Women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

has developed quite differently from men's soccer. Until the 1970s, organized women's soccer matches in the U.S. existed only on a limited basis. The U.S. is now regarded as one of the top countries in the world for women's soccer, and

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

ranked its

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

#1 in the world after its back-to-back Women's World Cup victory in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. The highest women's professional soccer league in the United States is the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

(NWSL), which was established in 2012 as a successor to

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

and was run by the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

(USSF) before becoming independently governed in 2020. The league began with eight teams and reached its current (and largest) membership of 12 teams in 2022, with the Los Angeles-based

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California, and was announced on July 21, 2020. The team has many high-profile owners, including Becky G, Natal ...

and San Diego Wave FC being the most recent entries in 2022. The NWSL season starts with the

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup, currently known as the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tournament organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-tier women's league in the United States soccer league system. Th ...

in March, with the final held in early May, shortly after the late-April start of the regular season. Each team then plays 22 regular-season games, with each team playing all others once each at home and on the road. After the regular season ends in late September or early October, six teams advance to playoffs that run through late October. This schedule may be adjusted in years of the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bod ...

. The NWSL is the third attempt at a women's professional league in the U.S. and has been the most resilient, having played for more seasons than its two predecessors combined.

Early history

The first organized women's soccer league in the United States was the Craig Club Girls Soccer League, which consisted of four teams in St. Louis, Missouri, playing 15-game seasons in 1950 and 1951. Women's soccer in the United States started to gain popularity in the beginning of the 20th century, much later than it appeared in Europe, which had women's leagues in the 1930s. The passage of

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

legislation in 1972 made

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

mandatory in education, including collegiate athletics, which led to more organized women's soccer teams and development.

Collegiate soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United King ...

created more popularity for the game in the 1980s. However, there were few professional opportunities for women in the United States, and the first national women's league, the

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

, would not be established until 1995.

National team

The women's national team was formed in 1983, but would not play its first games until

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. In its first years, it played in little more than friendly tournaments, primarily against European teams, as few competitions for women's national teams yet existed. After the first

was announced for 1991 and especially on the United States being awarded the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

increased investment in both the men's and women's national teams by the USSF led to the United States' team rapidly improving and winning the first women's World Cup. The popularity of the team exploded in the aftermath of the US

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

win as a result of penalty kicks in front of a sold-out Rose Bowl. The close win increased the tension, giving the team a more lively reputation as a sport. Since then, the Americans have remained a force in international women's soccer, having finished third or better in every World Cup, reaching the championship game again in 2011 and winning in 2015 and 2019, as well as appearing in five of the six Olympic gold medal games, winning four. The national team also competes in other tournaments, such as the annual

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious an ...

. The primary source of young players for the national team is NCAA

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Ki ...

, which feeds players to the U-20 national team and eventually the full senior team. Because the United States often lacked a professional women's league, interest in the team peaked around major tournaments, and the team historically struggled to maintain interest between tournaments. The United States also faces increasingly competitive European national teams, many of which have well-established women's leagues in their countries from which to draw players.

League system

The success of the women's national team has not always translated into success for women's professional soccer in the United States.

History

Main Sourc
soccer
Women's soccer was dated back to the 1800s in Europe. Overcoming adversity and change led to where soccer is today for women.

Amateur soccer: W-League and WPSL

Originally called the United States Interregional Women's League, the USL W-League was formed in 1995 as the first national women's soccer league, providing a professional outlet for many of the top female soccer players in the country. It also allowed college players the opportunity to play alongside established international players. Starting as the Western Division of the W-League, the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) broke away and formed its own league in 1997 and had its inaugural season in 1998. Both the W-League and the WPSL were considered the premier women's soccer leagues in the United States at the time, but eventually fell to a second-tier level upon the formation of the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Un ...

in 2000.

Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)

A seemingly viable market for the sport became apparent after the United States women's national soccer team won the

. Feeding on the momentum of their victory, the twenty national team players, in partnership with

John Hendricks John Samuel Hendricks (born March 29, 1952)"John Hendricks: An Oral History," The Cable Center, September 2, 2003. is an American businessman and is the founder and former chairman of Discovery, Inc. (now a part of Warner Bros. Discovery) a broa ...

of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

, sought out the investors, markets, and players necessary to form the WUSA, an eight-team league, in February 2000. The league played its first season in April 2001, and was the world's first women's soccer league in which all players were paid professionals. The eight teams included the Atlanta Beat,

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

Carolina Courage Carolina Courage was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Fetzer Field on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in 2001, and then at the soccer-specific SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina ...

