On Sept. 17, Chicago Stars FC sent shockways through the NWSL after announcing the hiring of 2025 NWSL Shield winning coach Vlatko Andonovski as its Chief Soccer Officer. Andonovski referred to the last-place club and its rebuild as a “project,” but he isn’t without materials to help him along. In the last year, Chicago had traded away Ludmila and Jameese Joseph for more than $1.5 million in total transfer fees. His first signing with that war chest was announced on Oct. 8, the day of the league-wide roster freeze: Dynamic forward Racheal Kundananji would be joining the Stars from Bay FC, in exchange for $700,000 in intra-league transfer funds.
Kundananji’s current contract runs through the 2027 season with a 2028 option, and it’s steep even in today’s ever-changing market at around $500,000 per year. The expensive move says a great deal about Andonovski’s plans for the team long-term.
Kundananji, a Zambia international, first joined the league ahead of the 2024 NWSL season. Her trade to then-expansion club Bay FC set a new women’s transfer fee record as Bay shelled out €735,000 (~$788,000 at the time) plus add-ons to acquire her. Since then, she’s scored 12 goals and assisted 11 more in her three seasons in San Jose.
Kundananji’s production may seem a little underwhelming given her transfer fee, but it’s important to put that in the context of Bay’s performance. Her highest-production season — five goals and four assists in 2024 — coincided with her club achieving its best final result to date (7th of 14 teams). Her lowest-production season — 2026, with her three goals and three assists — has been the year she’s been on the pitch for the fewest minutes. Bay has already been eliminated from playoff contention.
This season, only three players whose teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention (Amanda Gutierres and Aïssata Traoré from the Boston Legacy, and Maja Lardner from Racing Louisville) have created more xG + xA per 90 than Kundananji. In 2024 and 2025, she had the most goal contributions on her team, and this year she is second only to Karlie Lema. Her ability to outperform her peers on a lower-strength side is exactly what makes her the perfect starting point for Chicago’s rebuild; while they’re still figuring out what direction they want to take the club in and how to get there, Kundananji will be able to buoy them with her incredible individual ability.
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Dribbling dynamo
What makes Kundananji so lethal is her dribbling ability.
“In this league, you need speed in the front four players,” explained Chicago Stars interim head coach Karina Báez on Friday. “[Kundananji] has speed. … She’s a very direct player, trying to find the ball any time, any chance. If you give her any space, she will try to beat any defender in this league.”
In fact, this season Kundananji leads the league in successful dribbles per 90 among players with at least 400 minutes under their belt, and she held that honor by the end of the 2024 season as well. It’s not just the number of successful dribbles that makes her such a dangerous player — it’s about the quality of those dribbles.
American Soccer Analysis has come up with a metric called Goals Added (g+) that measures how likely each on-ball action is to increase a team’s chances of scoring and decrease their chances of conceding during that play. Kundananji has ranked fifth in the whole league in both 2024 and 2026 on this metric, and what anchors her score is her dribbling g+.
Her dribbling, combined with her pace, makes it so that all that she needs of a teammate is to dink the ball into her path.
Kundananji has a knack for getting in the right position to create a dangerous chance out of nearly nothing in moments like these. She demonstrates an ability to both get on the end of these cleared balls and to beat the defenders to it, clearing space ahead of her to run at the goal.
Sometimes she doesn’t even need that long, wayward ball from a teammate.
Kundananji has demonstrated that she can create chances all on her own by combining her ability to dispossess opponents and to outspeed defenders on the counter.
On a team like Chicago that needs a strong bandaid while they work on an overhaul, Kundananji seems like the perfect fit. Báez agrees. “This is a signing that will bring pace in open spaces, that will create more aggression on the front four, and this is a good start for the team,” she said.
Remarkable receiving
Kundananji’s value extends far beyond her ability to be a bandaid, however. Her second-highest g+ category so far this season is her receiving.
Kundananji knows how to get herself into excellent position so that her teammates can send her an effective pass or delivery.
Kundananji’s contributions will only grow as Chicago signs more and more pieces to build around this strong first signing.
Sharp shooter
Kundananji is not only able to receive passes in promising areas, but she is smart enough to make something of those passes with her finishing acumen. Kundananji has all of the skills and awareness needed to make sure the ball touches the back of the net.
She recognizes when the keeper is off her line, and can chip a shot over her head.
She can take advantage of space left open by the keeper at the far post.
And she has the skill to pummel the ball into a pocket that even a well-positioned keeper can’t reach.
“She knows her game,” noted Báez. “She’s a player who won’t hesitate in finishing first touch — that’s something else.”
The NWSL announced Friday that several Zambia National Team players are “currently observing U.S. government public health re-entry protocols required for travelers returning from the East African region.”
Per ESPN, “The CDC currently bans entry to the U.S. by foreign nationals who have been in Uganda in the past 21 days, due to ongoing concerns around an Ebola outbreak earlier this year.” Thus it is unclear if Kundananji will appear for the Stars this season.
However, signing Kundananji was not primarily about salvaging this season for the already eliminated Stars. Her unique skillsets will make her a valuable player during each phase of Chicago’s rebuild. With her ability to create and score from chances on her own, she can act as a stopgap while Andonovski figures out what direction to take his new team in. She’s also excellent at creating chances for others and finishing the chances that others have created, so her value to this struggling side will only multiply as the team gets stronger.
But perhaps most importantly, according to Báez, “She will bring a lot of joy.”
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