OL Reign Sign USWNT Defender Alana Cook Through 2023 Season

OL Reign has signed defender Alana Cook to a three-year contract after reaching agreement with Paris Saint-Germain on a permanent transfer of the player. The contract includes a club option for the 2024 NWSL season. Per league and club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cook previously played for OL Reign on a short-term loan from PSG during the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup. She made 3 appearances for OL Reign in the tournament, starting and playing all 90 minutes of those matches.

Cook, the 24-year-old native of Worcester, Massachusetts, made the move to OL Reign from Paris Saint-Germain in Division 1 Féminine. Since signing with PSG in January 2019, Cook has made 21 league appearances and 17 starts for the club, totaling 1,630 minutes played.

PSG finished second in the Division 1 Féminine table during her first two seasons with the club, but on Friday, Paris Saint-Germain secured the top spot in the table for the 2020/2021 season, dethroning Lyon after a streak of fourteen consecutive league titles while earning the league title for the first time in the club’s history.

“I think coming into PSG, part of my mission here was sharing their general outlook of wanting to be the best in France, the best in Europe and I think over the two and a half years I’ve been here, that’s what we have been moving towards. With where we are at in the table, obviously going into the last game… if we win, we win the league for the first time in PSG’s history on the women’s side,” Cook said about her time with PSG.

In addition to her league appearances for PSG, Cook made nine UEFA Women’s Champions League appearances, scoring the equalizing goal against Barcelona in the semi-final match. After Barcelona failed to clear a corner kick, Cook headed the ball into the back of the net for PSG, tying the game 1-1.

“We are very excited to have Alana joining our team again after her time at PSG,” said OL Reign head coach Farid Benstiti. “She will be a great addition to the team and will help us towards the goal of winning our first NWSL Championship. She is a player that will increase our quality of play on the field and add depth to our roster.”

Cook was called up to the U.S. Women’s National Team for the upcoming FIFA international window in June, joining OL Reign teammates Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle. The defender has previously served as a captain for both the U.S. Women’s National Team U17s and U23s. Also eligible to represent England, Cook trained with the Lionesses last September before making her debut with the U.S. Women’s National Team under head coach Vlatko Andonovski in November 2019.

Cook previously played for Stanford University, where she helped the Cardinal claim four straight Pac-12 titles and one national championship in 2017. Cook, team captain her last two years at Stanford, was a two-time All-Pac-12 First Team selection. She was also named as a first team All-America selection as a senior and was named a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist as a junior. Cook was also honored as the Pac-12 Defender of the Year in 2018.

“I’m extremely excited to be coming back to the Reign. My first time playing for the Reign over the summer for the Challenge Cup, I really enjoyed myself. The group was amazing, staff and players alike, so I’m just very excited to be getting back in with the group and hopefully get going pretty quickly and get aligned with the goals of the club and the goals of the team.”

Cook will join OL Reign after her time with the U.S. Women’s National Team during June FIFA international match window concludes.