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Tag: NWSL

  • Spirit, Lyon owner Kang buys London City Lionesses

    Spirit, Lyon owner Kang buys London City Lionesses

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    On Friday, Michele Kang announced she has acquired London City Lionesses FC, an independent club competing in the FA Women’s Championship. The English club is another “foundational block” in her vision to grow her global multi-club organization, following her agreement earlier this year to take over OL Feminine and ownership of the Washington Spirit.

    “As you can imagine, if you’re trying to build a preeminent women’s football organization, you have to be where the center of gravity is,” Kang told The Athletic ahead of Friday’s announcement. “England is definitely one of them. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to land, and London City Lionesses being the only independent team, it was a no-brainer.”

    Rather than having to convince a men’s club to allow Kang to split their women’s team apart from the club structure, Kang’s immediately able to jump into the second level of women’s football in England, with an eye on the WSL.

    “Clearly, our goal is to get promoted,” Kang said with a smile.

    That independent structure only happened because LCL’s founder Diane Culligan stepped in to help Millwall FC a few years ago, as they struggled to finish the season on the women’s side of operations. Culligan had already established herself in the youth game independently.

    While a standalone women’s team model is the norm in the U.S. and other countries, that’s not the case in England, with many teams attached to top-tier men’s clubs.

    “I think it’s fair to say that my ideas and the people that were running the club at the time were not compatible, and that’s when we decided to part ways,” Culligan said. “Hence London City Lionesses was born, and we’ve gone from there. The only truly independent women’s professional women’s football club in the UK, if we’re talking about a professional game.”


    LCL plays at Princes Park in Dartford (James Fearn – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

    The Lionesses are currently ninth on the Championship standings, though in the previous two seasons they finished second and third. Their head coach is Carolina Morace and home matches are played at Princes Park in Dartford, 18 miles southeast of central London.

    “It’s the middle of the season, we’re going to do everything we can to complete the season as successfully as possible,” Kang said. “We are going to figure out where we can surgically add some help here, in terms of resources, without disrupting what they’re doing.”

    As has always been her plan, the Lionesses will retain their branding and identity even with the acquisition — similar to how Lyon and the Spirit operate. Adding another team also means another point of justification for greater centralized resources across the multi-club organization. “I can do the kind of investment at scale that men’s teams can afford to do,” Kang said.

    In May, Kang told The Athletic that her goal was to add three to five additional teams by the end of 2023. While the Lionesses are the only team she’s added this year, conversations are ongoing across the world on prospective teams.

    “We have some conversations going on in Asia; that’s certainly going to be the first part of next year,” Kang said. “We’ll try to pick up where we left off.” She’s still targeting other European countries, South America, as well as Mexico — which she noted on Friday. Kang also said that they have initiated conversations in Africa already.

    In the case of London City, Kang wants to balance closing out the 2023-2024 season with a long-term strategy, not just of promotion, but becoming a top team in the WSL, and then winning it. The timing is promising from a business perspective, with the top divisions moving to an independent structure outside of the Football Association and under NewCo in November. The Lionesses have to earn promotion to earn this reward first, but Kang has shown in the past she’s willing to invest for such a result.

    “The NewCo model for BWSL and BWC is a great example of how women’s sports will be uplifted in England and globally,” Kang said. “We need more investment focused solely on the female game so that the resources are uncompromised.”

    There’s also one massive example for Kang to consider regarding the potential of coming into a lower division: Wrexham. There’s already been in-depth storytelling around a Championship club promoted to the WSL, with Liverpool producing a 90-minute documentary about their move to the WSL. But it’s hard to ignore the way “Welcome to Wrexham” has driven eyeballs and engagement to the lower divisions of English football here in the U.S., and also immensely benefited the team’s new ownership.

    Asked if it was on her mind, she couldn’t help but laugh before answering, “Absolutely. That’s what we’re here for, and we’re absolutely going to write another chapter.”

    (Photo: Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • How the USWNT lured Emma Hayes away from Chelsea: Inside the near $2 million deal

    How the USWNT lured Emma Hayes away from Chelsea: Inside the near $2 million deal

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    Chelsea Women had created a frenzy. On Nov. 4, the English club released a statement saying their coach Emma Hayes was leaving at the end of the season to “pursue a new opportunity outside of the Women’s Super League and club football.” Hayes had just entered her second decade in charge of the club, and few knew where she would land next.

    That same day The Athletic, among others, reported that Hayes’ next job would be with the U.S. women’s national team, leading a four-time World Cup and Olympic gold medal-winning program into a new era. On Tuesday, U.S. Soccer made her appointment official.

    Hayes, who previously won six WSL titles in England, will become the 10th full-time coach of the U.S., but not until her final season with Chelsea is complete next May. Sporting director Matt Crocker made the final decision to hire Hayes after a search process that began in August, following the team’s surprising exit in the round of 16 at the World Cup and the subsequent departure of head coach Vlatko Andonovski.

    “She has tremendous energy and an insatiable will to win,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement. “Her experience in the USA, her understanding of our soccer landscape and her appreciation of what it means to coach this team makes her a natural fit for this role and we could not be more pleased to have her leading our women’s national team forward.”

    Though Hayes is seen as one of the world’s top coaches in women’s soccer, the appointment still comes as something of a surprise. Here’s how the deal got done.