New York Power The New York Power was an American professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional soccer league for women in the United States. The team played at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Unionda ...

Philadelphia Charge The Philadelphia Charge was an American women's professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Villanova Stadium on the campus of Villanova University near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Histo ...

San Diego Spirit The San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. The team began play in 2001. The ...

San Jose CyberRays San Jose CyberRays was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of San José State University in San Jose, California. Stars included U.S. National ...

(called Bay Area CyberRays for 2001 season), and the

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Unite ...

. The U.S. Soccer Federation approved membership of WUSA as a sanctioned Division I women's professional soccer league on August 18, 2000. WUSA had previously announced plans to begin play in 2001 in eight cities across the country, including:

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, New York City,

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and Washington, D.C. Led by investor John Hendricks, WUSA had also forged ahead on a cooperation agreement that will see the new league work side by side with

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 Cana ...

to help maximize the market presence and success of both Division I leagues. WUSA played for three full seasons and suspended operations on September 15, 2003, shortly after the conclusion of the third season due to financial problems and lack of public interest in the sport.

Post-WUSA

With the Women's United Soccer Association on hiatus, the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). ...

(WPSL) and the W-League regained their status as the premier women's soccer leagues in the United States, and many former WUSA players joined those teams. After the folding of WUSA, the WUSA Reorganization Committee was formed in September 2003 that led to the founding of Women's Soccer Initiative, Inc. (WSII), whose stated goal was "promoting and supporting all aspects of women's soccer in the United States", including the founding of a new professional league. Initial plans were to play a scaled-down version of WUSA in 2004. However, these plans fell through and instead, in June 2004, the WUSA held two "WUSA Festivals" in Los Angeles and

Blaine, Minnesota Blaine is a suburban city in Anoka and Ramsey counties in the State of Minnesota, United States. Once a rural town, Blaine's population has increased significantly in the last 60 years. For several years, Blaine led the Twin Cities metro region ...

, featuring matches between reconstituted WUSA teams in order to maintain the league in the public eye and sustain interest in women's professional soccer. A planned full relaunch in 2005 also fell through. In June 2006, WSII announced the relaunch of the league for the 2008 season. In December 2006, WSII announced that it reached an agreement with six owner-operators for teams based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, Los Angeles,

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Washington, D.C., and a then-unnamed city. In September 2007, the launch was pushed back from Spring of 2008 to 2009 to avoid clashing with the 2007 Women's World Cup and the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

and to ensure that all of the teams were fully prepared for long-term operations.

Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)

The new league announced its name and logo on January 17, 2008, and was to have its inaugural season in 2009 with seven teams, including the Washington Freedom of the WUSA. The United States national team players allocated 21 players across the seven teams in September 2008. Also in September, the league held the

2008 WPS International Draft The 2008 WPS International Draft took place on September 24, 2008. It was the first international draft held by Women's Professional Soccer to assign the WPS rights of international players to the American-based teams. For the 2009 season, teams ...

. Unlike WUSA, the WPS attempted a more local approach and slower growth. In addition, the WPS attempted to have a closer relationship with

in order to cut costs. Most teams considered the first season a moderate success, despite many losing more money than planned. However, most teams began to see problems in 2010. Overall attendance for 2010 was noticeably down from 2009, teams struggled financially, and the WPS changed leadership by the end of the season. The success of the United States women's national team at the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the event ...

resulted in an upsurge in attendance league-wide as well as interest in new teams for the 2012 season. However, several internal organization struggles, including an ongoing legal battle with magicJack-owner

Dan Borislow Daniel Marc Borislow (September 21, 1961 – July 21, 2014) was an American entrepreneur, sports team owner, inventor, and thoroughbred horse breeder. Borislow was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Widener Universi ...

and a lack of resources invested in the league, led to the suspension of the 2012 season announced in January 2012. On May 18, 2012, the WPS announced that the league had officially ceased operations after three seasons.

WPSL Elite

By this time, the WPSL and W-League were the two semi-pro leagues in the United States and had sat under WUSA and the WPS until 2012. Upon the disbandment of the WPS, they once again regained their status as the premier women's soccer leagues in the United States. In response to the suspension – and eventual end – of the WPS, the Women's Premier Soccer League created the

Women's Premier Soccer League Elite The Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL Elite) was a women's semi-professional soccer league created by the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) to support the sport in the United States, both from continued interest by WPSL teams in profess ...

