Sports
13-year-old prodigy Mckenna Whitham aiming to make NWSL before finishing high school
There aren’t many things Mckenna Whitham can’t do on a soccer field.
She’s fast. She can shoot. She can dribble. She can pass.
“She has a skill set that is different,” her father, Josh, says. “She doesn’t have a flaw in her game.”
She’s also just 13.
At an age when most kids are preparing for high school, Mckenna Whitham is preparing to turn pro in the world’s most popular sport. She’s already the youngest person to sign a name, image and likeness contract with Nike and the youngest to play for an NWSL club. In that February preseason game, Whitham, a non-roster invitee with Gotham FC, scored the game’s only goal in stoppage time, making her the youngest player to score for an NWSL team.
For Mckenna high school isn’t a necessity, it’s a detour.
“My thoughts haven’t really been high school or anything. I’ve always wanted to go pro, like right away,” she said. “And I’ve been working really hard to get there.”
Kennedy Fuller is already there and the midfielder, who signed with Angel City three days before her 17th birthday last March, said her advice to Whitham would be to be patient — not always an easy thing for a 13-year-old.
Mckenna Whitham practices with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat at College of the Canyons.
(Courtesy of Luc Caouette)
“It’s super important that she thinks about putting herself in the best environment possible,” said Fuller, who took a red-eye back to Texas for her high school graduation hours after playing the final 28 minutes of her team’s scoreless draw with the San Diego Wave last week. “Whether that’s playing up a couple of years, whether that’s playing with boys, whether that’s playing with professional training, professional teams, whatever that may be.
“Putting herself in the best environment possible is what’s going to eventually help her be the best version of herself.”
Whitham, who goes by Mak, is already doing much of that. By playing with the U.S. U-15 team, she’s playing up a couple of years and she’s been training with LAFC’s boys’ academy team. And on Wednesday she’s expected to make her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat, a highly regarded summer pro-am club whose alumni include World Cup veterans Savannah DeMelo, Alyssa Thompson, Lauren Sesselmann and Ashley Sanchez and reigning NWSL rookie of the year Jenna Nighswonger.
That Whitman can even dream the dream of becoming a professional before finishing high school — a dream Kennedy and a handful of others are already living — is a relatively new development. Until 2021, NWSL required women to be at least 18 to play in the league.
That was news to Olivia Moultrie and her family. At 13, the same age Whitham is now, Moultrie, now 18, signed with the Wasserman Media Group, U.S. soccer’s most powerful agency, then accepted a multiyear endorsement deal with Nike and an offer to train with the NWSL’s Portland Thorns, moving with her parents and two younger sisters to Oregon for what she thought would be the start of a professional career.
When the league told her she’d have to wait five years to play in an official match, she sued and the courts eventually agreed that the NWSL was in violation of antitrust rules. So ahead of the 2022 NWSL season, new commissioner Jessica Berman pushed through a mechanism for signing players under 18, opening the door not just for Moultrie, but for other rising stars such as Chloe Ricketts, Melanie Barcenas and Jaedyn Shaw. Angel City has three teenagers in addition to Fuller: forwards Alyssa Thompson, 19, and Casey Phair, 16 and defender Gisele Thompson, 18.
“It’s incredibly important that we have a domestic pathway for those special players that want to take the next step,” said Jill Ellis, who coached the U.S. women’s team to two World Cup titles before becoming president of the San Diego Wave. “It was a rarity a few years ago to have teenagers in the pro ranks. To see the evolution and opportunities now for our best young talent is exciting.”
Which brings us back to the Whithams, who moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Southern California last summer because the soccer opportunities, such as the chance to play with the Blue Heat and with Slammers FC, an elite youth program in Orange County, were better for Mak. Her father , a senior vice president for a global staffing firm, can work remotely, freeing him to ferry his daughter to games and practices. Her mother, Joni, homeschools her daughter, which helps keep her schedule flexible.
“My job is to make sure that as long as she’s having fun, and if she wants to do it, that she has the opportunity to do it. Then it’s up to her to prove herself,” Josh Whitham said.
“All I care about is that she’s following her dreams and that she wants to do it. My goal is just to be here to support her.”
Josh Whitham said he doesn’t push his daughter to train. The motivation comes from her.
Mckenna Whitham kicks the ball during a Santa Clarita Blue Heat training session at College of the Canyons this month.
(Courtesy of Luc Caouette)
“She runs her entire schedule, including her homeschooling,” he said. “She learned a big organizational thing that most adults struggle with.”