    Details of the deal

    At least part of the surprise surrounding Hayes’ hire – and the six-month runway before she officially takes charge – is down to U.S. Soccer’s own messaging. Crocker, in a September meeting with U.S. reporters along with Cone and U.S. Soccer CEO J.T. Batson, said he hoped to have a new head coach in place by December.

    But the initial contact with Hayes was made a couple of months ago, early into the search, with all three top-level executives from U.S. Soccer involved in those talks. The trio also described the interview process to journalists in that September meeting – a U.S. soccer statement describes it as involving “psychometrics and abstract reasoning tests, in-depth discussions of strategy, coaching philosophy and the current player pool, as well as evaluation on the reactions to pressure, culture-building and interactions with players and staff.” USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter went through a similar process, including an abstract reasoning test, when he was re-hired by Crocker earlier in 2023.

    The hiring process included multiple rounds of evaluation, with the list of candidates becoming smaller each time. The first pass was driven purely by data, which was then whittled down to a double-digit list Crocker was considering as of September, and then a final shortlist, which also included Tony Gustavsson, head coach of Australia. Multiple sources confirmed both Hayes and Gustavsson flew to the U.S. for interviews.

    One source who was briefed on the situation said the federation had also checked in on the availability of Sarina Wiegman, despite clear messaging from both the English FA and Wiegman herself in August. “I’m staying out of it. I’ve heard it (from the press officer) but no, I’m with England and I’m really happy with England, and I have a contract until 2025,” Wiegman said. A representative from her camp declined to comment for this story.

    Crocker said in September that the final interviews would include lengthy technical and tactical assessments, as well as questions to determine the candidates’ cultural fit. He and the federation stayed fairly consistent on their desired start date since the head coach role opened in August, but that became one of the major concessions made by U.S. Soccer in selecting Hayes.

    Hayes will remain exclusively with Chelsea through the end of their WSL campaign and the Champions League season. She will not work with the U.S. in international windows.

    “I’m here until the end,” she said in her press conference on Friday. “I haven’t died, I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m here, doing this job. My full focus and attention is on what I do for Chelsea.”

    Hayes could be tied up with Chelsea as late as May 25 if the London club makes the Champions League final; notably, an international window that would theoretically be Hayes’ first in charge begins just two days later, on May 27.

    However, there are ways in which the arrangement will benefit U.S. Soccer. The federation won’t owe any compensation to Chelsea, and Hayes will be fully committed to the program, with a move to Chicago in the works for next year following the completion of her time in London. Eventually, she’s expected to relocate to Atlanta thanks to U.S. Soccer’s planned combined headquarters and national training facility in Georgia. As of yet, there’s no targeted date set for the move.

    Hayes, too, will benefit in ways other than compensation and prestige. She spoke to reporters about looking forward to spending more time with her five-year-old son, Harry. She has never been to one of his sports days, picked him up from school or taken him to an after-school club and she wants to do that. 

    The main visible wrinkle in the process was Chelsea’s surprise move of announcing Hayes’ departure on Saturday, Nov. 4. With the contract not yet finalized and U.S. Soccer board approval still needed, Chelsea issued their statement at 11 a.m. ET in the U.S. in which it noted she would leave at the end of the season “to pursue a new opportunity outside of the WSL and club football.” The club feared that the news was starting to leak and wanted to share the news on its own. This began the race to confirm Hayes had been selected as the USWNT head coach.

    Talks between U.S. Soccer and Hayes’ representatives continued even after Chelsea’s press release. The federation’s board convened late on Saturday, Nov. 4 to approve the selection, even without the final details of the contract settled or signed.

    At the end of it all, the sides have agreed to a deal that will make Hayes the highest-paid women’s football coach in the world — though her salary is not tied to equal compensation with Berhalter. While her salary is in the same range as the USMNT head coach, it’s thought to be a reflection of the market value for Hayes. With reports that Chelsea was prepared to quadruple her salary to keep her, Hayes herself danced around the details in her first media availability with the club.

    “I believe in private conversations,” she said. “Of course, I’m disappointed to hear things being said in the press. I want to make sure I maintain my own professionalism in everything I do.”

    U.S Soccer’s annual financial reports reveal the salaries of their head coaches and other executives. While Berhalter received a new contract this year, his previous deal that ran from April 2021 to March 2022, earned him $1.6 million, including $300,000 in bonuses. During that same time, Andonovski earned $446,495, of which only $50,000 was bonus money. With Hayes expected to earn close to $2 million per year in her deal, this will likely create a knock-on effect for other international women’s coaches negotiating their next contracts.

    U.S. Soccer’s rollout of their new head coach has not been an easy one for the federation’s communications staff, considering that Hayes is essentially unavailable for any formal ceremonies or media appearances until her time with Chelsea is complete.

    “This is a huge honor to be given the opportunity to coach the most incredible team in world football history,” she said in a statement on Tuesday. “The feelings and connection I have for this team and for this country run deep. I’ve dreamed about coaching the USA for a long time so to get this opportunity is a dream come true. I know there is work to do to achieve our goals of winning consistently at the highest levels. To get there, it will require dedication, devotion and collaboration from the players, staff and everyone at the U.S. Soccer Federation.”

