Discussing her unorthodox journey to the NWSL and her overall experience with the Utah Royals, Darielle O’Brien is the first Urban Pitch Podcast guest of 2025!
Making her professional debut at 26, Darielle O’Brien’s pathway to the professional ranks was far from typical.
After playing collegiately at UC Riverside, she spent the next few years playing semi-professionally with United City FC in Southern California, still searching for an opportunity to play at the pro level. In 2024, she’d get her shot. With the Summer Olympics enlisting numerous players across the NWSL to national team duty, O’Brien signed with the Utah Royals as a replacement player. She’d eventually sign to the club through the rest of the year, although her contract wasn’t renewed come the end of the season.
Now a free agent, she understands that this is still the beginning of her journey, and she’s eager to make an impact with whichever team signs her next. She joins the Urban Pitch Podcast to discuss her atypical journey, the grind of making it out of a smaller school, and her overall experience in the NWSL.
You can watch the entire podcast on YouTube, or listen to the audio on streaming services including Apple and Spotify.
