Jeff KassoufJan 12, 2026, 09:26 AM ETCloseJeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.
Lindsey Heaps ‘proud’ after OL Lyonnes’ UWCL comeback vs. Juventus (2:10)Lindsey Heaps speaks after OL Lyonnes’ 3-3 comeback draw vs. Juventus in the Women’s Champions League. (2:10)
Heaps is expected to join Denver in June after finishing the season and her current contract with French powerhouse OL Lyonnes. She is signed with Denver through the 2029 NWSL season.
It’s a move that, for some, may have felt inevitable for the Colorado native, but she told ESPN that she wasn’t sure the timing would work out when rumors of Denver expansion first surfaced years ago.
“I didn’t want to just say, ‘I want to do it because it’s Denver,'” Heaps told ESPN. “I want it to be the right place for me and my career. So I tried to take as much of the Denver aspect out of it as possible, but it’s very difficult.”
The hardest part, she said, was keeping the news from her parents. Heaps, who turns 32 in May, grew up in Golden, Colorado, just outside of Denver. At 18 years old, she signed with Paris Saint-Germain in 2012, becoming the first U.S. women’s player to skip college and turn professional straight out of high school.
Four years later, at the request of U.S. Soccer, Heaps returned to the U.S. to join the Portland Thorns FC, where she won two NWSL Shields and the NWSL Championship, in addition to league MVP in 2018, before she left for France again to join Lyonnes.
The midfielder helped Lyonnes win its record eighth European title in 2022, in addition to three straight league titles. She scored 12 goals with eight assists in 15 starts last season.
Heaps’ arrival will be a huge deal for Summit FC, a team that kicks off in March and hopes to compete from the start. General manager Curt Johnson, who previously held a similar role with the North Carolina Courage during their trophy-winning years, told ESPN last year that signing top-level players with Colorado roots is a high priority.
“We just felt like Lindsey was the ideal piece as we work to build a strong team, as well as with the DNA of Denver and Colorado,” Johnson told ESPN, adding that Denver has around 20 players committed to the roster.
“This is one of those moments that’s just special. It sends a message to our fans, our players on our roster, to prospective players, global soccer, that this is going to be a formidable team, an attractive place to come, and that we are going to recruit the best of the best.”
“Lindsey’s the type of player that impacts every single game,” Johnson said. “She commands the ball, demands the ball, impacts the tempo of every game. She can score goals; she makes the final pass. She covers a lot of ground and sets the defensive tone. She’s the maestro in the middle of the field in the attacking third that has her fingerprints on every single game, and that’s what we think she’ll do for us.”
The NWSL has lost several top stars over the past year, including the imminent loss of U.S. midfielder Sam Coffey from the Portland Thorns to Manchester City, according to ESPN sources.
The NWSL has responded to that trend, along with the ongoing uncertainty around U.S. forward Trinity Rodman, by creating the High Impact Player rule that will allow teams to pay players up to $1 million above the salary cap.
Heaps is eligible to be a HIP player — potentially the league’s first — based on her qualification for multiple criteria and her contract structure, Johnson confirmed to ESPN, but it is unclear whether or how she (or any player) will count as a HIP player.
Johnson and Denver are working with the NWSL on exactly how Heaps’ deal will affect Denver’s salary cap come summer. Summit FC also has special allocation money as an expansion team that is good through 2027 and can be used to buy down salary cap hits.
Heaps said she is excited to return to an NWSL with “much more investment” than the one she left four years ago.
Among the team’s investments will be a new stadium due to open in 2028. It would be only the second stadium built specifically for an NWSL team.
That the opportunity was in Denver only sweetened the pot. Her parents have mostly watched her career from afar, “maybe seeing me two or three times a year,” she said.
“But maybe most, stepping out onto the field, putting the jersey on for the first time and seeing the crowd, which I know they’ll be absolutely fired up,” she said. “It’s going to be interesting; I could be super emotional, I don’t know — most likely, because I’m a sensitive person. I’m very excited for that moment.”
Lindsey Heaps ‘proud’ after OL Lyonnes’ UWCL comeback vs. Juventus (2:10)Lindsey Heaps speaks after OL Lyonnes’ 3-3 comeback draw vs. Juventus in the Women’s Champions League. (2:10)
Lindsey Heaps speaks after OL Lyonnes’ 3-3 comeback draw vs. Juventus in the Women’s Champions League. (2:10)
CloseJeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.
Expansion is not an experience that every player embraces, but Heaps said she is especially well prepared after watching her husband, Tyler Heaps, go through an expansion year as the sporting director and general manager of MLS’ San Diego FC, which finished first in the Western Conference in its 2025 debut.