    Looking ahead for the USWNT

    Hayes’ appointment will have an immediate impact, even if she’s not immediately present. The particulars around timing and the plan moving forward have been one of the areas of discussion between Hayes and her representatives, Chelsea and U.S. Soccer that has continued through the start of November.

    Unless the situation changes drastically, Hayes will only have two camps, including four friendlies, with the USWNT ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. She’ll miss three international windows between Tuesday’s announcement and her planned start date, including the 2024 CONCACAF Gold Cup in February and March.

    U.S. Soccer has a plan in place for the transition. Current interim head coach Twila Kilgore will continue in the role through May and will remain as a permanent assistant coach under Hayes after the swap is complete. U.S. Soccer said that Kilgore and the rest of the technical staff are working on a handoff plan for Hayes.

    “This is a unique situation, but the team is in safe hands with Twila,” Crocker said. “Her stewardship will be crucial during this period as we are focused on success at the Olympics. Emma has endorsed Twila, she will be a key part of Emma’s staff when she arrives and moving forward, and we are excited for what’s to come with our USWNT program.”

    GO DEEPER

    How Emma Hayes’ winning ways at Chelsea can benefit USWNT on the field

    It’s still an extremely tight turn for the Olympics, with 18 days for Hayes to get situated with the team ahead of the tournament, between the two international windows from May 27 to June 4, then July 8 to 16. The Olympic tournament will start on July 25.

    There are, of course, logistical questions about roster selection over the next few months. Some of those may be answered relatively soon, with the roster for the upcoming camp that begins at the end of the month imminent. The greater challenge will likely be ongoing player evaluation over the next six months, at a time of great transition within the squad. The specifics of how that will work without Hayes’ involvement remain a mystery. It would be understandable for players to feel like they are still auditioning for an absent director until May rolls around, while still knowing they must perform at the USWNT standard.

    Along these same lines, there is at least the suggestion that the federation could be willing to sacrifice coherent preparation for this upcoming Olympic tournament to focus more on the longer-term project of the 2027 World Cup. That itself represents a marked change from the expectations and pressure of constant performance and winning that the team is known for.

    Is that a good or a bad thing? Perhaps a little bit of both. The USWNT shouldn’t be ruled out of contention for the Olympics by any stretch, but this past summer’s World Cup did reveal that the problems facing the team are far more foundational than just poor coaching decisions or the strange midfield chemistry. Balancing realism with the pressure to win feels like a much more sustainable path forward for the USWNT.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    USWNT’s Emma Hayes hire could create a problem in preparation for the Olympics

    What’s next for Chelsea?

    Questions surrounding Hayes’ future have cropped up previously in her tenure at Chelsea. She was linked to several jobs in the men’s English Football League in the past and has always been interested in managing Spain’s national team, although there was never an official conversation with Spain’s federation. So it was a question of when, not if, Hayes would leave. Still, news of her decision came as a shock to her staff and players.

    A few staff members were told on the morning of Nov. 4 before Chelsea’s away game at Aston Villa kicked off at 12.30 p.m. UK time. Most of the other staff members found out with the players in the post-match meeting minutes before the official club statement, which Hayes had no hand in writing and did not even see before publication, was released at 3 p.m.

    England and Chelsea captain Millie Bright was “devastated,” and most players were understandably sad — many of whom owe their career progression to Hayes — but know they still have a job to do this season.

    “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. As a player and a person, I was devastated. I’ve been here nine years under Emma and the things I’ve learned,” Bright said. “She’s a mentor, a coach, a friend, a life coach. It’s more than just football playing under her.”


    Bright credits Hayes for her on and off-field guidance. (Photo by Marc Atkins, Getty Images)

    Hayes’ American assistant Denise Reddy, born in New Jersey, is likely to follow her across the pond. The former United States Under-20 coach has remained faithful to her friend of 20 years and voluntarily quit her job as assistant at Chicago Red Stars in 2010 when Hayes was fired as head coach. Chelsea’s general manager Paul Green will stay at the club. It is unclear whether any other members of Chelsea’s technical staff are expected to depart.  

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    What next for Chelsea after Emma Hayes?

    The relentless nature of managing a club takes its toll and after what will be 12 years at Chelsea come the end of the season, Hayes, a single parent whose father died last month, decided that it was the right time for a change, professionally and personally.

    “The biggest factors are my son, leaving at the top and giving the club enough time to be able to transition without there being too much disruption,” she said in her press conference.

    The club has received several applications regarding Hayes’ replacement but has not yet started an official recruitment process. She will meet with Chelsea’s technical directors once a week to create a succession plan and will have a say in who takes the job after her.

    There is the possibility of Hayes retaining a connection to the club via some sort of ambassadorial role, but it’s likely contingent upon a lack of conflict with the USWNT role and responsibilities. Under American Todd Boehly’s co-ownership, expanding Chelsea’s profile and reach in the U.S. would make sense, especially with USWNT internationals Catarina Macario and Mia Fishel playing their club football there — and CBS Sports holding WSL rights.

    There is, for now, an immediate task for Hayes to focus on. Chelsea faces off against Real Madrid on Wednesday for their first match of the UWCL Champions League group stage. Her full American arrival will not come for another half a year after that.