(WPSL Elite) to support the sport in the United States. For the 2012 season, the league featured former WPS teams with the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

, and

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American soccer club based in Elma, New York that competed in the United Women's Soccer league. They have won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-League in 2010, Women's Pro ...

, in addition to many WPSL teams. Six of the eight teams were considered fully professional. Many members of the USWNT remained unattached for the 2012 season, while others chose to play in the W-League instead of the WPSL Elite.

National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)

After the WPS folded in 2012, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced a round-table discussion of the future of women's professional soccer in the United States. The meeting resulted in the planning of a new league set to launch in 2013 with 12 to 16 teams from the WPS, the W-League, and the WPSL. In November 2012, the USSF, Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and the

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It adm the Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and controls promoting, organizing, dire ...

(FMF) announced that there would be eight teams in a new women's professional soccer league to be funded by the USSF. The USSF would fund up to 24 players, the CSA up to 16, and the FMF a minimum of 12. Four former WPS teams – the Western New York Flash, Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, and Sky Blue FC (now known as

NJ/NY Gotham FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2 ...

) – were joined by four other teams for the inaugural season in 2012. One of those teams, the

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

, is affiliated with the MLS Portland Timbers and shares its ownership and facilities. Each NWSL club is allowed a minimum of 18 players on their roster, with a maximum of 20 players allowed at any time during the season. Initially, each team's roster included up to three allocated USWNT players, two Mexico women's national team players, and two Canada women's national team players via

NWSL Player Allocation The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) federation players were players whose salaries for playing in the NWSL were paid for by their respective national federations from 2013 to 2021. American federation players were contracted to the United Sta ...

. Mexico no longer allocates players to the NWSL following the 2017 establishment of its own women's professional league,

Liga MX Femenil The Liga MX Femenil, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX Femenil for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Mexico. Supervised by the Mexican Football Federation, this professional league has 18 teams, each coincidin ...

. Each team also has, as of 2016, four spots for international players, though these spots can be traded. The rest of the roster must be filled by players from the United States. The Houston Dynamo of MLS stated interest in starting a women's team in 2013, and by December 2013 the NWSL approved the new Dynamo-operated team, the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

, for expansion in 2014. The addition of the Dash made the NWSL the first top-division professional women's soccer league in the United States to have nine teams. After the United States women's national team winning the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

, the NWSL announced agreements for its first televised games with

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

during the 2015 season, airing games near the end of the season and during the postseason. The league reached another similar agreement with Fox Sports 1 for the 2016 seasons. The league remained without a season-long broadcast deal, however, and streamed all of its games for free on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. After the media boom of the

, MLS side Orlando City SC showed interest in starting a women's team for the 2016 season. On October 20, 2015, the NWSL and Orlando City SC announced that

would host the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to th ...

, which started play at the beginning of the 2016 season. With the beginning of the 2016 season, the NWSL became the first professional women's soccer league to play a fourth season. The 2016–17 offseason saw the league's first major relocation, with the Western New York Flash selling their NWSL franchise rights to the owner of

North Carolina FC North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

, then members of the NASL and now in the USL, who moved the NWSL team to NCFC's base of the

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...

of North Carolina and relaunched it as the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

. Shortly before the start of the 2017 season, the NWSL signed a three-year broadcasting deal with

A+E Networks A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company ...

. Under this deal, A+E's Lifetime channel broadcasts 22 regular-season matches as the ''NWSL Game of the Week'' at 4 p.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...

on Saturday afternoons, as well the league's entire postseason. The deal also saw A+E purchase a 25% stake in the league and receive two seats on the league's board. The remainder of the league's games were intended to be exclusively streamed by

go90 go90 was an American Internet television service and mobile app owned and operated by Verizon Communications. The service was positioned as a mobile-oriented "social entertainment platform" targeted primarily towards millennials, featuring a m ...

in the U.S., but technical issues with that platform led to the NWSL also temporarily streaming these games on its own website. Soon after the end of that season, FC Kansas City folded. The team was partnered with but not owned by MLS side Sporting Kansas City, and media reports indicated that FCKC was the unintended victim of issues that Sporting was facing with its

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

reserve team,

Swope Park Rangers Sporting Kansas City II is a MLS Next Pro club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. For the 2022 season they will play their home games at Rock Chalk Park at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as Sw ...

. Kansas City's place in the NWSL was immediately filled by a new franchise to be operated by another MLS club,

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...

, which was soon unveiled as

Utah Royals FC Utah Royals FC was an American women's professional soccer club based in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, Utah. Established on November 16, 2017, as an expansion club, the Royals played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) from 2018 ...

