The United States Women's Football League (USWFL) is a full-contact

women's American football Women's gridiron football, more commonly known as women's tackle football, women's American football, women's Canadian football, or simply women's football, is a form of gridiron football (American or Canadian) played by women. Most leagues play ...

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

that opened with exhibition play in 2010 and subsequently played its first regular season in 2011.https://www.uswfl.net/copy-of-schedule-new The league was known as the "Women's Spring Football League" from 2009 to 2015. The USWFL played with 11-player and 8-player divisions from 2011 through 2013. In 2014, the league split into two leagues, with the 11-woman division retaining the WSFL name and the 8-woman division taking the name the Women's Eights Football League (W8FL). In 2016, the league played only 11-woman football with the Cincinnati Sizzle taking the league crown.

History

United States Women's Football League (USWFL)

The USWFL was founded as the Women's Spring Football League in 2009. A few teams played an exhibition season under the WSFL banner in 2010, with the

Kansas City Storm The Kansas City Storm is a women's tackle football team based in Kansas City. The Storm was founded in 2004 and has been serving Kansas City area women since then with a mission to "provide a safe, positive and fun opportunity for women in Kansas ...

going undefeated in the regular season but no playoffs or league championship game were played resulting in no league champion being crowned. In 2011, the USWFL played what it regards as its first official regular season. The

Baltimore Burn The Baltimore Burn is a Women's American football team that last played in the Women's Spring Football League in 2015. Formerly a member of the National Women's Football Association from 2001 to 2008 and the Women's Football Alliance from 2009 ...

finished the season with a 6–0 record against non-league foes and claimed the 2011 WSFL championship on the basis of regular season record. In 2012, the USWFL staged its first playoffs and held its first league championship game at Endless Mountains Stadium in Towanda, Pennsylvania. The

New Jersey Titans The New Jersey Titans were a team of the Women's Spring Football League (WSFL) 11-woman division. Originally based in Wayne, New Jersey, the Titans played their home games on the campus of Passaic County Technical Institute through their 201 ...

defeated the DFW Xtreme, 67–6, to claim the 2012 WSFL championship. In 2013, the USWFL staged its second playoffs and held its second league championship game in Memphis, Tennessee. The

Memphis Dynasty The Memphis Dynasty is a team of the United States Women's Football League which began play for the 2010 season in the Women's Football Alliance. Based in Memphis, Tennessee, home games were played at Evangelical Christian School. For its inaug ...

defeated the Arkansas Banshees, 32–12, to claim the title. In 2014, the USWFL staged its third playoffs and held its third league championship game in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Memphis Dynasty defeated the Arkansas Banshees, 34–12, to claim their second straight WSFL championship. In 2015, the USWFL staged its fourth playoffs and held its fourth league championship game in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. The Keystone Assault defeated the Tennessee Legacy, 9–7, to claim their first WSFL championship.
In 2016, the Cincinnati Sizzle defeated the New England Nightmare 30–6 at Horn Lake, Mississippi to claim their first league championship.
In 2017, the Washington Prodigy beat the Houston Wildcats 44–0 to win the league championship game in Bristol, Tennessee. In the Ironwoman Championship the Tri-Cities Thunder beat the West Virginia Wildfire 28–0. In 2018, the Washington Prodigy repeats and defeat the North Florida Pumas 20–0 to win the Division II championship game in Bristol, Tennessee. In the Ironwoman Championship the Hampton Roads Lady Gators defeated the Tri-Cities Thunder 20-14 In 2019, the Washington Prodigy beat the Keystone Assault 39–0 to win their 3rd straight USWFL D2 championship in Bluff City, Tennessee. The Tri-Cities Thunder won their 2nd Ironwoman Championship by beating the Hampton Roads Lady Gators 32-6

Women's Eights Football League (W8FL)

The WSFL started an eight-woman division in 2011. The

Cape Fear Thunder The Cape Fear Thunder is a football team in the Women's Spring Football League (WSFL) based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Home games are played at John P. Daskyll Stadium on the campus of Reid Ross High School. The Thunder began in 2003 as ...

claimed the WSFL's first eight-player division championship with a 4–2–1 regular season record. In 2012, the

West Virginia Wildfire The West Virginia Wildfire is a women's American football team in the Women's Spring Football League since 2011. The first women's football team in West Virginia, the Wildfire is based in the city of Belle. In their inaugural season, the Wild ...

captured the WSFL title in the 8-player division with a 5–2 record. In 2013, the WSFL held its first championship game in the eight-player division. The

defeated the

Binghamton Tiger Cats The Binghamton Tiger Cats played their sixth season overall and fourth as a member of the Women's Spring Football League (WSFL) in 2014. The Tiger Cats Women's Tackle Football team based in Binghamton, New York began play for its inaugural 2009 se ...

, 44–8, to claim their second straight championship in the eight-player division. In 2014, the eight-player division spun off into its own league, taking the name the Women's Eights Football League (W8FL). The Cape Fear Thunder won their second eight-player championship by defeating the West Virginia Wildfire, 34–26, in the W8FL title game.
In 2015, the New York Knockout defeated the Cape Fear Thunder, 28–0, to win their first W8FL championship title, with the game having been played in Schenectady, New York.

Teams

2021 United States Women's Football League Teams (USWFL)

2021 Season Teams

Expansion 2022 & Inactive Teams

USWFL Championship Game Results

USWFL IronWoman Championship Game Results 2017-2019

WSFL 8s Championship Game Results 2011–2015

Former USWFL and W8FL teams playing elsewhere

– played in USWFL in 2010, then as an independent team, now a member of

Women's Tackle Football League A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

. *

Nevada Storm Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, t ...

– played in USWFL from 2011 to 2012, then left to join

Women's Football Alliance The Women's Football Alliance (WFA) is a professional full-contact Women's American football tackle minor league that began play in 2009. It is the largest 11-on-11 football league for women in the world, and the longest running active women's ...

. *

North Florida Pumas North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

– played in USWFL now in

Women's National Football Conference The Women's National Football Conference (WNFC) is an amateur full-contact Women's American football league in the United States. With teams across the United States, the WNFC had its first game in 2019 with fourteen regular teams and one exhib ...

. *

Rocky Mountain Thunderkatz ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky franchise, ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weather ...

– played in USWFL in 2014, then returned to

References

External links

United States Women's Football League official website
{{Major women's sport leagues in North America Sports leagues established in 2009 Women's American football leagues 2009 establishments in the United States