    (Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • Rapinoe after NWSL Championship: ‘I just rode it until the wheels came right off’

    Rapinoe after NWSL Championship: ‘I just rode it until the wheels came right off’

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    All week, there was a constant refrain: the NWSL Championship was set up for a poetic finish between two of the game’s greatest players. Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger would play against each other for one more trophy in the final match of their respective careers. “You couldn’t write a better ending,” Gotham forward Lynn Williams said on Friday, with a smile. It was supposed to be one last chance to give two players their flowers in real-time, no matter who ended victorious.

    But only two minutes and 25 seconds into Saturday night’s showdown at Snapdragon Stadium in front of a rowdy, record 25,011 fans, Rapinoe’s chance to write her half of the story ended abruptly, and without warning. During an offensive run, Rapinoe slipped and fell to the pitch with an apparent non-contact injury. She grabbed at her lower right leg, first in disbelief and then with a typical wry smile.

    “It sucks,” Rapinoe said after the game, her right foot encased in a boot. “I don’t think there’s any good things to say about it or a silver lining.

    “I was feeling good. I was actually feeling some of my best I felt all season these last couple of weeks. I wasn’t feeling tight in my calf or Achilles or anything. So in classic form, I was like, ‘F—, who just kicked me?’ There’s nobody, I’m the one pressing, there’s nobody around me. So, I had that immediate thought and then just went to feel down (there), there’s nothing there. I don’t really think I need a scan (to know it was possibly a torn Achilles tendon).”

    While she received a boot and crutches during halftime, Rapinoe sent a few texts to her mother and her fiancée Sue Bird, allowing the rest of the team to talk through the plan for the second half. “I wasn’t overly emotional about it,” Rapinoe said. “I mean, f—ing yeeted my Achilles in the sixth minute in my last game ever in the literal championship game.”

    Before Rapinoe had exited the field for the final time, she limped over to Krieger and exchanged a hug, somehow still smiling that familiar smile. For her part, Krieger said that she had encouraged Rapinoe to wrap up her leg to get back out there, that she had never expected something like that to happen.

    “Football is such a risk, right? You never know if it’s gonna be your last game, your last moment, and to happen to such an incredible player, in that moment, when there was such a build-up,” Krieger said.

    It was hard, as Rapinoe gingerly stepped off the field, to not think of something Krieger had mentioned in a pre-match press conference, about why she still played despite all the wins and all the struggles she had gone through in her career. “I’m giving it everything I have and you don’t necessarily get all of it back in return. So you have to have that willingness and drive to want to do it for yourself because you love it,” she said.


    Ali Krieger and Megan Rapinoe end their careers together. (Photo by Ben Nichols/Getty Images)

    This year, Rapinoe hasn’t always gotten much back from the game. She missed her penalty during the USWNT’s World Cup loss to Sweden this summer. She had never missed a penalty before that moment. Like Saturday, that night in Melbourne ended with tears and laughter and that note of disbelief that such a trusted part of her game had let her down in such a major moment. But on Saturday, it felt like nothing more than a fluke, a bad step, something she never could have seen coming, or even attempted to avoid.

    The moment affected the match, for both teams. “When I saw her put her head back,” Gotham forward and the game’s MVP Midge Purce said, “I’ve seen her go down (before), and it was really sad. Then one of the girls on their team started crying, and I turned to (Yazmeen Ryan), and I said let’s go to her because she was clearly upset. It’s hard. I think that definitely affected them a lot.”

    Purce helped Gotham take the lead later that half, setting up Lynn Williams’ opening goal by running through three OL Reign defenders. Rose Lavelle equalized, but Purce again set up the go-ahead goal, giving her team the lead before halftime — one they would never relinquish.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Gotham FC earned the NWSL title, and Midge Purce owned the night

    After the match, when Lavelle walked through the mixed zone, clearly feeling several emotions from the loss, she had to pause for a moment to collect herself before answering a question about Rapinoe.

    “It seems like a sick joke that it has to end that way,” she said. “It’s just been such an honor to be able to share the field with her, so I wish we could have gotten it done today. She’s amazing; she doesn’t deserve that. I think with everything, she just takes it on the chin and was still our biggest fan out there.”

    During the postgame press conference, Lavelle sat next to Rapinoe as the former Ballon d’Or winner dealt with the adversity the only way she knows how, through humor.

    “I mean I don’t deserve this,” Rapinoe said with a laugh. “I’m a better person than this, maybe I was f—ing in a previous lifetime. … This one feels different than missing a (penalty) in New Zealand. I mean, again, it’s like that’s life. It’s part of the game.”

    Just over 24 hours earlier, Rapinoe had exhaled a laugh over a question about why she and her teammates hadn’t ever managed to actually win a NWSL Championship before, despite two previous appearances in 2014 and 2015 and a run of semifinal losses. “S—’s hard,” she’d said, a simple enough explanation. A true one.

    On Saturday night, it was more of the same.

    She got another question too, one she’s heard time and time again in the long run of games since announcing her retirement ahead of the World Cup, through her final game with the USWNT and her send-off ceremony with the Reign. What, exactly, is her legacy?

    And as always, she still hesitated to answer the way any reporter would truly like: some tidy summation of her career, her accomplishments off the field, her personality, her refusal to fit herself into a box.