Josh Whitham knows a little bit about the challenges of being a precocious athlete. At 15, he was the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic ski team, ranking as high as 40th in the world and making the roster for the 1998 Nagano Olympics as an alternate before he was out of high school.
“We have those conversations,” he said. “But my job is shifting to more of an advisor and just to make sure I’m here to talk about anything. [The] experiences she’s living right now, you can never replace those no matter what you do. In regular life you cannot replace going to Europe, being with the teams, having the interaction with these players.
“We do worry about those things. All I care is that she’s following her dreams and we’ll be here to support her. And if that [dream] changes, then it changes.”
Right now that dream is to sign a professional contract. Barcenas became the young player in NWSL history when she signed with the Wave last season at 15 years 138 days. Whitham, who has continued to train with Gotham, the reigning NWSL champion, as well as NWSL clubs in Kansas City and Washington, won’t turn 15 for another 14 months.
“As of now, we’ve committed to riding out this the way it is and finishing out the year,” Josh Whitham said. “She wants to sign. It’s just a matter of time and where the best developmental situation is.”
Time, certainly, is on their side.
“This,” Josh Whitham agreed “is a long road.”
⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
Trump says there’s ‘no time frame’ to secure Iran deal
Republican Minnesota Senate candidate Tom Weiler joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S.-Iranian conflict continues and react to Gov. Tim Walz’s, D-Minn., criticism of the president.
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Saudi Arabia was among the countries seeing missiles fly into their airspace as a conflict broke out in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran.
The prospect of Iran targeting its Middle Eastern neighbors like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates put some sporting events on hold and questioned others. Formula 1 races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were canceled and rumors swirled around whether future WWE events could be held in the kingdom.
Roman Reigns celebrates his win during WWE’s Royal Rumble at Riyadh Season Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 31, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
As the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire with Iran, WWE announced on Thursday that its Night of Champions premium live event will be held in Riyadh on June 27.
“We are proud to welcome Night of Champions back to Riyadh and look forward to delivering another unforgettable night of WWE action for fans in the Kingdom and around the world,” General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Al-Sheikh said in a news release.
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Sami Zayn makes his entrance during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
The release touted that WrestleMania 43 will still be held in Riyadh in 2027. It will be the first time that WrestleMania is held outside the U.S.
WWE president Nick Khan was adamant before WrestleMania 42 that the event will still take place in Saudi Arabia despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“We’re doing WrestleMania next year in Saudi,” he said at a Sports Business Journal event, via The Sporting Tribune. “First time ever, WrestleMania will be outside the United States or Canada. And we’ve had a big, fruitful partnership with them.”
John Cena wrestles CM Punk during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
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He added that those complaining about WrestleMania being held in Saudi Arabia were a “vocal minority.”
Thousand-dollar tickets and hundreds of dollars in fees shocked some hopeful Olympic fans this month, but they did not keep LA28 from boasting strong sales in the committee’s first ticket drop.
LA28 announced Thursday that it sold more than 4 million Olympic tickets during the first ticket drop. The private organizing committee will have a second ticket drop in August with “refreshed inventory across all Olympic sports at a range of price points.”
But after the popularity of the first purchasing period, many of the lower-priced tickets have already been scooped up.
LA28 said roughly half of the total 1 million $28 tickets were sold during the locals presale, which was limited to people living near venue cities in Southern California and Oklahoma City.
The average price per Olympic ticket is less than $200, which includes a mandatory 24% service fee, and LA28 said about 75% of all tickets, including final events, will be under $400. The premier seats at high-demand events command more than $1,000 per ticket, but the highest priced categories make up about 5% of the total ticket inventory.
Artistic gymnastics sold out the quickest in Drop 1. Four new Olympic sports — flag football, lacrosse, softball and squash — sold all their available inventory for the first drop. After five days of local presale, global ticket sales opened and drew fans from 85 countries and all 50 states and U.S. territories. The largest international sales came from the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
For the first female-majority Olympic Games, LA28 reported that women’s Olympic sessions outsold men’s 93% to 88% during the first drop.
“The response to our initial on-sale was nothing short of historic. Fans from near and far have spoken: the world wants to be part of the LA28 Games,” LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “The success of Drop 1 is about more than momentum — it reflects LA28’s commitment to delivering a fiscally responsible Games that create a lasting legacy for Los Angeles and its communities.”
