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The Portland Thorns just got a little more global.
Ahead of the club’s “Global Game Night” match against the Kansas City Current on Saturday, the Thorns announced that they’d signed French forward Julie Dufour through 2027.
Dufour arrived in Portland on Thursday evening and got in half a training session Friday. She didn’t even have time to find a grocery store, she told press after the match.
Despite her lack of time to integrate with the Thorns, Dufour subbed into the 81st minute of a 2-0 loss to Kansas City. Twenty minutes—between what remained of the original 90 and a fair amount of stoppage time—really isn’t a lot to read into, especially when Dufour mostly spent them drifting up and down the Thorns’ right flank and wasn’t especially involved in the play during that time.
In the words of head coach Rob Gale: “We’ll see a lot more from Julie this upcoming week.”
Portland acquired Dufour via trade with Angel City FC, along with another international slot for 2025. In exchange, the Thorns gave LA $40,000 in intra-league transfer funds.
Dufour didn’t dance around her reason for coming into Portland in the postgame presser. “I try to score,” she said. “This is my goal. I want to help my team.”
That didn’t necessarily come easy for her at Angel City, she said.
Dufour signed with the Los Angeles side ahead of the 2025 season, after playing professionally in France since 2017. She appeared in 370 minutes across 10 games for Angel City—averaging a little over half-an-hour per match. During that time, she registered a single shot.
Dufour is the second player the Thorns have signed during the NWSL’s mid-season transfer window, after defender Naomi Powell signed a short-term contract with the Thorns and extended that deal through the end of the season Aug. 18. Portland still has two open international spots for 2025, and the transfer window closes Sunday.
