Women's Soccer In The United States
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United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
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. Since changes that started in the 1970's, the U.S. has become one of the top countries in the world of women's soccer. In the
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...
, there were 58 US-based players, the most of any country and in the
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...
, there were 61 US-based players, the second of any country. In addition the
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 ...
has been ranked #1 in the world after their back-to-back Women's World Cup victories in
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and
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and once again after winning the
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. Until 2024, the highest women's professional soccer league in the United States was the
National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...
(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 ...
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 soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...
(USSF) before becoming independently governed in 2020. The league began with eight teams in 2013 and reached its current membership of 14 teams in 2024. Beginning in 2024, the NWSL was joined by the USL Super League as a Division I professional soccer league. USL Super League launched in August 2024 with eight teams playing in a fall to spring schedule. The expansion of professional women's soccer is planned to continue in 2025 with the establishment of WPSL PRO a Division III league, designed to enhance the pathway from amateur to professional. Amateur soccer has been the backbone of women's soccer in America since the 1950, with the Craig League based in Missouri. The amateur landscape includes both players who compete in
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
and those who compete in the summer leagues
USL W League The USL W League (USLW) is a Women's association football, women's soccer league in the United States. It began play in May 2022 and follows the USL W-League (1995–2015), USL W-League, a similar league that existed from 1995 to 2015. It is c ...
,
Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...
, and
United Women's Soccer United Women's Soccer (UWS) is a national pro-am Women's association football, women's Association football, soccer league in the United States. The league was founded in 2015 as a response to the dual problems of disorganization in the Women's ...
.


Early history

One of the first known organized women's soccer league in the United States was the Craig League, which consisted of four teams in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
, 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 a landmark 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 education program that receiv ...
legislation in 1972 made
gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, 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, an ...
mandatory in education, including collegiate athletics, which led to more organized women's soccer teams and development. Collegiate soccer 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, 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 n ...
. 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
FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...
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 w ...
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
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 List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted as well as ...
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 and ...
. The primary source of young players for the national team is NCAA college soccer, 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

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 Uni ...
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
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 List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted as well as ...
. Feeding on the momentum of their victory, the twenty national team players, in partnership with John Hendricks of the
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, 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 women's 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 defu ...
, Carolina Courage,
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 Uniondale ...
, Philadelphia Charge, San Diego Spirit, San Jose CyberRays (called Bay Area CyberRays for 2001 season), and the Washington Freedom. 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:
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, the
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,
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, New York City,
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,
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,
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and
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
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 professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
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. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...
(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, 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 Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
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, Los Angeles,
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, 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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
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. Unlike WUSA, the WPS attempted a more local approach and slower growth. In addition, the WPS attempted to have a closer relationship with
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
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 List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...
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 Univers ...
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 (WPSL Elite) to support the sport in the United States. For the 2012 season, the league featured former WPS teams with the
Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's 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 defu ...
,
Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...
, and
Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...
, 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 FMF is the official governing body of football in Mexico. It administers the men's and women's national teams with all its youth teams, the national teams of futsal and beach soccer, Liga MX wit ...
(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 (now known as Chicago Stars FC), and Sky Blue FC (now known as
NJ/NY Gotham FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional Association football, 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 Sk ...
) – were joined by four other teams for the inaugural season in 2012. One of those teams, the
Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...
, is affiliated with the MLS
Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...
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 National Women's Soccer League were paid for by their respective national federations from 2013 to 2021. American federation players were co ...
. Mexico no longer allocates players to the NWSL following the 2017 establishment of its own women's professional league,
Liga MX Femenil Liga MX Femenil, also known as Liga BBVA MX Femenil for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in Mexico. Supervised by the Mexican Football Federation, Federación Mexicana d ...
. 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 Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...
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, 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 f ...
, the NWSL announced agreements for its first televised games with
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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
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. After the media boom of 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 f ...
, MLS side
Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...
showed interest in starting a women's team for the 2016 season. On October 20, 2015, the NWSL and Orlando City SC announced that
Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...
would host the
Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...
, 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 association football, soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Caro ...
, then members of the NASL and now in the USL, who moved the NWSL team to NCFC's base of the
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of North Carolina and relaunched it as the
North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acqui ...
. Shortly before the start of the 2017 season, the NWSL signed a three-year broadcasting deal with
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. 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, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
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
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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 FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champio ...
folded. The team was partnered with but not owned by MLS side
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, and media reports indicated that FCKC was the unintended victim of issues that Sporting was facing with its
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reserve team, Swope Park Rangers. Kansas City's place in the NWSL was immediately filled by a new franchise to be operated by another MLS club,
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, which was soon unveiled as
Utah Royals FC The Utah Royals (formerly Utah Royals FC) are an American professional soccer team based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established on November 16, 2017, as an expansion team, ...
. Shortly thereafter, the
Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's 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 defu ...
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 The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...
at the end of that season. Racing Louisville FC also started play in 2021, and the Los Angeles-based
Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The formation of the team was announced on July 21, 2020; it beg ...
and
San Diego Wave FC San Diego Wave Fútbol Club is an American professional soccer team based in San Diego, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team plays its home games at Snapdragon Stadium. Founded on June 8, 2021, the Wav ...
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) is a national pro-am Women's association football, women's Association football, soccer league in the United States. The league was founded in 2015 as a response to the dual problems of disorganization in the Women's ...
(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, New England Mutiny, Lancaster Inferno, and Houston Aces joining from the WPSL and the Long Island Rough Riders, New York Magic, North Jersey Valkyries,
Santa Clarita Blue Heat Santa Clarita Blue Heat is an American women's soccer team based in Santa Clarita, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Founded in 2010, the club was known as the Ventura County Fusion for its first two years of existence. The team plays its ho ...
, 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 sports, amateur Association football, soccer in the United States. It consists of 54 state associations in four regions, as well as national, regional, and ...
(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 to 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 The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...
) 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 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 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 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
, the women's national team sold T-shirts to support a NWSL player trust fund operated by the U.S. Women's National Team Players Association (USWNTPA). Six years of negotiations culminated with the signing of a new
collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
with both the women's and men's national teams guaranteeing equal pay and equalized prize money for both teams in September 2022, which team captain and USWNTPA president Becky Sauerbrunn heralded as "a huge win for workers and for labor rights". Before 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 f ...
, women's national team player
Abby Wambach Mary Abigail Wambach (born June 2, 1980) is an American retired Association football, soccer player, coach, and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. A six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Wambach was a regular on ...
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 and
Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...
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, who used to play for the NWSL's Seattle Reign, 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
Title IX Title IX is a landmark 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 education program that receiv ...
, 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 (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
prohibited women's soccer from being played at professional soccer fields from 1921 through 1973. The
German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...
banned women's soccer from 1955 through 1970, and Brazil legally prohibited girls and women from playing soccer from 1941 through 1979.


See also

*
Soccer in the United States Association football, Soccer is the fourth most popular sport in the United States behind American football, basketball, and baseball, respectively. The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) governs most levels of soccer in the United States ...


References

{{USSoccer Soccer in the United States