. Shortly thereafter, the

folded, dropping the league to 9 teams for the 2018 season. The NWSL has since expanded to 12 teams. Utah Royals FC folded after the 2020 season, with its player-related assets being acquired by a new Kansas City ownership group. The new Kansas City side played its first season in 2021 as Kansas City NWSL before adopting its permanent identity of

Kansas City Current Kansas City Current is an American professional women's soccer team based in Kansas City, Kansas. It began play as an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2021. History Establishment Kansas City last had an NWSL t ...

at the end of that season.

Racing Louisville FC Racing Louisville Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League team based in Louisville, Kentucky. It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team is owned by Soccer Holdings LLC, which also owns Louisville City FC of the USL Cham ...

also started play in 2021, and the Los Angeles-based

and San Diego Wave FC started play in 2022. ;Notes

Folding of the W-League and creation of United Women's Soccer

The W-League served as a second-tier development organization and league for women's soccer in the United States for 21 seasons. However, the W-League announced on November 6, 2015, that the league would cease operations ahead of the 2016 season. In response to the folding of the W-League and instability in the WPSL, another second-tier league –

United Women's Soccer United Women's Soccer (UWS, also commonly abbreviated UWS) is a second-division pro-am women's soccer league in the United States. The league was founded in 2015 as a response to the dual problems of disorganization in the WPSL and of the fold ...

(UWS) – was founded as a pro-am women's soccer league in the United States. The UWS had 11 teams in two conferences for its 2016 inaugural season, with

Real Salt Lake Women Real Salt Lake Women (previously known as Salt Lake United and ''Sparta Salt Lake'') was an American women's soccer team that was founded in 2008. The team was a founding member of United Women's Soccer league, in the second tier of women’s so ...

New England Mutiny New England Mutiny is an American women's soccer club, which competes at the pro-am level of women's soccer in the US, in the United Women's Soccer league. The club plays its home games at Lusitano Stadium. Team history Established in 1999 as S ...

, Lancaster Inferno, and

Houston Aces Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

joining from the WPSL and the

Long Island Rough Riders The Long Island Rough Riders are an American association football, soccer team based in South Huntington, New York, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays i ...

New York Magic New York Magic is an American women’s soccer team, founded in 1997. The team was an original member of United Women's Soccer from 2016-2017. They played in the USL W-League from 1997 until the league folded after the 2015 season. The team pla ...

North Jersey Valkyries North Jersey Valkyries was an American women’s soccer team, founded in 2009 based in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues W-League and United Women's Soccer. The team's home field was on the gr ...

, Santa Clarita Blue Heat, Colorado Storm, and Colorado Pride joining from the W-League. The league doubled in size for its 2017 season, adding a Midwest Conference to go with its original East and West Conferences.

Tier system

The U.S. Soccer Federation is heavily involved in the creation and operation of the NWSL, but it did not initially refer to the league as a sanctioned Division I league. U.S. Soccer has now officially labeled the NWSL as a Division I professional league, and has added the league to its Professional Council. Unlike men's soccer, the USSF has not specifically designated tiers or levels below the NWSL. However, the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) and United Women's Soccer (UWS) act as an unofficial lower division.

Amateur soccer

The

United States Adult Soccer Association The United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) is a national organization for amateur soccer in the United States. It consists of 55 state organizations as well as national, regional and state leagues. The National Premier Soccer League, NI ...

(USASA) is a national organization and sanctioning body for amateur soccer in the United States. It consists of 55 state organizations as well as regional and national leagues. The USL's Premier Development League and the National Premier Soccer League are USASA-affiliated but are designed to promote a higher lever of competition than the state organizations. USASA also sanctions the Women's Premier Soccer League and United Women's Soccer league.

USASA National Women's Open

The USASA National Women's Open is an American women's soccer tournament run by USASA. It began in 1996, and from 2009–2012 it was known as the Women's Cup. Before the formation of the Women's Open, the Women's Amateur was the top national cup competition. Historically, it has been contested only by amateur and semi-pro teams, as teams from professional leagues ( WUSA, WPS, and the NWSL) are not allowed to enter the competition. However, in 2012, the Chicago Red Stars – then a professional club in the WPSL Elite – entered and won the competition. Similarly, the professional Houston Aces of the WPSL won in 2013.

USASA National Women's Amateur

The

USASA National Women's Amateur The USASA National Women's Amateur is an American women's soccer tournament run by the United States Adult Soccer Association. It began in 1980 and was the top-level national tournament for women's soccer in the United States until the formation o ...

is an American women's soccer tournament run by the United States Adult Soccer Association. It began in 1980 and was the top-level national tournament for women's soccer in the United States until the formation of the Women's Open in 1996. It is open to all USASA-affiliated women's teams.

