The 2009 Women's Professional Soccer All-Star Game was the first
WPS All-Star Game. In a format similar to that of recent
all-star games in
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
, the WPS All-Stars played
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
club powerhouse
Umeå IK
Umeå IK () is a professional association football club based in the city of Umeå, in northern Sweden, and currently playing Damallsvenskan, the first tier of women's football in Sweden.
They were one of the most successful football clubs in ...
on August 30, 2009, eight days after the league's
championship game
In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match sy ...
. The WPS All-Stars defeated their guests 4–2.
Saint Louis Athletica named host
WPS awarded the 2009 All-Star Game to
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
in a press release on June 25, 2009. The venue was
Anheuser-Busch Center
World Wide Technology Soccer Park is a soccer complex which includes four soccer-specific stadiums, with the main field, West Community Stadium, holding 5,500 seats. Located in Fenton, Missouri, a suburb southwest of downtown St. Louis, it is oper ...
in the suburb of
Fenton, home of
Saint Louis Athletica
Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte S ...
.
Umeå IK
Founded in 1917, Umeå IK is currently one of the premier women's clubs in Europe. They have won six
Damallsvenskan
The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...
titles, and won the
UEFA Women's Champions League
The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
The ...
twice, appearing in the finals five times in the eight years since the competition's founding. Umeå was also the club that
Marta played for before moving to the
Los Angeles Sol
The Los Angeles Sol was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that participated in Women's Professional Soccer.
The team was co-owned and operated by Blue Star, LLC and AEG, a subsidia ...
.
WPS All-Stars
Voting
Eleven of the eighteen WPS All-Stars were chosen by vote. 25% of the total vote came from fans voting online, 25% from media, 25% from coaches (who were prohibited from voting for their team's players), and 25% from players. The results of the voting were released on August 4 at 5PM ET.
Over 25,000 fan votes were cast, with the top three fan picks being
Hope Solo
Hope Amelia Stevens (; born July 30, 1981) is an American former soccer goalkeeper. She was a goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team from 2000 to 2016, and is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Aft ...
,
Lori Chalupny, and
Shannon Boxx
Shannon Leigh Boxx Spearman (; born June 29, 1977) is an American retired soccer player and former member of the United States women's national soccer team, playing the defensive midfielder position. She last played club soccer for the Chicago Re ...
. Despite leading the fan voting, Solo did not make the Starting XI.
Marta was the overall top vote-getter, being named on the ballots of all eligible coaches, collecting 94% of the media vote, and finishing second in the player vote and fourth in the fan vote.
Multiple players who were selected to the Starting XI were playing for their national teams in the
UEFA Women's Euro 2009
The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...
at the time of the All-Star game. As such, their spots on the field were taken by the next runners-up in the voting for their respective positions.
At-Large Selections
The remaining seven players on the All-Star team were selected by
Abner Rogers (head coach for the
Los Angeles Sol
The Los Angeles Sol was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that participated in Women's Professional Soccer.
The team was co-owned and operated by Blue Star, LLC and AEG, a subsidia ...
), who was chosen by a vote of all WPS players to be the WPS All-Star coach, and Commissioner Tonya Antonucci.
2009 All-Star Rosters
Women's Professional Soccer
Bold indicates Starting XI fro
voting results
br>* Indicates Starting XI players who were on national team duty in Europe at gametime
''Italic'' indicates runners-u
replacing
Starting XI players on European national team duty - Tiffeny Milbrett replaced Formiga
Regular typeface indicates "At Large" playe
selections
/small>
Umeå IK
Squad announcement
br>* Due to Umeå also missing players for the European championships, these WPS players played for their former club.
Match details
Statistics
External links
Official Press Release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wps All-Star 2009
2009 Women's Professional Soccer season
Soccer in St. Louis
All-star games
2009 in sports in Missouri