With so many of our women heading off to international leagues, I thought it might be good to have one dedicated thread where we can update one another on how that's going. Men's Soccer America does a good digest for US men playing in foreign leagues, but little information is provided for the women players from that source.
I see this has gotten some looks, but no comments yet. This is what I am thinking - an updated listing of who is playing where (country/league/team) with website links so that is perhaps easier to keep track of activity, highlights etc. I have not had time to do any of the legwork to start a listing today, but will put some effort into it over the next couple of days. Perhaps certain people will want to take on 'monitoring' a particular league or team for the group and post relevant updates, but I am getting ahead of myself.
It is a rather big job. Christen Press /Sweden/ Damallsvenskan /Tyresö Meghan Klingenberg /Sweden/ Damallsvenskan /Tyresö Whitney Engen/Sweden/ Damallsvenskan /Tyresö Ashlyn Harris/Sweden/ Damallsvenskan /Tyresö Ali Krieger/Sweden/ Damallsvenskan /Tyresö Alexandra Riley/Sweden/ Damallsvenskan /LdB Malmö (FIFA nationality New Zeeland) Yael Averbuch/Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Kopparberg Göteborg Camille Levin/Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Kopparberg Göteborg And that is only the top 25% of Damallsvenskan we have 9 more teams in it and 14 in the second tier and I think the average is probably at least one North American/team for those 23. And that just Sweden, although I am pretty sure we have the biggest share of North Americans player outside of North America. I guess I can keep my eyes out for the two top leagues in Sweden, you get the rest of Damallsvenskan and Elitettan in a while.
Yes, thank you, Jan Balk. It is kind of painful. I did find this website, Soccerway Women Soccer http://us.women.soccerway.com/which seems to be a pretty good gateway to collected information, rosters, team website links, etc. Maybe everyone knows about it already? I think I would like to stay with top tier teams, because otherwise it is really over the top.
Web links for the above referenced Damallsvenskan (can we say 'DV'?) teams: http://www.goteborgfc.se/ http://www.itsawomensworld.se/ (Malmö) http://www.tyresoff.se/
In England, I found only Whitney Engen (D) and Amanda DaCosta (M) on a current FA Women's Super League roster - both with Liverpool Ladies: http://www.liverpoolladiesfc.com/index.html
Karen Bardsley (GK) US born & raised, member of the English team, plays for Lincoln Ladies (WSL) Iefoma Dieke (D) US born, member of the Scottish team, plays for Vittsjö GIK of the Swedish Damallsvenskan along with Kendall Fletcher.
In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich http://www.fcbayern-frauenfussball.de/ Gina Lewandowski D Niki Cross D Amber Brooks M Sarah Hagen F Cloppenburg http://www.bvc-kicker.de/index.php?page=289 Libby Stout G (looks like new signing) SC Freiburg http://www.scfreiburg.com/teams/frauen-mädchen/meldungen Jenista Clark D Chioma Igwe D SGS Essen http://sgs-essen.de/ Natalia Mann M Katarina Tarr M Turbine Potsdam http://www.ffc-turbine.de/index02.php Alex Singer D (new team)
The (former) Spirit GM told us in an end-of-season interview to expect a lot of these players to return home to play in the NWSL next year.
DA would be better since it is the two words Dam (Lady) and Allsvenskan (All-swedish, general term for a league covering all fo Sweden and specific when used without any other specifcation for the Swedish men top Soccer league. ). So short it either to DA or DAS (Allsvenskan is after all also made from two words) or possibly as SvFF does to D Sweden/D should be enough, then Sweden/E would be for Elitettan our second tier. The rest of the North Americans in it, a little bit fewer than I expected. Stephanie Labbé /Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Örebro Ifeoma Dieke/Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Vittsjö (FIFA nationality Scotland) Lydia Williams/Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Piteå (FIFA nationality Australia and born there but with an american mother) Katlynn Fraine/Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Mallbacken BlakelyMattern/Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Mallbacken Jessica Shufelt/Sweden/Damallsvenskan/Mallbacken I try to get the ones from Elitettan in place later this week.
For the Swedish ones, yes I expect about half or a bit more than that will. Close to a third of them was recently signed on short term contract as reinforcements for the rest of the season.
And now we hear that Erika Tymrak will also join. http://equalizersoccer.com/2013/08/28/rookie-of-the-year-erika-tymrak-heading-to-fc-bayern/
Matches noted, 8/31-9/6: 8/31: Göteborg v KIF Örebro 9/1: Vittsjö v Malmö Hénin-Beaumont v OL Yzeure Allier v PSG Birmingham City v Liverpool 9/3: Sunnanå v Tyresö
8/31: Göteborg v KIF Örebro Yael Averbuch scored the fourth goal in Göteborg's 4-1 victory over Örebro.
9/1: Vittsjö 0 v Malmö 2: Kendall Fletcher on the field for Vittsjö and Ali Riley for Malmö. Hénin-Beaumont 0 v OL 4 Yzeure Allier 0 v PSG 2 I did not see the goal scorers listed for the French games, yet. Birmingham City 2 v Liverpool 4 (Liverpool hat trick by Nicole Rolser)
Some factoids on this match: 9/3: Sunnanå 0 v Tyresö 8 Press with a hat trick. Harris with the clean sheet. Looks like Krieger played full match.
Matches noted, 9/7 9/7: OL v Juvisy Wolfsburg v. Bayern Munich - I've seen posts this may be streamed on Eurosports, also tv.dfb.de, 7a ET
Here is the link for the replay. Nice quality. No spoiler from me, I am still watching. http://tv.dfb.de/index.php?view=6395
Hagen with a very impressive game (minus actually scoring a goal). Brooks solid and strong with her tackles. Tymrak only with a short stint (obviously needs time to gel). Pretty good start for the "Bayern Mädels" against the treble champs Wolfsburg.
Thanks for posting, Mosan. I agree with your take on the players/game. I know it was debut game for both teams so lots more to come, but I felt Bayern more than held their own.
The Equalizer has a nice top line summary from the weekend matches: http://equalizersoccer.com/2013/09/...k-1-wolfsburg-bayern-munich-tie-europe-recap/
Liverpool, Whitney Engens current team, clinched a CL berth when Arsenal lost three points for using an unregistared player in a game earlier this season. Liverpool and Bristol Academy face off Sept 29 to decide the winner of the WSL. Liverpool wins with either a victory or a draw.