KC Current Sign 15-Year-Old

The soil burying the 2023 KC Current season hasn’t even had time to start taking seed and yet the club has now made national headlines two weeks in a row. Seven days after officially hiring former USWNT (and former FCKC) coach Vlatko Andonovski, the Teal just handed a contract to the 4^th youngest athlete ever entering the NWSL. Alex Pfeiffer is a 15 years, 338 days old striker and has been gaining recognition and traction on the youth national levels. She’s spent time with the U15 and U16 USWNT and recently scored a hat trick for the U17 team in a friendly with Japan.

Young phenom ready for the big stage 👏⁰⁰@AlexPfeiff17 | #KCBABY pic.twitter.com/DFQSpRm9Pa

— KC Current (@thekccurrent) October 30, 2023

Pfeiffer has won the past two ENCL national championships with her St. Louis Scott Gallagher club team at the U16 and U17 levels, each year playing up a year.  She’s about to play up a lot more than a single year, though, as she makes her transition into the professional ranks.  Unlike a lot of leagues in the world, the NWSL doesn’t yet have much in the way of an established “player pathway” system in place as teams are still largely built through the draft or (the new) free agency.  Almost certainly, that will be the long-term future for the league (just look at the Sporting KC academy and the club’s reliance on “homegrown” players for comparison), but for now, Pfeiffer has precious few peers to gain insights from.  It seems likely that patience will be required for all involved before Alex becomes a meaningful contributor.  Similar signings in Portland (Moultrie), San Diego (Barcenas), and Washington (Ricketts) have taken a while to have major impacts; it will be important to not expect too much too soon for the high schooler who is not yet eligible to get her driver’s license.  Fortunately, Pfeiffer will have that time as the contract she signed is for three years (through the 2026 season).  By that point, not only will she perhaps be earning serious first-team minutes, but she’ll also be old enough to vote.

The #U17WYNT finished their two game series vs. Japan with a draw in a wild back & forth match. A hat trick from Alex Pfeiffer.

FINAL:

Friendly
🇺🇸 USA 3 – 3 JPN 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/dQ4PybZRaP

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) September 24, 2023

New coach Andonovski said, “I am very excited that Alex will be joining our club. This is a great start for our plans to strengthen the pro-player pathway for this club and this region. Alex is someone who can be a great example for players everywhere and can help this club achieve our goals, both near and long-term.”

A lot of clubs give lip service to wanting to be the best, but the Kansas City Current appears to be doing everything in their power to support those desires.  Famously, they’re set to open the world’s first-ever women’s professional stadium next spring and they were said to have “won” last year’s offseason with high-profile signings such as Debinha, Glas, DiBernardo, etc.  Thus far, outside of some decent runs in the Challenge Cup and a runner-up finish in 2022, the on-the-field results haven’t matched their goals.  And yet, if the first two weeks of this offseason are any indication, the ownership group of the Longs and the Mahomes along with GM Cami Ashton are still full steam ahead in their efforts to give KC the best women’s soccer has to offer.