CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE (PART ONE)

THE NWSL IS BORN

When the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) folded in 2003, many believed the prospect of a sustainable top-flight women’s professional league in America was undermined. The resulting league fragmentation made it difficult for our top US Women’s National Team players to compete at the appropriate levels after college between national team camps. When the WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer) was founded in 2009, there was once again hope. But, yet again, the league folded within three years.

However, coming off the enthusiasm around the women’s game in the 2011 World Cup and approaching what would become a gold medal run at the 2012 Olympics for the USWNT, US Soccer regrouped and tried again. The outcome was the establishment of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Leveraging lessons learned from the past, the league focused on creating a sustainable model first, then finding a way to grow from there. The first eight teams included instant success stories in Portland where the Thorns drew unexpected crowds and also won on the field.

Cat Whitehill was the captain and later player-coach of the Boston Breakers — a carryover club from the WPS — in the team’s first NWSL season. The long-time USWNT defensive stalwart joined Founding Futbol to talk about how her journey to both the USWNT and professional soccer, and how the NWSL finally created the league women’s soccer needed.