Wikipedia - United Women's Soccer

United Women's Soccer (UWS) is a national pro-am women's soccer league in the United States. The league was founded in 2015 as a response to the dual problems of disorganization in the WPSL and of the folding of the original USL W-League. The league began play in May 2016 with eleven teams in two conferences. The first league currently has 45 teams in 6 conferences and second league currently has 49 teams in 6 conferences.

History

Background

In the summer of 2015, disorganization and the inability to field teams led to many last-minute changes in the WPSL playoffs. This, combined with a general lack of competitiveness due to rapid expansion, led to frustration from many long-time WPSL teams. The 2014 WPSL final four hosts ASA Chesapeake Charge elected to skip the 2015 WPSL playoffs altogether as did the entire Sunshine division, Fire & Ice SC was a no-show, and the New England Mutiny published a threatening response to how WPSL as a league was run and was regressing.

Later that year, the USL W-League suddenly announced that it would be ceasing operations. There had been no outward signs that the league or its teams were struggling, but the league had been contracting steadily over the preceding several years - from 30 teams in four divisions for 2012 to just 18 teams in three divisions for 2015 - and many of the teams that had left were recent finalists (Buffalo Flash, Vancouver Whitecaps Women, Pali Blues, Ottawa Fury Women, and several Washington D.C.-area teams) leaving relatively few flagship teams.

Founding

Spearheaded by the New England Mutiny (a former member of the short-lived WPSL Elite), UWS's first five teams were leaked on December 15 ahead of the league's official announcement the next day; UWS hopes to provide a true second division beneath the NWSL. Negotiations to create the league since the beginning of the WPSL/W-League offseason, with plans that the league will be a national league of two conferences. The eight founding teams, all in the northeastern US and eastern Canada, were the Mutiny, fellow WPSL breakaway Lancaster Inferno FC, the W-League teams Laval Comets, Long Island Rough Riders, New York Magic, North Jersey Valkyries, and Quebec Dynamo ARSQ looking for a new league, and the expansion team New Jersey Copa FC.

UWS will be sanctioned through USASA, as the W-League and WPSL were.

Rapid early growth

Between founding and the beginning of the inaugural season, hints of the desired second Western conference came to light in late January and was made official on February 5, with the first five revealed teams being Real Salt Lake Women and Houston Aces (both previously of WPSL), and the Santa Clarita Blue Heat, the Colorado Storm, and the Colorado Pride (all previously of the W-League).

On March 9, 2016, it was announced that the Canadian Soccer Association would not sanction teams in Laval & Quebec for play in UWS, leaving the league with only 11 teams for its inaugural season.

On November 1, 2016, Grand Rapids FC announced they would add a women's team, which would begin play in 2017 in a new Midwest division of United Women's Soccer. Three more Midwest teams (FC Indiana, Fort Wayne United Soccer Club, and the Detroit Sun FC) were announced a month later, with the desire to add more mentioned. Further expansion ahead of the 2017 season included the Michigan Legends FC in Brighton, Indy Premier SC in Noblesville, the Syracuse Development Academy, the So Cal Crush FC in Montrose, and the Calgary Foothills WFC. On March 3, 2017, the Western New York Flash announced that they would establish a team for the 2017 season. This announcement came nearly two months after the organization, who had won the 2016 NWSL Championship, sold its NWSL franchise rights and roster which formed the North Carolina Courage. In April, the rebranded Rochester Lancers team joined the Flash in Western New York with a UWS side, the Rochester Lady Lancers. They effectively replaced the Flash, which moved team operations to their original home of Buffalo, in Rochester.

Western contraction period

While UWS would see continued stability in the East and Midwest conferences, attempts to establish teams in the west would prove less successful. From 2017 to 2018, UWS grew from having just five teams west of the Mississippi River to having eleven, with the return of the Colorado Pride, joining of LA Galaxy OC academy, and four new teams in Texas, causing the West conference to split into a West and a Southwest conference. However, despite each conference adding a team for the 2019 season, each conference also lost two teams - including UWS founding member Real Salt Lake Women who rebranded as the Utah Royals Reserves in a return to WPSL - bringing the total number of teams west of the Mississippi to nine. Ahead of the 2020 season, four more UWS teams - Houston Aces, Colorado Pride, LAG OC, and the El Paso Surf - also left for WPSL, bringing the total back down to five.

Further expansion and creation of League Two

In the 2020 off-season, UWS continued to add more clubs to the league and expanding their reach, including the creation of the Southeast Conference.

On February 6, 2020, UWS announced the creation of UWS League Two, a 2nd division focused on the U20-U23 age group. League Two will consist of a mix of UWS reserve teams and clubs that will be seeking to join UWS in the future. It will feature a promotion and relegation relationship with UWS starting in 2021, though the nature of how clubs will move up and down is still under discussion. The Midwest conference was the first announced for the new league, with the first four teams of said conference consisting of three independent sides as well as the reserves of Detroit Sun FC.

美国联赛女子足球(Women's Premier Soccer League,简称WPSL)是一项由美国女子职业足球联盟(WPSL)运营的女子足球联赛。它成立于2009年,是女子足球联赛中最高水平的联赛之一。

该联赛的目标是提供一个公平、有竞争力的舞台,让女子足球运动员有机会展示他们的技能和才能。与其他女子足球联赛相比,WPSL注重技术和战术的复杂性,并强调球队的整体协调和策略实施。

该联赛由12支球队组成,其中8支来自美国,4支来自加拿大。每个球队通常由18名球员组成,其中包括11名场上球员和7名替补球员。比赛采用主客场制,每支球队每年需要进行10场比赛。

WPSL的冠军将有机会参加女子大联盟杯(Women's Champions League)比赛。此外,该联赛的优秀球员也有机会进入美国女子国家足球队和美国职业女子足球大联盟(NWSL)的球队。

总的来说,美国联赛女子足球是一个充满活力和潜力的联赛,为女子足球运动员提供了展示自己的平台。