Utah Royals have signed Mexico international forward Kiana Palacios from Liga MX Femenil side Club América, the NWSL team announced on Tuesday.
A source told ESPN that Utah paid an $800,000 transfer fee to sign Palacios, which is believed to be the second-highest outgoing transfer from Liga MX Femenil behind Lizbeth Ovalle‘s $1.5 million move from Tigres to the Orlando Pride last summer. That fee was a world record at the time.
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The Royals declined to disclose the transfer fee. Club América announced Palacios’ departure last week.
Palacios is a regular fixture for Mexico’s women’s national team.
At the club level, she is América’s all-time leading scorer with 90 goals in 174 league appearances. She helped América win the 2023 Clausura title.
She arrives at a Utah team in need of goal-scoring help. The Royals scored only 28 goals in 26 games last season, third-fewest in the NWSL.
Palacios was born in Orange, California, and player collegiately at the University of California-Irvine. She was drafted by Gotham FC (then Sky Blue FC) in 2018 but did not sign there and began her professional career later that year at Real Sociedad in Spain.
Palacios helped Real Sociedad win the 2019 Copa de la Reina. She scored a goal in a 2-1 win over Atlético Madrid in the final of that competition.
She transferred to América in 2021.
Utah opens the new NWSL season on March 14 against the Kansas City Current, the 2025 NWSL Shield winners.
