KC Current adds Swedish defender

Feb 7, 2023 - 5:13 PM

The Kansas City Current announced that they have signed Swedish International defender Hanna Glas through 2024 with a mutual option for 2025. Glas leaves Bayern Munich in the German Frauen Bundesliga after having helped them to the 2021 UEFA Champions League semifinals and the quarterfinals the year before.

Glas has been a regular for Sweden, making 59 appearances with their senior team. She has helped lead Sweden to a third-place finish in the 2019 FIFA World Cup and a Silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Glas made her debut for Sweden in 2009 with the U17 team.

“Hanna is a world-class defender that has proven herself at both the club and international level,” said general manager Camille Levin Ashton via press release. “She is consistently talked about as one of the best in the world at her position. Her qualities on both sides of the ball, winning mentality, and ambitions aligned with ours and we are thrilled to welcome her to Kansas City.”

“I’m happy to join Kansas City, and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to since I first heard about the interest last summer,” said Glas. “It’s been a long wait and I’m so excited to meet my new teammates and my new coaches. It’s going to be great to challenge myself by playing in one of the best leagues in the world, and I hope that my qualities as a player and person will be valuable for the club.”

Before her time with Bayern, Glas played 19 matches with France’s Paris St. Germain over two seasons.

Glas is recovering from leg surgery but is progressing well and should join the Current sometime in the next two or three weeks where they will evaluate her timeline.

Where will Glas fit in?

After falling short in the NWSL Championship final last season, the Current has been on run building the team stronger and deeper. The Current needed additional defensive help and when Glas is healthy, she should be a regular starter. She was considered one of the best right-backs in Europe.

Glas has been described as brave going forward and a strong 1v1 defender by contacts in Sweden. In this breakdown of Glas in the Their Pitch column, her strengths are listed as progressive short passing, pass accuracy, 1v1 defending, and aerials win percentage as compared to other fullbacks in the Frauen Bundesliga.

The Current were not great in possession last season, creating most chances in direct play and not holding the ball for very long, The players Kansas City has added like Morgan Gautrat, Vanessa Dibernardo, and Debinha combined with Glas and existing players should make the Current much more flexible in attack and defense.

She traditionally plays on the right side as either the right back in a 4-player back line or the right wingback in a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 formation. This is where Kate Del Fava played for the Current after moving back to fill in on defense when Kansas City was shorthanded. Del Fava played well there but Glas will be an upgrade in that role.

In her 119 club matches, Glas has 11 goals and 12 assists.

TrasnferLab and Their Pitch

Glas joins fellow Swedish International Mimmi Larsson on the roster. Glas and Larsson know each other from their time with Sweden and are reported to be good friends.

A little get-to-know Glas video:

Bonus dinosaur video:

And kudos to the Current content team again: