Women's soccer in the United States has developed quite differently from men's soccer. Until the 1970s, organized women's soccer matches in the U.S. existed only on a limited basis. The U.S. is now regarded as one of the top countries in the world for women's soccer, and FIFA ranked its national team #1 in the world after its back-to-back Women's World Cup victory in 2015 and 2019.
The highest women's professional soccer league in the United States is the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which was established in 2012 as a successor to Women's Professional Soccer and was run by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) before becoming independently governed in 2020. The league began with eight teams and reached its current (and largest) membership of 12 teams in 2022, with the Los Angeles-based Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC being the most recent entries in 2022. , the NWSL season runs from March to November. Each team then plays 22 regular-season games, with each team playing all others once each at home and on the road. After the regular season ends, six teams advance to three rounds of playoffs. This schedule may be adjusted in years of the FIFA Women's World Cup. The NWSL Challenge Cup, previously a preseason tournament, now runs concurrently with the regular season. The NWSL is the third attempt at a women's professional league in the U.S. and has been the most resilient, having played for more seasons than its two predecessors combined.
Early history
One of the first known organized women's soccer league in the United States was the Craig League, which consisted of four teams in St. Louis, Missouri, playing 15-game seasons in 1950 and 1951.
Women's soccer in the United States started to gain popularity in the beginning of the 20th century, much later than it appeared in Europe, which had women's leagues in the 1930s. The passage of Title IX legislation in 1972 made gender equality mandatory in education, including collegiate athletics, which led to more organized women's soccer teams and development. Collegiate soccer created more popularity for the game in the 1980s. However, there were few professional opportunities for women in the United States, and the first national women's league, the USL W-League, would not be established until 1995.
National team
The women's national team was formed in 1983, but would not play its first games until 1985. In its first years, it played in little more than friendly tournaments, primarily against European teams, as few competitions for women's national teams yet existed. After the first FIFA Women's World Cup was announced for 1991 and especially on the United States being awarded the 1994 FIFA World Cup increased investment in both the men's and women's national teams by the USSF led to the United States' team rapidly improving and winning the first women's World Cup. The popularity of the team exploded in the aftermath of the US 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup win as a result of penalty kicks in front of a sold-out Rose Bowl. The close win increased the tension, giving the team a more lively reputation as a sport.
Since then, the Americans have remained a force in international women's soccer, having finished third or better in every World Cup, reaching the championship game again in 2011 and winning in 2015 and 2019, as well as appearing in five of the six Olympic gold medal games, winning four. The national team also competes in other tournaments, such as the annual Algarve Cup. The primary source of young players for the national team is NCAA college soccer, which feeds players to the U-20 national team and eventually the full senior team. Because the United States often lacked a professional women's league, interest in the team peaked around major tournaments, and the team historically struggled to maintain interest between tournaments. The United States also faces increasingly competitive European national teams, many of which have well-established women's leagues in their countries from which to draw players.
League system
The success of the women's national team has not always translated into success for women's professional soccer in the United States.
History
Women's soccer was dated back to the 1800s in Europe. Overcoming adversity and change led to where soccer is today for women.