National Women’s Soccer League to Begin in 2013

U.S. Soccer announced that “National Women’s Soccer League” (NWSL) will be the name of the new eight-team women’s soccer league, which has replaced WPSL-Elite, which replaced WPS, which replaced WUSA.

NWSL will begin in the spring 2013 and be administered by U.S. Soccer.

U.S. Soccer will subsidize the salaries of up to 24 U.S. Women’s National Team players while the Canadian Soccer Association and Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for up to 16 players.

The eight teams in the league are: Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Sky Blue FC, Washington Spirit, Western New York Flash and Seattle, which has yet to announce its team name.

Former U.S. Women’s National Team General Manager Cheryl Bailey was named Executive Director for the new league.