Swedish defender Hanna Glas is the latest player heading to Kansas City. On Tuesday morning, the Current confirmed her move from FC Bayern Munich, signing her to a contract through the 2024 season with an option for 2025 — another ambitious addition to their roster after an offseason that has already been very busy.
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Glas, 29, had spent her entire club career in Europe until this move. Before Bayern she played for PSG, and before the move to France she spent time with three different pro clubs in her home country after making the move to the Damallsvenskan in 2013 — though her debut was delayed following an ACL tear in 2013.
Glas has become one of the world’s elite outside backs, and she’s certainly had some big moments on big stages. She started the majority of matches for the Swedish national team during that nation’s run in the most recent World Cup, Olympics and Euros. USWNT fans might remember her assist in that demoralizing 3-0 Sweden victory that started off the group stage of the 2020 Olympics. But the moment Glas might be best known for is this goal against Chelsea, scored in 2021 during Bayern’s UWCL campaign.
Ooooj, vilket mål av Hanna Glas i Bayern Münchens Champions League-semifinal mot Chelsea🌟🌟🌟 pic.twitter.com/MOKPxJTXfm
— Sportbladet (@sportbladet) April 25, 2021
So why the NWSL, and why now?
“For me, one of the most exciting factors was the coach, Matt (Potter),” Glas told The Athletic over the phone. “I had a really good talk with him, about the way he views me as a player, the way he works with the team, his playing style and everything, how he could develop me to become even better as a player.”
Glas noted that she’s worked with some good coaches during her career already, but added that Potter was “really straightforward” with her, and it proved to be a major factor.
“What we actually talked about is: how could her best days still be ahead of her and not behind her?,” said Potter. “We talked about exactly the resources, the environment; we talked about her as a player.”
He laid out a vision of how her skillset could be maximized in the NWSL, and how playing in the U.S. would only make her better yet.
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Glas also pointed to the ongoing investment happening in Kansas City women’s soccer.
“Building a new stadium that’s amazing, like wow,” she said, “that also helped, of course. They’re building with the team, and they reached the finals last season.”
Glas paused for a second, checking in to see if she got the terminology right, laughing at the suggestion of a crash course in American sports terms she’s never had any reason to learn before. Playoffs might be a new word, but she already knew the goal is to reach the end of them with a trophy.
“We’ve got the environment and resources to back that up,” Potter told The Athletic, on the phone from KC’s preseason at IMG Academy in Florida. Potter, as part of his work on the U.S. Soccer technical staff, had scouted Glas and Sweden at the 2019 World Cup for the USWNT, and watched her at the Olympics as well.
Beyond what Kansas City can offer her, Glas was also attracted to the parity across the league.
“One thing right now is, let’s say the French, the English, the German, and mostly also in the Swedish leagues, two, maybe three teams are competing for the title,” she said. “I feel the NWSL is a more competitive league. Every team, every game is pretty tough.”
That’s not just her own impression. Glas said she discussed the NWSL with Sweden teammates who have played in the league: San Diego Wave’s Sofia Jakobsson and Julia Roddar, who played with the Washington Spirit before departing for Hammarby IF. Both confirmed, Glas said, that “Every game is so tough, and the intensity is really high.”
As a player who has played in Champions League — who had an all-time Champions League moment fairly recently — Glas didn’t shy away from a competition like that being a major factor in how players decide where to play, for European and American players alike. The NWSL’s competitive, sometimes chaotic, nature does have its own appeal.
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“The USA has also been one of the world’s dominating national teams for the last — I don’t know how many years — but they’re always one of the best teams in the world,” Glas said. “And of course, almost all of them play in the NWSL. That says a lot about the quality that’s in the league.”
There’s also the new logistical wrinkle that playing in the States presents, especially in a World Cup year: how to handle the time difference and the extra travel.
“There’s a way to make it okay,” Glas said. “Mostly, it can just be mental. If I’m just prepared for it, and I’ll do my best to minimize tiredness and everything, I think that’s more up to me.”
Like many who come to the NWSL via Europe, Glas noted the league’s love of the transition game. For her, it’s another positive for the league, as that means adding another skill as part of that personal development she’s looking for. Not only is it another style to play, but she expects it to help her physically take another step as well.
It’s a match ❤️🔥
Welcome to Kansas City, @hannaglas! pic.twitter.com/0Usojc0EWS
— KC Current (@thekccurrent) February 7, 2023
That physical element is going to have to wait for her to be back at 100% first though. Glas picked up another leg injury during a camp with Sweden last September, bad enough that she elected to undergo surgery — what her agent termed a “selective procedure” last fall.
Last October, six weeks out from her surgery, she wrote in the caption to another post: “The rehab process is always like a roller coaster. You have good days and you have bad days. I’ve been fortunate to have such incredible support from everyone around me, and that is something that’s been so important in my journey back to the pitch.” There are other small glimpses of the long journey back: a jump rope session, a video of her running on an anti-gravity treadmill.
For Glas, the target has always been making it back in time for this summer’s World Cup. “I’m running,” she confirmed. “Hopefully, I’m not too far away to be able to enter the pitch soon. We’ll take it from there. Cross my fingers that everything will keep going and that I make progress.”
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Potter reinforced his belief that Glas is a true pro who knows how to approach her own recovery. “Injuries are a part of the game, so my attitude to them is once we get her here, we have everything that she’s going to need to give herself that best chance to be here,” he said. “She’s down the pathway. She’s done a lot of the hard work, now it’s about readying herself for the demands of training and then the demands of games.”
The faith and familiarity Potter had with Glas that helped convince her KC was the right fit is only going to be more important once she actually arrives. But there’s clearly no worries on Potter’s end.
“One thing about Hanna, too, is that she goes all in on everything,” he said. “She’s great in the community. She’s a great culture player, in terms of a squad and being around the group. All of those things were vitally important, listening to Cami (Levin Ashton, the team’s general manager) and her group as they recruited her, and in the conversation I had with her.”
Of course, there’s more than just the football to look forward to, and the return to the field at some point this spring when Glas is ready. She’s been researching beyond the NWSL, and said she’s been looking up Kansas City to figure out what she’s looking forward to the most.
“It’s going to be awesome. So much to do in the city,” she said. “I’m more than excited to discover how it is, see the jazz, the barbeque, and try everything out.”
Glas’ American adventure awaits.
(Photo: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
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