Inside Manaka Matsukubo’s transfer from North Carolina Courage to Chelsea | Full Time Podcast

The first weekend of the second half of the 2026 NWSL season is in the books. But in classic NWSL fashion, just as we were sitting down to welcome back league play after a 5-week break, there was a major transfer: 2025 Midfielder of the Year and MVP nominee Manaka Matsukubo moved from the North Carolina Courage to Chelsea in the English Womens Super League. On this episode of Full Time Review, Jillian Sakovits and Meg Linehan are joined by Chief Soccer Officer for the Courage, Ceri Bowley, to go inside Matsukubos move. Bowley candidly talks about how close Matsukubo was to staying in North Carolina and why new arrival, 18-year-old England international Erica Meg Parkinson, is a testament to the teams transfer strategy and ethos. PLUS: Meg talks about her moment of the opening weekend and what the implications could be for the U.S. womens national team in the wake of the U.S. president getting involved with FIFA to aid the suspension of the red card for U.S. mens national team forward Folarin Balogun at their home mens World Cup this summer. ------------ #nwsl #wsl #chelsea ------------ Subscribe to the Full Time newsletter to get all the latest women's soccer news straight to your inbox every Tuesday: Get in touch: fulltime@theathletic.com Follow on Instagram and TikTok: @tafulltime Catch the full episodes of Full Time right here