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 season, with continued plans for future expansion. The WPS was the highest level in the United States soccer pyramid for the women's game. On January 30, 2012, the league announced suspension of the 2012 season, citing several internal organization struggles as the primary cause. Some of these issues included an ongoing legal battle with magicJack owner Dan Borislow and the lack of resources invested into the league. On May 18, 2012, WPS announced the league folded and would not return in 2013. After the WPS folded, the National Women's Soccer League formed in 2013 and took WPS's place as the top professional women's soccer league in the United States. History Planning After the folding of Women's United Soccer Association, which p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 41 member associations represent countries and territories mainly in North America, including the Caribbean and Central America, and, for geopolitics, geopolitical reasons, 3 nations from the Guianas Subregion#South America, subregion of South America-Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana (an overseas department and region, overseas region of French Fifth Republic, France). The CONCACAF's primary functions are to organize competitions for national teams and clubs, and to conduct the FIFA World Cup, World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup, Women's World Cup qualifying tournaments. The CONCACAF was founded in its current form on 18 September 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico, with the merger of the North American Football Confederation, NAFC and the Con ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sky Blue FC
Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020, and as NJ/NY Gotham FC from 2021 to 2024. A founding member of the NWSL in 2013, Sky Blue FC also played in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) from 2009 to 2011. They won the NWSL Championship in 2023. History 2006–2008: Establishment Following the growth of women's soccer in the United States in the 1990s, the first attempt at a fully professional women's league, the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), was founded in 2000. However, after playing just three seasons the WUSA folded in 2003. Almost immediately following the folding of the WUSA, attempts were made to relaunch the league, although each of these initially came to naught. Finally, in December 2006, an agreement was reached to establish a new professional wome ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cristiane Rozeira De Souza Silva
Cristiane Rozeira de Souza Silva (born 15 May 1985), known as Cristiane (), is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian women's national team. A prolific forward, she was part of Brazil's silver medal-winning teams at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic football tournaments. In total she has participated in five FIFA Women's World Cups and four Olympics. At club level, Cristiane has played professionally in France, Germany, Sweden, the United States, Russia and South Korea, as well as in her native Brazil. Career Early beginnings Cristiane started her career at the local football clubs São Bernardo (in São Bernardo do Campo) and Clube Atlético Juventus (in São Paulo). At the age of 15, she debuted for the Brazil Under-19 team and took part in both the 2002 U-19 Women's World Championship in Canada and the 2004 U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand; Brazil finished fourth in both tournaments. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Daniela Alves Lima
Daniela Alves Lima (born 12 January 1984), commonly known as Daniela, is a former Brazilian football midfielder who played for professional clubs in Brazil, Sweden and the United States. As a member of the Brazil women's national football team she participated in two FIFA Women's World Cups and three Olympic Games. Daniela was a box-to-box central midfielder who was renowned for her powerful long range shots. Club career Daniela had already played for four seasons at the women's section of São Paulo club Portuguesa,Portuguesa's female section were sometimes known as Lusa Sant'Anna due to an agreement with a local college of that name. when she was signed by San Diego Spirit of Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA). Having turned 19 the month before her February 2003 transfer, Daniela became WUSA's youngest player. She started 14 of her 17 regular season appearances in 2003 and posted three assists. When WUSA collapsed at the end of that season, Daniela moved to Europe an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marta Vieira Da Silva
Marta Vieira da Silva (; born 19 February 1986), known mononymously as Marta, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Orlando Pride. Regarded by many as the greatest female footballer of all time, she has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, five of them being consecutive (from 2006 through 2010) and the latest award coming in 2018. Marta holds the record for being Brazil's top goalscorer with 119 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in any World Cup, women’s or men's. Moreover, she was the first footballer of any gender to score at five different World Cups, a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022, and also the first footballer, female or male, to score at five consecutive Olympic Games. She was a member of the Brazilian national teams that won the silver medal at the 2004, 2008 and 2024 Summer Olympics. She was also awarded the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 were able to sign 5 international players to their roster. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Draft notes Draft order was determined by weighted results from a coach's poll about the strength of each team's USWNT allocation, which had occurred earlier that month. See also * List of foreign WPS players External linksComplete draft coverage {{DEFAULTSORT:Wps International Draft 2008 2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ... International Draft Lists of women's association football players Association football pla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kate Markgraf