    “Oh, that’s for you guys to write,” she replied. “I don’t—I don’t know. I always tried to play the game the right way. Always tried to enjoy it. At the end of the day, I feel like we are in the entertainment business, and especially in a growing sport and a growing league, I feel like that’s really important. Always try to make things better.

    “I just walk away so proud and so happy to have not only my contribution to the game but the era that I’ve played in and knowing that the game is in such a better place. That’s a testament to all the players that have played in this generation and played in this league,” she said, pointing to the league’s new media deal, the quality of the games. “I feel like I get to walk away smiling no matter what, really proud of my entire career.”

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    NWSL reveals TV deals with ESPN, CBS, more

    So maybe it was fitting that in one of her final quotes as a player, she gave a typical Megan Rapinoe answer to a question about the game she is now leaving behind, as a player at least.

    “This is what we have built, the players who played in my generation, this is part of our legacy and what we’ve left behind. What is now here for the kids to take and to do with what they want. But I feel like we’ve left a pretty solid blueprint for them to continue to not only grow the game, and make it the premier league in the world, but also affect change off the field and continue to couple that with what they’re doing on the field,” Rapinoe said.

    “I’m a proud, gay aunt, looking down on the league like, ‘Damn, we did good.’ But they’re going to be able to take it so much further.”

    And with that, Rapinoe, for the first time in well over a decade, was done with her responsibilities as a professional footballer.

    “I guess I just rode it until the wheels came right off,” Rapinoe said. “You don’t always get perfect endings, but I’ve also had so many perfect endings.”

    (Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • Listen Live: 2023 NWSL Championship OL Reign vs. Gotham FC

    Listen Live: 2023 NWSL Championship OL Reign vs. Gotham FC

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    SiriusXM is your home for National Women’s Soccer League action — and we have you covered for the 2023 NWSL Championship at 8:00pm ET, Saturday, November 11.

    Subscribers can hear the live broadcast of the can’t-miss match on SiriusXM FC.

    Listen to SiriusXM FC (Ch. 157) via the SiriusXM app 

    2023 NWSL Playoffs Recap

    San Diego Wave FC secured its inaugural NWSL Shield by clinching the top playoff seed and a first-round bye at the conclusion of the regular season. In the semifinals, they hosted No. 4 OL Reign, while No. 2 Portland Thorns FC, also enjoying a bye, faced Gotham FC in a rematch of the 2021 Challenge Cup final.

    Following two sold-out matches where both visiting teams emerged victorious, the finalists for the 2023 NWSL Championship have been established. No. 4 OL Reign, making their third Championship appearance, will compete against first-time finalist No. 6 Gotham FC in a prime-time showdown at 8:00pm ET on Saturday, November 11, at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.

    In addition to live play-by-play, SiriusXM FC offers listeners daily soccer talk programming hosted by an expert cast of former players, coaches, executives and journalists from the U.S. and abroad. SiriusXM FC (Ch. 157) is available to subscribers nationwide in their car and on the SiriusXM app.


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    Matthew Fanizza

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  • The real and emotional impact of ACL injuries on female elite players

    The real and emotional impact of ACL injuries on female elite players

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    There is no consensus on how to remedy the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury crisis in women’s football. Maybe because there is no obvious solution. What exactly do we attribute the Rolodex-worth of 2023 World Cup absentees — England duo Leah Williamson and Beth Mead, Canada’s Janine Beckie and Vivianne Miedema of the Netherlands to name a few — to?

    The ACL Club has gained six new British members over the past month alone: Arsenal’s Teyah Goldie, Faye Kirby of Liverpool, Manchester United pair Emma Watson and Gabby George, Caroline Weir of Real Madrid and Aberdeen’s Laura Holden.

    GO DEEPER

    Manchester United defender George suffers ACL injury

    How big a role does the menstrual cycle — 2017 research suggests that ACL laxity and risk of injury may increase in the ovulatory phase — have to play?

    Do the environments female players grow up in, forging careers on subpar pitches, supported by skeletal medical teams with sometimes scant knowledge of female physiology, mean every player is living on borrowed time in terms of an ACL injury?

    What about a rammed fixture list, including an international calendar, condensed by the pandemic years, that will see top players contest five major tournaments (Olympics, Euros, World Cup, Olympics, Euros) in as many years from 2021-25?


    Williamson won’t return until after Christmas from an April ACL injury (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

    It is difficult to escape the feeling that football would have found a solution by now were this crisis affecting male players to the same extent. Sports science continues to research the mechanics of the female body but that field remains grossly underfunded. It is not hyperbolic to describe this generation of women footballers as guinea pigs.

    No wonder so many female players feel like the true mental cost of the game’s ACL crisis is being ignored.

    Three of them have spoken to The Athletic in the hope that someone will listen — and that, if the powers that be will not protect them, their fellow players can take measures to protect themselves.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    What is an ACL tear and how long does it take to recover?

    “Every time I see another (ACL injury), I go through a period of being angry. My heart goes out to that player. I know exactly what they’re going to go through,” says Birmingham City’s Remi Allen, who fully ruptured an ACL for the second time in her career in May 2022 while playing for Aston Villa. The first came at 18 when playing for England, years before the 2018 advent of a professional domestic women’s league. The FA helped to facilitate her recovery then.

    “I see the messages players post on social media: ‘I’m going to get my head down, work for this rehab and be really positive’. When I read the messages, I’m like, ‘What’s coming for you is so hard’,” Allen says.