Drop 2, which will begin in August, will have additional tickets across all Olympic sports, including those that may have sold out during the first purchasing windows. The registration period for Drop 2 opened Thursday and will continue until July 22. Fans who registered for the first drop of tickets but did not receive a time slot and fans who did not buy their maximum 12 general ticket allotment will automatically be entered into the random lottery Drop 2. The new registration period is only required for anybody who did not sign up for the initial drop.
Fans are still limited to 12 Olympic tickets and up to 12 soccer tickets that don’t count toward the general maximum. There is a four ticket per ceremony limit for the opening and closing ceremony that count toward the 12-ticket maximum, which is cumulative across all LA28 presales and ticket drops.
LA28 will have multiple ticket drops with assigned purchasing time slots before ticket sales move to a first-come, first-served format closer to the Games, which open on July 14, 2028. LA28 began its ticketing process earlier than most other Olympic Games with tickets going on sale more than two years in advance of the opening ceremony. The early timeline has created excitement for the first Summer Olympics in the United States since Atlanta 1996, but also prompted concerns about scheduling. Fans clamored for tickets with little information about which teams or athletes would be competing in most sessions.
Tickets are not refundable, but fans can opt for verified resale when LA28 launches its official resale system in 2027. AXS and Eventim is the official secondary ticket marketplace of the LA28 Games and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets have also signed on as additional verified resale platforms.
LA28 will have 14 million tickets available for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which would eclipse the record of 12 million tickets sold for the Paris Games. Paris 2024 sold an about 9.5 million tickets for the Olympics, but used a different ticket system than LA28. For Paris, 3.5 million tickets were sold during the first phase, during which fans were required to buy tickets to at least three different sports instead of the option for single-event tickets available during LA28’s Drop 1 process.
Tickets for the 2028 Paralympics, which will be the first in L.A.’s history, will go on sale in 2027. Ticket sales and hospitality are expected to cover about $2.5 billion of LA28’s expected $7.1 billion budget for the first Games in L.A. in more than 40 years.
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An envoy for President Donald Trump has reportedly asked FIFA to replace Iran with Italy in the 2026 World Cup this summer.
The Financial Times reported the plan is an effort to repair the relationship between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which soured after the former’s comments against Pope Leo XIV regarding the war with Iran.
United States special envoy Paolo Zampolli suggested the idea to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
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President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5, 2025. (Emilee Chinn/FIFA)
“I confirm I have suggested to Trump and Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup. I’m an Italian native, and it would be a dream to see the Azzurri at a U.S.-hosted tournament,” Zampolli told the outlet. “With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Italy had a chance to be in the World Cup already, but it lost in a penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualifying playoff final.
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Italy became the first World Cup-winning team to miss three consecutive tournaments after the 4-1 penalty shootout loss earlier this month.
“We still don’t believe it that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy’s Leonardo Spinazzola told reporters at the time, according to the New York Post.
“It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”
While Zampolli told Infantino about his proposed plan, FIFA’s president said Iran “for sure” will play in the World Cup despite the conflict involving the U.S.
Mehdi Taremi of Iran celebrates after scoring a goal during a 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Group A game against Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium in Tehran March 25, 2025. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)
“The Iranian team is coming, for sure,” Infantino said during the CNBC Invest in America Forum earlier this month in Washington, D.C.
“We hope that, by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation. That would definitely help. But Iran has to come, of course. They represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”
Infantino visited the Iranian national team in Turkey, which is where it has its training camp.
All three of Iran’s group stage games are scheduled to be played in the U.S. That remains the case after Iranian government officials suggested to FIFA that their games be moved to Mexico because they could not travel to the U.S.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed FIFA’s rejection of Iran’s request, and it is insisting Iran play where it’s scheduled — SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and Lumen Field in Seattle. Iran said earlier this month it would only decide on its team’s participation once it heard from FIFA regarding its relocation request.
Iran is scheduled to play at SoFi Stadium against New Zealand June 16 to begin its tournament. It will also play Belgium at the stadium before finishing group play against Mo Salah and Egypt in Seattle June 26.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends an international friendly between Mexico and Portugal at Banorte Stadium in Mexico City March 28, 2026. (Antonio Torres/FIFA/Getty Images)
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Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month that Iran would be welcome to compete in the World Cup as scheduled, though it might not be “appropriate” considering the conflict.
“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” he wrote.
Trump also told Politico, “I really don’t care,” when asked about Iran’s participation in the tournament. Infantino, who has a strong relationship with Trump, said Trump has “reiterated” to him that the U.S. welcomes Iran’s team to compete.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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