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| Stadium | White Stadium Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| League | NWSL |
| 2026 | Inaugural Season |
NWSL Boston is a planned soccer club located in Boston, Massachusetts. The club is planning to debut in the National Women's Soccer League in 2026.
| | |
| Stadium | White Stadium Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| League | NWSL |
| 2026 | Inaugural Season |
NWSL Boston is a planned soccer club located in Boston, Massachusetts. The club is planning to debut in the National Women's Soccer League in 2026.
The original Boston Breakers was a professional women's soccer team that played in the WUSA from 2001 to 2003.[ citation needed ] In the final season in the WUSA, the Breakers had their best record (10–4–7) and placed first in the regular season before losing to the Washington Freedom in the semi-finals. [1]
In 2007, a new league called Women's Professional Soccer was announced. [2] The second iteration of the Boston Breakers played in Allston, Massachusetts from 2009 to 2011. [1] The league folded in early 2012, and that year, the Breakers competed in the Women's Premier Soccer League Elite. [3] After one season, the club moved to the National Women's Soccer League, where they played from 2013 to 2017. On January 25, 2018, the club folded, and did not participate in the NWSL that season. [4] Reports generally blamed lack of marketing and resultant limited fanbase for the club's demise. [5] [6]
On September 19, 2023, an NWSL expansion team was announced, with a planned start date in 2026. [7] The ownership group of the winning bid, Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP), is an all-female ownership group led by Jennifer Epstein, Stephanie Connaughton, Ami Danoff, and Anna Palmer. [7] The team will play home matches in White Stadium in Franklin Park, Boston. [7]
The city of Boston planned to commit up to $50 million towards the stadium's renovation, and BUSP pledged $30 million. [8] The stadium is to be the first venue in the country which will be home to a major league sports franchise and the athletic program of a public high school. [8] The stadium will be shared with Boston Public School track and soccer. [8] American football matches will be prohibited at the field during the professional soccer season, although high school football will be played on the field for playoffs and Thanksgiving games. [8]
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) governs most levels of soccer in the United States, including the national teams, professional leagues, and amateur leagues, being the highest soccer authority in the country. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) governs most colleges; secondary schools are governed by state-level associations, with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) setting the rules at that level. The match regulations are generally the same between the three governing bodies although there are many subtle differences.
Alyson Kay Wagner is an American sports broadcaster and retired soccer midfielder who last played for Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer and the United States women's national soccer team. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup bronze medalist. She has worked for Fox Sports, CBS Sports and ESPN as a soccer analyst. She is the first woman to call a FIFA Men's World Cup game on English-language U.S. television, serving as the analyst alongside Derek Rae for Iran's 1–0 win against Morocco on June 15, 2018. She is also an owner of USL Championship club Queensboro FC and a founding owner and co-chair of the National Women's Soccer League expansion club awarded to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2023.
Boston, Massachusetts, is home to several major professional sports franchises. They include the Red Sox (baseball), the Celtics, and the Bruins. The New England Patriots and the New England Revolution play at Gillette Stadium in nearby Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 season, with continued plans for future expansion. The WPS was the highest level in the United States soccer pyramid for the women's game.
The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) since 2013.
NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013, Sky Blue FC also played in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) from 2009 to 2011.
The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's United Soccer Association, as the Boston area's professional women's soccer team. Boston would eventually get a new expansion team in 2023 that would begin play in 2026.
Soccer in the United States has a varied history. Research indicates that the modern game entered the country during the 1850s with New Orleans' Scottish, Irish, German and Italian immigrants. Some of the first organized games, using modern English rules, were played in that city.
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 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. Headquartered in New York City, it is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federation.
Seattle Reign FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, OL Groupe, the parent company of French clubs Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, became the team's majority owner and the team played as OL Reign from 2020 to 2023. Laura Harvey is the team's head coach; she led the team to two consecutive NWSL Shield wins in 2014 and 2015 and a third in 2022.
The 2013 season was FC Kansas City's first season of existence, in which they competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of women's soccer in the United States.
The expansion of the National Women's Soccer League began with the league's sophomore season in 2014, when the league expanded to a ninth team in Houston, and is an ongoing process that currently has seen five expansions, three direct or indirect relocations, and one contraction. The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) was established as the top level of professional women's soccer in the United States in 2013 in the wake of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association and Women's Professional Soccer.
Rosemary Kathleen Lavelle is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), and for the United States national team.
The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York Flash. The Courage is affiliated with the men's team North Carolina FC of the United Soccer League and plays its home games at the WakeMed Soccer Park.
The 2017 Boston Breakers season was the club's twelfth season overall, eighth consecutive season, and fifth season as a member of the National Women's Soccer League. They finished 9th in the 10 team league with a record of 4 wins, 13 losses, and 7 draws.
Kansas City Current is an American professional women's soccer team playing in Kansas City, Kansas. It was founded as an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2021.
San Diego Wave Fútbol Club, commonly referred to as Wave FC, or simply the Wave, is an American professional women's soccer team based in San Diego, California. The club competes in the National Women's Soccer League as an expansion team that began play in the 2022 season. Wave FC is owned by American businessman Ron Burkle.
Cleveland Pro Soccer is the ownership group based in Cleveland, Ohio, of an independent men's professional soccer team that plans to participate in MLS NEXT Pro. The group is also presenting a bid in 2024 for the 16th expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
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