Two more players now have a team to call their own. Arsenal Ladies singing: Guess Who's Back? Back again. And it's already been noted they'll be eligible to play in Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final vs Gothenburg.
Former WPS player, ex-Western New York Flash, Becky Edwards is signed with Kristianstads DFF in Sweden's Damallsvenskan for 2012.
I have a question, Why are so many of our players signing overseas even after the formation of the WPSL Elite or W-USL? Is the Damallsvenskan that much better then WPSL or W-USL? You can't convince me that the competition in Sweden, Germany or Russia in women's football is better then what we have here. Is the pay in Germany or Sweden that much better then what the Boston Breakers or WNY Flash will be paying this year in the WPSL? There are 8 teams in WPSL Elite, 6 of which will be full pro and at least Sounders women in W-USL that we know of that are pro and maybe the others in California and yet our home players are still opting to go to Sweden or Germany and even Russia to play. Why?
Because they like stable leagues with good competition and good training. Sweden and Germany's leagues are very good and comparable to WPS. (I rate Germany's league as better than the WPS.) Comparable and probably a bit better. I'm not surprised. They like to play in leagues that won't fold after 3 years.
I know we've gone over this in other threads and I'm still confused, why are other country's leagues more sustainable then pro leagues in the US? Is it the way other countries support sports. Is it that our players look at pro as full time while in other countries, expecially for women pro is a part time job? Why is pro women's soccer affordable in Europe or Japan but not in the US? So what is the difference?
Well in Japan it is no truly Pro. Homare Sawa described it herself in her interview for CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/08/world/asia/japan-homare-sawa/ The players in Japan have regular jobs and then practice at night. Germany and Sweden are both Semi-Pro. There are a couple of teams that are almost full-pro players. They have some players that are fully paid on other teams, and a mix of other players that are semi-pro. The lower players have part time jobs to cover the bills. In Germany the league is supported by the men's teams by rule from their football governing body. Both of those leagues have far lower attendance than the WPS did. They average below 500 attendance for games, except for Frankfurt and Turbine Postdam who get around 1k. All of that said, one thing that players appear to prefer is the training environment. Even with the lower salaries and part time status for some teams. They have very professional training and development systems. In the USA not all WPS teams were like that, and surely WPSL and W-League are hit and miss. Players feel that there is a good chance for growth and skill development in the German and Swedish leagues.
Former WPS player, ex-Western Sky Blue FC, Kendall Fletcher is signed with Vittsjo in Sweden's Damallsvenskan for 2012.
I think the main reason at least for the European leauges are: 1) The leagaues are not full-pro by any central rules, they are or rather on the way there by natural development. Every team decide what it can afford and mix full-pro, semi-pro and amateur players after what their budget allow. Nowdays many team in Damallsvenskan and FrauenBundesliga is pretty much full-pro but it have been a gradual development. 2) The promotion regulation system in place. If a team folds there are ten to twenty others eager to step upp and take a place at the highest level (the Swedish FA* adminster three levels and feeding directly into the lowest of them are the top of the normaly three levels adminstered by the 24 district FAs) . It also make sure that all team in any level spend everything they can afford to develop and get players. Since if they don't they risk to end last and get reglated, and if they spend more than they can they goes out out of bussines (the later is luckily rather uncommon). *Germany and most of Europe have a similar structure but I only know the details for Sweden.
I think there have been some very good replies here. One thing I would stress is good ol' European socialism - or at least the philosophy. Several teams get support from the men's clubs, essentially. WPS can't do that here in the US without raising the whole specter of the WNBA and triggering that backlash. Before the World Cup I remember reading that in Germany the regional governments felt a responsibility to support women's leagues in some way. Sweden's national TV system broadcasts one Damallsvenskan match per week regardless of ratings or advertising support. (in calling this "socialist", I'm not prejudging it as either good or bad; it's just a fact) As to the earlier question as to why women are going overseas, let's not forget the simple incentive of traveling. If you're not going to be paid a lot more by staying here and if there isn't the prestige of playing in one of the acknowledged best leagues in the world and in front of your friends, family and fellow countrymen, let's not forget the lure of traveling to another country and being able to live there and experience new things and meet new people. I would think this is a very big incentive for many of these young women.
In the Army, we called that "Fun, Travel & Adventure," though the original initials "FTA" stood for something else all together.
The support from Mens tems, aren't such a big factor (mainly speaking for the Nordic). The governmnet support is, not that it is targeted to womens soccer (or at least not much) but the general support of athletics make things like places to train and play much more affordabel.
A false "fact": the matches in Sweden are broadcast by a commercial channel. And matches are shown far from every week of the season.