Kathryn Michele Markgraf (; born August 23, 1976) is the former General Manager of the United States women's national soccer team and a retired American professional soccer defender. She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars in the WPS, the Boston Breakers in the WUSA, and the United States women's national soccer team. She was a three-time Olympic medalist (2000, silver; 2004, gold; 2008, gold as team co-captain) and played in three FIFA Women's World Cup (1999, gold; 2003, bronze; 2007, bronze) tournaments. She started in 97% of her 201 United States Women's National Team appearances in her 12-year career. She ended her career with a high school championship, state club championship, NCAA Division I championship, Olympic gold medals, and a FIFA World Cup Championship. In 2023, she was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Early life Markgraf was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and attended Detroit Country Day School. At Detroit Country Day, she helped ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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USL W-League (1995–2015)
The USL W-League was a North American amateur women's soccer developmental organization. The league was a semi-professional, open league, giving college players the opportunity to play alongside established international players while maintaining their collegiate eligibility. The league was administered by the United Soccer Leagues system (the USL), which also oversees the men's United Soccer League and Premier Development League. The W-League announced on November 6, 2015 that the league will cease operation ahead of 2016 season. After the popularity of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, though, USL began considerations for a new professional women's league; this effort eventually returned to the re-establishing of the league as the USL W League. History The W-League's inaugural season was in 1995. Originally called the United States Interregional Women's League, it later changed its name to the W-League. Although at its inception some of the league's franchises were barely ab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Football At The 2008 Summer Olympics
Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and several other cities in the People's Republic of China from 6 to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to send their full women's national teams and men's U-23 teams to participate. Men's teams were allowed to augment their squad with three players over the age of 23. For these games, the men competed in a 16-team tournament, and the women in a 12-team tournament. Preliminary matches commenced two days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games on 8 August. Venues ''Beijing National Stadium only used during the Men's tournament final.'' Men Women See also * Football 5-a-side at the 2008 Summer Paralympics * Football 7-a-side at the 2008 Summer Paralympics References * * *Olympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008 – Men FIFA.comOlympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008 – Women FIFA.com External links Football – Official Results Book {{EventsAt2008SummerOlympics 2008 2008 in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mia Hamm
Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born March 17, 1972) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player, two-time Women's Football at the Summer Olympics, Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a Forward (association football), forward for the United States women's national soccer team, United States national team from 1987 to 2004. Hamm was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom (soccer), Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003. She played College soccer in the United States, college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer, North Carolina Tar Heels and helped the team win four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship titles. Hamm competed in four FIFA Women's World Cups: the inaugural 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup, 1991 tournament in China, 1995 FIFA Wom ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2011 Women's Professional Soccer Season
The 2011 Women's Professional Soccer season is the third season for the WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The season started with the opening match on April 9, with the 2011 WPS Championship scheduled for the weekend of August 27–28. Changes from the 2010 Season *Defending champions FC Gold Pride will not return for the 2011 season. *Also not returning for the 2011 season are Chicago Red Stars, which were given a month's deadline to find investors after the original announcement of the teams, but failed to achieve so. The Red Stars will spend 2011 regrouping in the WPSL. *New to the league are the Western New York Flash, who are playing in Rochester, New York. *Due to a change in ownership, the Washington Freedom were renamed " magicJack", and also moved from the Washington area to Boca Raton in South Florida. Competition Format/Schedule *The regular season will begin on April 9 and end on August 14, with most teams playing few ga ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |