The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first

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 ...

league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the league began its first season in April

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

with eight teams in the United States. The league suspended operations on September 15, 2003, shortly after the end of its third season, after making cumulative losses of around US$100 million.

History

Establishment

As a result of the US women's national team's (USWNT) first-place showing in the

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 ...

, a seemingly viable market for the sport germinated. Feeding on the momentum of their victory, the twenty USWNT 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 Channe ...

, sought out the investors, markets, and players necessary to form the eight-team league. The twenty founding players were

Michelle Akers Michelle Anne Akers (formerly Akers-Stahl; born February 1, 1966) is an American former soccer player who starred in the 1991 and 1999 Women's World Cup and 1996 Olympics victories by the United States. At the 1991 World Cup, she won the Golden ...

Brandi Chastain Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 ...

Tracy Ducar Tracy Jean Ducar (; born June 18, 1973) is an American soccer goalkeeper who previously played for the United States women's national soccer team and the Boston Breakers in the Women's United Soccer Association. Early life Ducar was born in L ...

Lorrie Fair Lorraine Ming Fair (born August 5, 1978) is a retired American professional soccer midfielder who was a member of the World Cup Champion United States national soccer team. Over the span of ten years, she was a part of one World Cup Team and ...

Joy Fawcett Joy Lynn Fawcett (; February 8, 1968) is a retired American professional soccer player. She earned 241 caps with the United States women's national soccer team (WNT) and retired from the WNT in 2004 as the highest scoring defender for the U.S. W ...

Danielle Fotopoulos Danielle Ruth Fotopoulos (; born March 24, 1976) is an American soccer coach and former player. Fotopoulos holds the all-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I records for goals and points, and was a member of the Univer ...

Julie Foudy Julie Maurine Foudy ( ; born January 23, 1971) is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004 ...

Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra (; born March 17, 1972) is an American retired professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the U ...

Kristine Lilly Kristine Marie Lilly Heavey (; born July 22, 1971) is an American retired soccer player. She was a member of the United States women's national team for 23 years and is the most-capped football player in the history of the sport (men's or wome ...

Shannon MacMillan Shannon Ann MacMillan (born October 7, 1974) is an American retired soccer player, coach, FIFA Women's World Cup champion, Olympic gold and silver medalist. Named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year for 2002, MacMillan played for the United Stat ...

Tiffeny Milbrett Tiffeny Carleen Milbrett (born October 23, 1972) is an American former professional soccer forward who was a longtime member of the United States women's national team. In May 2018 the National Soccer Hall of Fame announced Milbrett will be en ...

Carla Overbeck Carla Werden Overbeck (; born May 9, 1968) is a retired American soccer player and longtime member and captain of the United States women's national soccer team. She is currently an assistant coach of Duke Blue Devils, Duke University's women's s ...

Cindy Parlow Cynthia Marie Parlow Cone (; born May 8, 1978) is an American soccer executive and president of the United States Soccer Federation. A former professional soccer player, she is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup ch ...

Christie Pearce Christie Patricia Pearce (formerly Rampone; born June 24, 1975) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defender. She is the former captain of the United States national team. Pearce is a three-time Olympic gold medali ...

Tiffany Roberts Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak (born Tiffany Marie Roberts; May 5, 1977) is an American soccer coach, former defender, and Olympic gold medalist. She was also a member of the 1999 U.S. national team that won the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. She beca ...

Briana Scurry Briana Collette Scurry (born September 7, 1971) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper, and assistant coach of the Washington Spirit . Scurry was the starting goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team at the 1995 World Cu ...

, Kate (Markgraf) Sobrero,

Tisha Venturini Tisha Lea Venturini-Hoch (; born March 3, 1973) is a former American soccer player and current National Spokesperson for Produce for Better Health. She is a gold medalist in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and a world champion in the 1999 FIFA Wome ...

Saskia Webber Saskia Johanna Webber (born June 13, 1971) is a retired United States, American association football, soccer goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who previously played for the United States women's national soccer team as well as the New ...

, and

Sara Whalen Sara Eve Hess (; born April 28, 1976) is a retired American professional Olympic medalist soccer player. Whalen played for the United States Women's National Soccer Team from 1997 to 2000, won an Olympic silver medal with the team, and was a fou ...

. Initial investment in the league was provided by the following: *

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

, $5 million *

Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Communications and Co ...

, $5 million *

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...

, $5 million *

Amos Hostetter Jr. Amos Barr Hostetter Jr. (born January 12, 1937) is an American businessman, who was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Continental Cablevision. With an estimated net worth of around $3.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 538th richest perso ...

, $5 million *

Comcast Corporation Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

, $5 million *

and

, $2.5 million each *

and

, $2.5 million each The U.S. Soccer Federation approved membership of the league as a sanctioned Division 1 women's professional soccer league on August 18, 2000.

Organization

Media coverage

At various times, games were televised on

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, CNNSI,

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

PAX TV Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented entert ...

, and various local and regional sports channels.

Teams

The WUSA franchises were located in

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. Sinc ...

;

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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

;

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

; Cary, N.C.;

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 498,715 ...

; San Jose, Ca.; and

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 List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

: For the inaugural season, each roster primarily consisted of players from the United States, although up to four international players were allowed on each team's roster. Among the international players were

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

's Sun Wen,

Pu Wei Pu Wei (; born August 20, 1980 in Shanghai) is a retired female Chinese football (soccer) player. A veteran of three World Cup tournaments and three Olympics, Pu Wei competed in USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007, Sydney 2000 Olympics, Athens ...

Fan Yunjie Fan Yunjie (; born April 29, 1972 in Zhengzhou, Henan) is a female Chinese football (soccer) player who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in the 2004 Summer Olympics. In 1996 she won the silver medal wi ...

