, when it came, was pure Sam Kerr. She returned as a substitute against Aston Villa in September 2025, promptly scoring her 100th Chelsea goal. In her first start back, away to Austrian side St. Pölten in the Women's Champions League, she scored twice in a 6-0 win. This season she has struck 16 goals in 29 appearances. On 3 May 2026, against Leicester City, she scored her 64th WSL goal for the Blues, breaking Fran Kirby's record to become Chelsea's all-time leading scorer in the Women's Super League.^[1][2]

Her final Chelsea appearance will come at Stamford Bridge on 16 May, against Manchester United. She enters that match with 115 goals in all competitions, one short of Kirby's Chelsea all-time record of 116 across all competitions, meaning she has the chance to equal and break that record too before she walks out the door for the last time.^[2] In a statement confirming her departure, Kerr said something that captures exactly who she is.

Happy. Not mournful. Not angry. Happy. Sam Kerr found the joy in it, played through one of the hardest injury comebacks in women's football, and leaves with her head held high. For every girl who has ever been knocked down, physically, emotionally, or both, and had to find a way back, Kerr's story is one of the most powerful the game has to offer.

There are players who play for a club. And then there are players who become a club. Katie McCabe is the latter. Arsenal confirmed this week that the Republic of Ireland captain will leave when her contract expires at the end of the 2025/26 season, bringing to a close an eleven-year chapter in north London that began in December 2015. A 20-year-old from Kilnamanagh, Dublin, signed from Shelbourne and took her first steps into professional football in England.^[3]

Over 305 appearances, McCabe transformed from a promising young talent into one of the best left-backs in European women's football. She became Arsenal's captain. She led her country at Ireland's first-ever Women's World Cup in 2023, and scored their first World Cup goal direct from a corner against Canada, a moment so brilliant it is already folklore in Irish football.^[3][4]

In terms of silverware, McCabe's Arsenal legacy is extraordinary. She won every available club trophy during her time in north London: the FA Cup, the WSL title, three League Cups, the UEFA Women's Champions League in May 2025, and the FIFA Women's Champions Cup in February 2026. She leaves having won it all, and her words in farewell captured exactly what that means to her, and what she wants it to mean to every young girl watching.

With 105 international caps and 34 international goals for Ireland, McCabe departs as not just an Arsenal legend, but one of the greatest players her country has ever produced. She has led with passion, fought for equal pay in football, and shown a generation of girls that a girl from a Dublin suburb can climb to the very top of the game.

When Beth Mead lit up Euro 2022, scoring six goals across the tournament, winning the Golden Boot and being named Player of the Tournament as England lifted the trophy on home soil, the whole country fell in love with her. But the Arsenal faithful had known for years. Mead, who joined the Gunners from Sunderland in 2017, was the kind of player who made the game look joyful: a lethal finisher who was also the most creative chance-maker in the history of the Women's Super League.^[6]

Arsenal confirmed this week that Mead will leave when her contract expires at the end of the 2025/26 season, after nine extraordinary years at the club. In 263 appearances she scored 86 goals and provided 54 WSL assists, more than any other player in the league's history. She played a key role in Arsenal's UEFA Women's Champions League triumph in May 2025, providing the assist for Stina Blackstenius' winning goal in the final in Lisbon, a moment she will carry with her forever.^[6][7]

Her journey has not been without pain. In November 2022, at the peak of her form following the Euros, Mead suffered an ACL injury that kept her sidelined for the better part of a year. She came back. She won a Champions League. She won a FIFA Champions Cup. She is one of the finest Arsenal players of all time, and she leaves with nine years of service and an impeccable legacy.

Millie Bright didn't just play for Chelsea. She was Chelsea. This month, the club captain and England international announced her retirement from professional football at the age of 32, ending a twelve-year career at Stamford Bridge that made her the Women's Super League's all-time record appearance maker.^[5]

In 314 appearances for the Blues, Bright won 20 trophies, a haul that represents one of the most decorated careers in the history of the English women's game. She was part of England's historic Euro 2022-winning squad and captained both Chelsea and her country with distinction. Her final appearance will be celebrated at Stamford Bridge on 16 May in Chelsea's last WSL fixture of the season against Manchester United.^[5]

Bright has been open about the physical and mental toll that elite football takes. She prioritised recovery during last summer's European Championship rather than pushing through injury, choosing instead to come back and give Chelsea one last season. That is not weakness. That is wisdom. And it is the kind of wisdom that we hope every girl in sport will one day understand: knowing when to go all in, and knowing when to look after yourself first.

If Sam Kerr is the most iconic striker of the WSL's modern era, Khadija "Bunny" Shaw of Jamaica is its most devastating force right now. The Manchester City forward has been the WSL's dominant scorer this season, leading the Golden Boot race with 19 goals going into the final rounds of fixtures, seven clear of her nearest challenger. She is within striking distance of the all-time WSL single-season goals record of 22, shared by Vivianne Miedema and Rachel Daly.^[8]

Shaw's contract with Manchester City expires this summer, and while no official announcement has been made, it is widely reported that she intends to explore other options rather than sign a new deal. Chelsea are understood to be among those monitoring her situation. Whatever her next club, they will be getting one of the most lethal forwards the game has produced — a player who averages 1.07 goals per 90 minutes in the WSL, a rate no other regular player in the competition's history can match.^[8]

Please note: Shaw's departure has not been officially confirmed at the time of publication. We will update this article as information comes to hand.

In a week that has seen the biggest names in women's football announce their departures, Katrina Gorry's exit from West Ham United is one that deserves its own moment of recognition. West Ham confirmed on Thursday that the 33-year-old Australian midfielder and club captain will leave when her contract expires at the end of June, bringing to a close two-and-a-half years at the club that she joined in January 2024.^[9]

Gorry is one of the most experienced and respected midfielders in Australian women's football history. A Matilda for over a decade, she has featured at multiple World Cups and Olympic Games, and captained West Ham with enormous distinction. In the 2024/25 season she played every single WSL match as the Hammers set their best-ever home campaign, including club records for most points and most home wins in a single WSL season. She won the WSL's inaugural Player Champion of Change award in 2025, and this season made 18 appearances in all competitions while also helping the Matildas reach the final of the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup on home soil.^[9]

What makes Gorry's story especially powerful for the Hero Athletica community is what she has shared beyond the football pitch. In 2025 she spoke openly about having previously suffered from an eating disorder and depression, and about how her journey through IVF and into motherhood helped her find herself again. In a sporting culture that too often asks women to shrink and to stay silent, Gorry has done the opposite. She has led with her whole self, and the game is better for it.