    “We’re being let down by the system. If you’re going to keep piling on these games, expect the load of games and training to be sky-high. We don’t have the research. We don’t have enough medical support. We don’t have enough physical performance coaches to support and facilitate it all. We’re being put at risk.”


    Allen made 22 appearances for Villa over the past two seasons (Paul Harding – The FA via Getty Images)

    Almost 14 years on from that first ACL injury, Allen recalls how, in the third-last match of Villa’s 2021-22 season, history repeated itself.

    In the 81st minute at home to Manchester United, she lunged for the ball and her “knee went one way whilst my body weight went the other. I felt like both parts of my legs weren’t attached to each other. The rest of my body spasmed. I had a lot of morphine to try and calm my body down”.

    “When you go down with a knee injury, (an ACL) is what you fear the most,” she says.

    Confirmation arrived the following Wednesday. With it came the doubts. It was hard enough to come back as an 18-year-old with time on her side. What hope did she have at 31, with just a year left on her contract at Villa? Even if she did make it through, who would offer her a deal?

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    GO DEEPER

    ACL injuries in women’s football: Why the high risk and can they be prevented?

    “I thought, ‘Is it worth it? Will my body allow it? Mentally, will I cope again?’,” Allen explains. “It was difficult the first time and I felt isolated. In the days and weeks afterwards, I didn’t feel like I could go through with it. I didn’t know if I’d get back.”

    Overnight, Allen flipped from being Villa’s ever-present captain to facing 13 months out, her recovery complicated by a second procedure to allow her knee to fully extend again. The laborious process began with basic joint exercises — trying to bend and straighten the affected knee — four to five times a day, before moving on to weight-bearing gym exercises for weeks three to 12.

    The more demanding period between months three to eight is, by Allen’s measure, “physically, one of the hardest things ever”.

    Team-mates would walk through the gym after their sessions incredulous that Allen was still going. Allen admits her heart would sink each day when she saw the list of exercises she had to re-learn: jogging, changing direction, running at speed.


    Allen playing for new club Birmingham in August (Ashley Allen – The FA via Getty Images)

    “I spent the first six months in a daze,” she says. “I was doing everything — but in my head, I wasn’t committed to it. I felt so numb and lost with the process. Every time you hit a goal or a target, I struggled to feel positive about it because I knew how much there was more to come. I spent the first six months having a daily battle in my head. But I was able to just sort of survive.”

    Attending Villa matches took an understandable mental toll as Allen reconfigured her identity: who was she without football? Playing for Villa had given her a sense of belonging. “To sit in the stands, watch them play and know that you’re not being a part of it — I felt so disconnected and useless,” Allen says.

    When Villa declined to renew her contract, she found herself a free agent, for the first time in her career, at age 32.

    “A huge part of me felt like a failure and a reject,” Allen says. “That I probably wasn’t good enough anymore. I had a huge debate about whether I should carry on playing or would it be the right time to retire. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a contract anywhere else. It was a lonely, isolated place.”

    Allen’s fears are typical of women’s football outside the top four clubs, where one and two-year contracts are commonplace. The Women’s Super League remains the only full-time league in England. A number of lower-division clubs operate full-time or hybrid models, with many players working outside of football. There are few lucrative contracts to go around. Players are asked to gamble on the slim chance of success in the game — sometimes without a net to catch them if it goes wrong.

    Now 20, former Birmingham City defender Lily Simkin made her WSL debut aged 16 but is now without a contract having been released at the end of last season.

    Simkin was poised to sign a full-time contract with a Championship club this summer, having spent three weeks on trial during pre-season. But in the final minutes of a friendly, an opponent caught her knee with a high tackle, the force pushing the joint inwards.


    Simkin signed for Birmingham’s senior squad in 2019 (Ashley Allen – The FA via Getty Images)

    “Straight away, because I wasn’t contracted with anyone, I thought, ‘What does this mean now?’,” Simkin recalls. “‘I can’t get off the pitch. I’m not going to be able to play football in the next couple of weeks’.”

    In the physio room the following day, her agent called to tell her that the club were no longer interested in signing her. Then Simkin discovered that none of the club’s female players had insurance.

    “I had no idea that was the case,” she says. “They said, ‘You’re going to have to be referred by your GP (regular doctor)’. I’d heard the stories about waiting times (for surgery). It can be years. I haven’t got that time, because I’m unemployed. I don’t go to uni because I was full-time at Birmingham for two years. I’ve gone from being full-time and really excited about joining this new club to suddenly being left with a serious injury and not knowing where to go from it.”

    Other clubs withdrew their interest after learning of her injury. “No one’s going to sign a player that’s going to be out for 12 months,” Simkin admits.


    Simkin up against Chelsea’s Guro Reiten in 2019 (Morgan Harlow/Getty Images)

    Simkin initially used the free National Health Service (NHS) but six weeks of consultations did not result in even a diagnosis.

    Her family eventually paid for a private scan and it was discovered the reason she did not hear the popping sound that often accompanies an ACL injury was because the ligament had been ripped completely from her femur (thigh bone). Given the risks to Simkin’s career, she was bumped to the top of the NHS waiting list and had her operation on October 18.