Zhang Ouying Zhang Ouying (; November 2, 1975 – December 1, 2018) was a Chinese football (soccer) player who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics and in the 2004 Summer Olympics as well as the 1999, 2003, and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. She was a member ...

Gao Hong Gao Hong (born 1964 in Luoyang, Henan) is a composer and performer of the Chinese pipa (pear-shaped lute). Gao has lived in the United States since 1994. She performs traditional and modern Chinese music, with her groups Spirit of Nature and ...

, Zhao Lihong, and Bai Jie; Germany's

Birgit Prinz Birgit Prinz (born 25 October 1977) is a German former footballer, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year. In addition to the German national team, Prinz played for 1. FFC Frankfurt in the Frauen- ...

, Conny Pohlers,

Steffi Jones Stephanie Ann Jones (born 22 December 1972) is a German-American Association football, football manager and former player who last managed the Germany women's national football team, German women's national team. As a Defender (association footba ...

and

Maren Meinert Maren Meinert (born 5 August 1973) is a German football coach and former player who played as a midfielder and striker. She was most recently the head coach of Germany women's national under-20 football team. As a player, Meinert played for ...

;

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Hege Riise Hege Riise (born 18 July 1969) is a Norwegian football coach and former midfield player who is coaching the Norway women's national football team. One of the best footballers of her generation, she won the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Olympic Game ...

Unni Lehn Unni Lehn (born 7 June 1977) is a retired Norwegian football midfielder. She has 133 appearances for Norway's national team. In 2000 Lehn played 86 minutes of the Olympic Final in Sydney, in which Norway beat the US in extra time to take the go ...

, and

Dagny Mellgren Dagny Mellgren Haugland (; born 19 June 1978) from Ålgård is a former Norwegian footballer. She retired in December 2005 while playing for Klepp. She has also played for Boston Breakers, in the WUSA. She scored the golden goal in the final aga ...

;

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's Sissi, Kátia and

Pretinha Delma Gonçalves (born 19 May 1975), commonly known as Pretinha,In a June 199with Grant Wahl, Pretinha said her nickname means "little black girl" and that the reference to skin color is not considered problematic in Brazil. is a Brazilian profe ...

; and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Charmaine Hooper Charmaine Elizabeth Hooper (born January 15, 1968) is a Canadian retired soccer player. A four-time winner of the Canadian Players of the Year award and member of the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame, Hooper played on the Canada women's national socc ...

Sharolta Nonen Sharolta Louisa Nonen (born December 30, 1977) is a Canadian former soccer defender and current women's soccer coach of the Florida International University Panthers. She played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in college, where she was the first ...

, and

Christine Latham Christine Elizabeth Latham (born 15 September 1981) is a Canadian former soccer player who played as a forward for the Boston Breakers of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) and the Canada national team. Club career Early years and university L ...

. The league also hosted singular talents from nations which were not then at the forefront of women's soccer, such as

Maribel Dominguez Maribel is a Spanish name, formed as a contraction of María Isabel. Maribel may refer to: People *Maribel Guardia, actress born in Costa Rica and living in Mexico *Maribel, a fictional character from the video game ''Dragon Warrior VII'' * Moth ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Homare Sawa is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward or a midfielder. Regarded by many as one of the greatest female footballers of all time and the greatest Asian female footballer of all time, Sawa had a professional club care ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Julie Fleeting Julie Fleeting MBE (born 18 December 1980), whose married name is Julie Stewart, is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. She spent nine years at English club Arsenal and was the first Scot to play as a full-time professional ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, Cheryl Salisbury of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Marinette Pichon Marinette Pichon (born 26 November 1975) is a French former football player. Biography Pichon had a dysfunctional childhood with an alcoholic father. Career She started her career at Saint-Memmie Olympique, then signed on to the Women's ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and

Kelly Smith Kelly Jayne Smith (born 29 October 1978) is an English former football forward who spent three spells with FA WSL club Arsenal Ladies. After moving to the United States, Smith broke records with Seton Hall University then played professionally ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

WUSA Awards

Founders Cup champions

The Founders Cup (named in honor of the 20 founding players) was awarded to the winner of a four-team, single-elimination postseason playoff. "asdet" stands for "after sudden death extra time". WUSA's sudden death overtime was 15 minutes long (two 7½-minute periods) and used only in the playoffs.

League suspension

The WUSA played for three full seasons, suspending operations on September 15, 2003, shortly after the conclusion of the third season. Neither television ratings nor attendance met forecasts, while the league spent its initial $40 million budget, planned to last five years, by the end of the first season. Even though the players took salary cuts of up to 30% for the final season, with the founding players (who also held an

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

stake in the league) taking the largest cuts, that was not enough to bring expenses under control. In the hopes of an eventual relaunch of the league, all rights to team names,

logos ''Logos'' (, ; grc, wikt:λόγος, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive ...

, and similar properties were preserved. Efforts to line up new sources of

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

and operating funds continued. In June

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, the WUSA held two "WUSA Festivals" in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

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 i ...

, featuring matches between reconstituted WUSA teams (often with marquee players borrowed from other teams), in order to maintain the league in the public eye and sustain interest in women's professional soccer. With the WUSA 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). T ...

(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. A new women's professional soccer league in the United States called

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 ...

started in 2009. However, that league suspended operations in January 2012.

References

{{Authority control Sports leagues established in 2000 Sports leagues disestablished in 2003 Defunct women's soccer leagues in the United States Defunct professional sports leagues in the United States 2000 establishments in the United States 2003 disestablishments in the United States

History

Establishment

Organization

Media coverage

Teams

WUSA Awards

Founders Cup champions

League suspension

See also

References