I stand corrected. Has it changed? I thought there used to be one match a week on Channel 4, which I thought was a state-sponsored network. I could be a few years behind the times. Or I could've gotten that all wrong - although I could swear I got my information from an unimpeachable source - Women's Rivalry!
The biggest examples I thought of were, true, non-Nordic, but Arsenal in England and Olympique Lyonnais in France. Perhaps Brondy in Denmark? I know absolutely nothing about men's soccer in Sweden - the "big" clubs in Sweden, to me, are the Damallsvenskan teams! Same for Norway - the club names in Norway that sound familiar to me are the ones that Bonnie mentions in her posts on the Toppserien. And in Germany, the biggest women's clubs aren't affiliated with the big-name Bundesliga teams as far as I know. Germany's clubs seem (at least the leading ones) to be the least-connected to male counterparts, as far as the top European countries go. On the other hand, as I said, I heard they get some support on the regional level - at least that's what I heard in the run-up to the World Cup. You make a good point about the general nature of government support as opposed to one target specifically towards women's soccer as such. We didn't mention socialized health care -- am I wrong to suggest that nationalized health care in these countries removes a great burden (in the form of health insurance) that pro teams in the US face? Add in the Champion's League (or whatever they're calling it these days) and Fun, Travel, and Adventure (as someone mentioned above) and it's easy to see why, for right now, Europe is an attractive alternative to ex WPS players. But having the top teams thrash the bottom half teams routinely by several goals in front of crowds numbering 200-300 has its limits. There is a need for a step beyond that and, to its credit, WUSA and WPS have tried to take that step. We can hope, as far as WPS is concerned, that their package of Fun, Travel, and Adventure is not over for good.
So the Sounders now have Alex Morgan (Cal), Keelin Winters (Portland), Sydney Leroux (UCLA), and Kate Deines (Washington), all who played their college soccer on the West Coast. The Sounders coach is Michelle French (Portland and former WPS), who is a class act. To me this is very hopeful, since I have believed for some time that the long-term success of women's professional soccer will be helped by players being on teams that are in the regions where they went to college. To me, it's going to be a grass roots up approach that's going to be successful, even if it takes a long time, and players should be sited where their grass roots are. It might even make it worth it to take the drive up from Portland to Seattle (as I do yearly for college soccer), plus for the first time I'll get to root 100% for Kate, whose parents are family friends.
Well the most of the Swedish bottom half team can plya fairly even on the top teams more than a few times a year (but it tend to be one or two teams that can't), Bundesliga is a bit worse and most of the other European leagues tend to be terrible in that aspect. Bundeliga have better top teams (or at least have for the last five yeras or so), but Damallvenskan tend to have a better bottom half.
Veering slightly into OT zone: I'm sure you wouldn't have got the info that Sweden's TV4 was a state-run channel from Rivalry . It's very definitely commercially-funded. When TV4 bought broadcasting rights, it was said that they intended to show one league match a week, but some weeks this has turned into zero, others they show two. The average each year is 12 matches broadcast of 22. If my memory serves me right, about half of the matches are shown on TV4, half on TV4 Sport, a subscription-based cable channel. In other words, to see all the matches, I pay extra. When the latest contract for broadcasting rights for the women's matches (club and national team) was negotiated, none of the parties would comment on the amount arrived at, other than to say that there was an increase compared with the previous agreement. This was attributed to higher viewing figures. In other words, making matches available got people watching them and increased their commercial value to the broadcaster. I don't think anyone but a crazy redneck conspiracy-theorist could twist that into an example of "socialist" support to women's football.
You are perfectly right, health insurance is nationalized so no extra is nessicary (some extra can be nice but is affordabel) and the Sweidsh FA (corresponding to USSoccer) provide an accident insurance during training and matches, and travel to and from it, included in the licensing fee for the players. So I don't think player insurance is a cost for clubs over here.
I'm sure when someone finds out they will post it. However, the discussion on why players are going overseas rather then playing with USL-W and WPSL is within the scopes of this thread. Otherwise let there be crickets until someone finds out player by player who is playing where...of former WPS players.
I'm curious whether Stephanie Cox may sign with the Sounders Women. She lives in Gig Harbor, not too far from Seattle and she'll have a chance to play alongside WNT teammates Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan.
And also would be playing for friend and former Pilot and current Sounders coach French, who also was a left back and who also played in the Olys.
For those of you who are sitting there biting your fingernails waiting on news of where former WPS and other US based players are and how they are doing, Here are a couple of articles for you: http://www.ourgamemagazine.com/?p=6031 http://www.ourgamemagazine.com/?p=6046
Former WPS player, England International, ex-Western New York Flash, Gemma Davison is signed with Aresenal Ladies in England's FA WPSL for 2012. http://www.arsenal.com/news/ladies-news/gemma-davison-rejoins-arsenal-ladies