June 11 – The USL has unveiled the eight founding members of its women’s pro-am – the W League – that will begin play in May 2022.
The USL said that it will announce further teams soon and that it expects to have at least 30 teams playing the short May to July season when they kick off.
The USL runs two professional men’s leagues in the US with the USL Championship being designated by the US Soccer Federation as a second tier league, and League One in the third tier. League Two is more of a player development league for higher tiered clubs.
The W League is the USL’s first women’s competition and six of the eight founder clubs have men’s teams in the USL leagues.
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, Greenville Triumph SC, Hartford Athletic, Kaw Valley FC, Queensboro FC, and South Georgia Tormenta FC already have teams in the men’s USL teams.
Minnesota Women’s Soccer is a new ownership group formed with a women majority ownership. Washington D.C is led by MLS club D.C. United’s ownership group. They were formerly a member of the original W League in the early 2010s.
“Our goal for the W League is to use women’s soccer as a force for societal good by creating a national platform to increase opportunity, gender equity and career development,” said Betsy Haugh, the USL’s director of women’s soccer.
“We’re expecting to have at least 30 clubs for our inaugural season, which would provide upwards of 750 new opportunities to play, work and coach in the women’s game. We’re very excited about what the future holds.”
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