Hoping the third time’s the charm women’s professional soccer has started a new league.
After two previous league start-ups, the WUSA in 2000 and the WPS 2009 both folded in a few years the new National Women’s Soccer League is bringing in some top support to help them succeed.
Joining forces this time around are the top three North American soccer federations which the NWSL believe will help both the financial and marketing needs of the league.
The United States Soccer Federation leads the way as they put forth all 18 members of the 2012 gold medal winning team while the Canadian Soccer Association sends out 13 members of its 2012 Olympic bronze medal team.
As these national groups’ band together to further women’s professional soccer they will enhance their support of the NWSL by subsidizing the salaries of national team members.
The USSF will cover 23 players while Canada and the Federation of Mexican Football, a constantly growing force, will each subsidize 16 national team members.
On Friday, January 11th the NWSL, a league organized and administered by the U.S. Soccer Federation, allotted those players to eight teams placed around the country: the Boston Breakers, Western New York Flash, Washington (DC) Spirit, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey) with the Northwest’s soccer passion finally being recognized with two teams that will create an instant rivalry, the Portland Thorns FC and the Seattle Reign FC.
United States Soccer president Sunil Gulati remarked on the great week that US Women’s soccer had with Abby Wambach winning the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award and former US women’s coach Pia Sundhage named Coach of the Year on Monday, January 7th in Zurich.
Then ending the week with the allocation of 55 players from the US, Canada and Mexico to the new league, Gualti said, “It’s really an exciting time.”
“We’ve worked very hard with our two associations, Canada and Mexico, in this matter over the last several weeks and with our Women’s National Team,” said Gulati. “They’ve been extraordinarily positive in trying to move this along. We’re not done with all the t’s and j’s in our agreement with them, but they understand how important it is to keep the ball moving forward . . . It’s not been an easy process to go through this allocation but we’ve taken a big step forward.”
The league has more allocations and contract negotiations to wrap up but is planning a spring 2013 season opener.
The following is the full allocation list for the NWSL:
Boston Breakers
Sydney Leroux (USA)
Heather Mitts (USA)
Heather O'Reilly (USA)
Adriana Leon (CAN)
Rhian Wilkinson (CAN)
Anisa Guajardo (MEX)
Cecilia Santiago (MEX)
Chicago Red Stars
Shannon Boxx (USA)
Amy LePeilbet (USA)
Keelin Winters (USA)
Erin McLeod (CAN)
Carmelina Moscato (CAN)
Maribel Dominguez (MEX)
Dinora Garza (MEX)
FC Kansas City
Nicole Barnhart (USA)
Lauren Cheney (USA)
Becky Sauerbrunn (USA)
Desiree Scott (CAN)
Lauren Sesselmann (CAN)
Renae Cuellar (MEX)
Marylin Diaz (MEX)
Portland Thorns FC
Rachel Buehler (USA)
Tobin Heath (USA)
Alex Morgan (USA)
Luz Saucedo (MEX)
Marlene Sandoval (MEX)
Karina LeBlanc (CAN)
Christine Sinclair (CAN)
Seattle Reign FC
Megan Rapinoe (USA)
Amy Rodriguez (USA)
Hope Solo (USA)
Kaylyn Kyle (CAN)
Emily Zurrer (CAN)
Jenny Ruiz (MEX)
Teresa Noyola (MEX)
Sky Blue FC
Jill Loyden (USA)
Kelley O'Hara (USA)
Christie Rampone (USA)
Sophie Schmidt (CAN)
Melanie Booth (CAN)
Monica Ocampo (MEX)
Lydia Rangel (MEX)
Washington Spirit
Ashlyn Harris (USA)
Ali Krieger (USA)
Lori Lindsey (USA)
Robin Gayle (CAN)
Diana Matheson (CAN)
Alina Garciamendez (MEX)
Teresa Worbis (MEX)
Western New York Flash
Carli Lloyd (USA)
Abby Wambach (USA)
Bryana McCarthy (CAN)
Jodi-Ann Robinson (CAN)
Veronica Perez (MEX)
Pamela Tajonar (MEX)