    While players with whom she moved up through England youth ranks played an under-23s match in Norway last month, Simkin was preparing for a job interview and researching university courses. Now she is recovering from surgery without a club. “It’s all so new,” she says. “I left school and went into full-time football. I didn’t have a CV. I didn’t have experience in jobs.”

    Simkin is speaking out in the hope that players will take out insurance to mitigate the risks they face when playing for or on trial with lower-league teams. “One of the quotes we got for surgery was £15,000,” Simkin says.

    She remains a member of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) from her time at Birmingham but those who have never played professionally (in the second-tier WSL Championship or below) are not been eligible for membership of the union. “Women (are) working a full-time job alongside being a footballer to make ends meet because the pay’s not good enough (at those lower levels),” Simkin says.

    “This injury could take them out of work. The younger girls are scared to do it and you shouldn’t be scared to play football.”

    Hannah Godfrey was the fourth of six Charlton Athletic women’s players to suffer an ACL injury between January 2022 and February 2023. The first had sent shockwaves throughout the squad.

    “‘It’s happened at our club’,” Godfrey, now 26, remembers. “That’s when it hits you. You see it happen. You hear the scream. You see when she finds out. It’s honestly heartbreaking. You’re scared it could happen.”


    Godfrey played for Tottenham from 2019-21 (Kate McShane/Getty Images)

    Then another two players were sidelined with the same injury.

    “All these people are so different. One of them is 30 and one is 19. One of them was in training and one was in a game. There’s no correlation. Then my world came crashing down.”

    Defender Godfrey had been playing at The Valley, Charlton’s main stadium, in September last year when she became tangled with a Birmingham City striker and her planted foot refused to move. She felt the jerking motion, that telltale pop. “I didn’t want to believe it,” she says. “I was holding my team-mate’s hand, going, ‘I’ve done my ACL’. She kept saying, ‘You’re fine’.”

    Days later, the club doctor confirmed that Godfrey had fully ruptured her ACL.

    “The tears came straight away,” she says. “I’ll never forget it. The doctor was talking for a good minute, but I didn’t hear anything. I handed the phone to my team-mate and she said, ‘I’m so sorry, can you repeat it all?’’. People will never understand until you hear those words. Football’s all I’ve ever known.”

    Initial consultations revealed that Godfrey’s knee was too swollen for immediate surgery. That remained the case for six weeks. “I’d be ready, get my hopes up, go in and the surgeon would shoot me down in seconds,” says Godfrey.

    “After surgery, when you’re bedbound and you can’t even get up to go to the toilet without being in pain, it’s mentally tough. I had days spent emotional, crying. I questioned, ‘Why did I go and tackle her?’. ‘Did (the injury happen) because I was on my period? Was it because I had a cold? Had I slept right?’.”


    Scotland’s Weir being helped off the pitch after her ACL injury in September (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

    Her lifeline came in the form of the football academy, Pro 2 Pro, Godfrey built with her team-mate Lois Roche, who was also recovering from an ACL. Between rehab sessions, the pair devised coaching and business plans, and now coach more than 360 players. “It gave me a purpose,” Godfrey says. “We always had something to look forward to, because I no longer had a gameday. I no longer had goals. I had nothing.

    “I used to think, ‘If I ever did my ACL, I’m not sure I’d be able to handle it’. I don’t give myself enough credit of how mentally tough and strong I am.

    “We need to do more. That’s our livelihood. We give ourselves to the game and it gets taken away in the blink of an eye.”

    (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)

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    The New York Times

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  • NWSL Players Association Wins Critical Arbitration On Free Agency

    NWSL Players Association Wins Critical Arbitration On Free Agency

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    An arbitrator ruled in favor of the National Women’s Soccer League Player Association on Monday that 22 Players with 6 or more NWSL service years and contracts that expire on December 31 were, in fact, eligible for free agency dating back to the start of the league’s free agency window on August 26.

    The dispute centered not over free agency itself, but whether players with six years of service, but whose current teams also held a player option, would be eligible for free agency. The arbitrator ruled that they are.

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    The resulting offseason ahead will get significantly wilder, with everyone from Tobin Heath to Debinha to Christine Sinclair now free to pursue their own teams. But as the PA made clear in its statement following this victory, the very fact that there was such a process in place was a significant victory for the players as well.

    “The grievance and arbitration procedure that is contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement is, itself, a win for collective bargaining,” the PA said in its statement. “Through this process, the NWSL and the NWSL Players Association agree to submit issues where we cannot reach agreement to a jointly selected, impartial arbitrator. The grievance and arbitration procedure is a fair, collectively bargained mechanism that provides finality and instills confidence in the outcome.”

    Another key takeaway from this decision is the tone utilized by NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman. Far from an adversary, she sounded like a partner when speaking on the decision Monday afternoon.

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    ““I am proud of the manner in which the parties used the arbitration procedure,” said NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman. “This was an honest and respectful disagreement, and we utilized the dispute resolution mechanism in our collective bargaining agreement which is fair and impartial. Thanks to our labor agreement all parties can make their case to an independent and neutral third-party and respect the decision.”

    The players affected are: Lauren Barnes, Katie Bowen, Danielle Colaprico, Jaelene Daniels, Debinha, Vanessa DiBernardo Makenzy Doniak, Morgan Gautrat, Tobin Heath, Rachel Hill, Kaitlyn Johnson, Estelle Johnson, Domi Richardson, Katelyn Rowland, Sophie Schmidt, Christine Sinclair, Meredith Speck, Jasmyne Spencer, Nicole Stanton, Jodie Taylor, Arin Wright and McCall Zerboni.