US Soccer National Amateur Championships

First held in 2014, the US Soccer National Amateur Championships are contested between the league winners of WPSL, Open Cup, and Amateur Cup.

Hardships

High operating and travel costs, the lack of TV rights and sponsorship agreements and corresponding lack of funding for salaries and training and development facilities, and the lack of affiliation with profitable men's professional clubs have all hampered the growth of professional women's leagues in the United States. The NWSL, now the longest-lasting professional women's soccer league in the United States, pays salaries as low as $7,200 per year, an amount that falls beneath every government-recognized poverty line in the United States and is less than an equivalent Federal minimum wage job of 40 hours per week. When the NWSL started play, its highest-paid players who lacked a national team affiliation faced a maximum cap of $39,700 and teams were held to a salary cap of $278,000, while some players joined teams under amateur agreements where the players could not be paid even if they took the field or started the game. This was far less than the NWSL's predecessors, such as the WPS, where the average salary of $32,000 was almost double the NWSL's maximum average salary of $16,850. It was also poorly competitive with European leagues, which can readily pay salaries to players of the same talent more than $100,000 per year. This situation has been alleviated to some extent as the league has grown; the team salary cap in the 2022 season was $1.1 million, with minimum player salaries set at $35,000. While the maximum salary is currently $75,000, each team is granted $500,000 in "allocation money" (which can be traded) to supplement the salaries of select players. Also, the cap does not include team-provided healthcare, housing, and transportation allowances, effectively allowing even the lowest-paid players in the league a generally middle-class lifestyle. The United States women's national team further highlighted pay issues, both in discrepancy with the men's national team and in fiscal hardships of low NWSL pay, in 2015 and 2016. The women's national team filed action with the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

on March 31, 2016, claiming they are paid 1/4 as much as the men's team despite generating more revenue for the U.S. Soccer Federation. The women's team also claimed that they are paid only if they win, and paid less for winning than the men's team is if they were to lose every game. Also, in order for the U.S women soccer team keep pace financially in order to keep up with the men soccer team was by performing at the world beating level and when it came to the victory tour money the women had to pay extra just to get it. However, in contrast to the men they would just get paid just for showing up. According to the recent four years and recent months in 2016 the women's national team played more games about 40 to 50 percent more and than the men and they have 88 wins and the men have 44. Also, the women's team said they are given inferior accommodations, with the men's team being housed in luxury hotels compared to lower-class housing for the women's team. In July 2016 during preparations for the 2016 Summer Olympics, the women's national team sold T-shirts to support a NWSL player trust fund operated by the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Players Association (WNTPA). Before the

, women's national team player Abby Wambach and a group of other players file a complaint in Canadian court about the tournament's artificial turf playing surface. The players argued that the surface was a form of gender-based discrimination since the men's World Cup games are exclusively played on grass. The players' group abandoned the complaint before the tournament. United States women's soccer players have also faced inferior accommodations and facilities to men's soccer at the professional club level. After a 2016 regular season NWSL game between the

Seattle Reign OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

and

was played on a baseball field smaller than league regulations considered acceptable, several prominent current and former players called out the league for allowing the game to be played. Former Women's national team goalkeeper

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. Afte ...

, who used to play for the NWSL's

, published a blog post detailing several other examples of failures in hotels, facilities, and equipment while playing for the NWSL. Another contributing factor is the role of women within American society, which includes relative equality (especially rejecting hardened gender roles) for women in the United States relative to many other countries. This is also reflected in official government policies regarding women in athletics, specifically

, which requires college and public school athletics programs to support men's and women's athletics equally. By contrast, youth athletics in many countries – including most European countries, where soccer development is highly competitive – is focused on

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

s, not on school-based programs. Thus, outside the United States, laws prohibiting sex discrimination in the educational system could have limited effect on sports programs.

Contributions to the game

America's approach to growing the game among women has served as a model for other countries' development programs for women at all levels. The relative lack of attention — and in some cases, restrictions — afforded the women's game in traditional soccer-playing countries might also have contributed to the United States' early dominance of the international women's game. For example, in England,

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

prohibited women's soccer from being played at professional soccer fields from 1921 through 1973. The German Football Association banned women's soccer from 1955 through 1970, and Brazil legally prohibited girls and women from playing soccer from 1941 through 1979.

References

{{USSoccer Soccer in the United States