    If that promises a fun offseason ahead, it’s only the beginning in NWSL — come August 2023, every player with at least five years of service can elect free agency, while those with three years of service can choose restricted free agency — that is, they can sign elsewhere, but their current team can match that offer and keep them.

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    Players can re-sign with their own teams this fall. Beginning November 15, they can sign with new teams.

    In other words: buckle up.

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    Howard Megdal, Senior Contributor

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  • NWSL Commissioner Discusses Yates Report At SBJ World Congress Of Sports

    NWSL Commissioner Discusses Yates Report At SBJ World Congress Of Sports

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    NEW YORK, NY– Jessica Berman has wanted to be a sports commissioner since her teen years growing up in Brooklyn, NY. Her passion took her to the University of Michigan, where she studied Sports Management, and then back to New York for her Juris doctorate at Fordham Law School.

    Where did this dream come from?

    “My children have asked me that question, especially in the last six months when I haven’t been home,” Berman said at the Sports Business Journal World Congress of Sports Tuesday morning.

    Berman admitted she often asked herself that question. It’s not hard to imagine that times like these – days removed from the preliminary findings of the Sally Q. Yates independent investigation concerning allegations of abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer – are particularly hard for the newest commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

    To state what should be obvious, it has been an even more difficult time for the players, whether they be named or unnamed in the report. The Yates reports is a third-party report commissioned by the United States Soccer Federation. In addition, the NWSL has commissioned its own report in partnership with the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association.

    MORE FROM FORBESWomen’s Professional Soccer, The Boston Celtics And The Intimate Relationships ProblemBy Kim Elsesser

    “I think the most important takeaway for us and for me is that we are taking all of our cues directly from the players,” Berman said of the league investigation.

    “Our partnership with the union and our joint investigation that is still ongoing is unique from the Yates report in two significant ways. The first being that we are doing it jointly with our player association from October when the news broke in The Athletic and the NWSL essentially came to its knees to figure out how we get to the place of unlocking the potential of this league,” she added.

    The NWSL and NWSLPA began their investigation in October 2021 with counsel from Covington & Burling LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. They comprise what is known as the NWSL/NWSLPA Joint Investigative Team. Berman was not in her role as NWSL Commissioner during this time and has inherited the process of moving forward for the better while cutting ties post-haste.

    The league announced Tuesday that, as a result of an investigation into allegations of verbal abuse and improper favoritism, the immediate termination of the contracts of Orlando Pride Head Coach Amanda Cromwell and First Assistant Coach Sam Greene.

    Berman also noted the Yates report provided the NWSL/NWSLPA Joint Investigative Team with “information that had previously not been available” as part of their reporting. Initially, the NWSL expected a report at the end of the year. While Commissioner Berman hopes to stick to that timeline, the NWSL will not interfere with nor rush the process.

    “We will let them do their jobs and stay outta their way. We do hope, understanding the practical realities of the importance of getting this report done, that we stay within that timeline, and that’s my expectation currently,” Berman said Tuesday.

    Under Berman, the NWSL is leading its investigation with truth. In fact, truth and transparency is one of the three values that drive the Joint Investigative Team.

    “We need to make sure that we hold ourselves accountable to the three goals that we set out from the beginning when this was commissioned a year ago, which are to seek the truth, to have corrective action that is meaningfu,l and to institute systemic reform. Those three things are in a particular order, and its intentional. You have to start with the truth and in order for people to heal and trust this league, we really need to start with the truth,” Berman said.

    Given the rampant history of abuse in women’s soccer at all levels, Berman will have continue to show that things are different, rather than to tell. The NWSL is not the only league in need of reform.

    Allegations of Abuse in the NHL

    Berman was one of several sports commissioners to speak at the Sports Business Journal World Congress of Sports, including NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. From my observations yesterday, she was the most forthcoming with the more difficult sports business matters in her sector.

    For example, despite the Tampa Bay Lightning recently suspended Ian Cole after allegations from an anonymous report accused Cole of grooming and sexual abuse, nobody from the conference mentioned the allegations. For context, the NWSL allegations were mentioned multiple times ahead of Berman’s appearance.

    After attending the World Congress of Sports yesterday in New York, Bettman attended the home opener for the Los Angeles Kings yesterday. Los Angeles Times sports columnist Helene Elliott asked Bettman about the Cole investigation.

    “We’re investigating that as well. We’re trying to get to the source of the tweet and we are investigating. Obviously the allegations on twitter are disturbing but I think we need to take the appropriate time to understand exactly what happened,” Bettman said according to Elloitt’s tweets.

    The NHLPA released the findings of their independent report on April 15. The NHLPA retained Cozen O’Conner for their investigation. The report stated, “Ultimately, the failure to act on Beach’s reports stems from a failure of communication … Beach’s warnings about Aldrich were not addressed on account of miscommunication and misunderstanding, rather than any individual or systemic failure.”

    The report included recommendations, but the NHPLA didn’t release them because “they require further development,” per a statement released on April 15.

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    Erica L. Ayala, Contributor

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