The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is the first division in professional soccer for women in the United States. With the 2015 Women’s World Cup in the books, many stars from the tournament, including the World Cup-winning US national team, will return to their NWSL clubs to see out the 2015 season. Here’s a primer on how you can follow the league and catch games.
THE BASICS
The NWSL was founded in 2012 and is currently in its third season. Emerging from the wake of two failed professional leagues, WUSA and WPS, the NWSL features nine teams this season, with nearly all of them in the same cities as local MLS teams.
In fact, two teams – the Portland Thorns and Houston Dash – share MLS owners and stadiums. Beyond that are several teams with histories preceding the NWSL, from the Chicago Red Stars to the Boston Breakers, Sky Blue FC and the Western New York Flash. Add to that the Seattle Reign, FC Kansas City and Washington Spirit, in markets where soccer is taken very seriously, and chances are pretty good you can find a team to root for.
And if you're looking to find a team with veterans of this most recent World Cup, you're in luck. Many teams in the tournament had at least some NWSL representatives on their squads. The world champion US national team featured 22 players who are currently with an NWSL team -- only Abby Wambach has not played club soccer in the league this season. Altogether, 53 NWSL players went to the World Cup, and 47 saw time on the field at the tournament. Playing for not only the US, Canada and Mexico but also Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Germany, Cameroon, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and England, the NWSL features plenty of star power, in addition to intriguing up-and-coming talent.
Teams are currently at about the midway point of the campaign, part of a 20-game regular season this year. The top four teams in the standings enter the NWSL playoffs. Kansas City are the defending champion, following the Thorns’ title in the league’s inaugural season, and Seattle, like their MLS counterparts, currently hold the Shield for the best regular season record.
WATCH ON TV AND ONLINE
If you aren’t able to watch the games in person (buy tickets here), you can watch nearly all of the games free every week on YouTube. Check out the NWSL YouTube page for archived games, highlights, and video pages for upcoming games.
You can also watch select games on TV again this season, as the league and FOX recently announced a broadcast agreement for the rest of the 2015 season. Six games, including all three playoff games, will air on FOX Sports 1, and an additional four games will be aired on the FOX Sports Go app and on www.FOXsportsGO.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Of course, you can (and should) follow the official @NWSL account, as well as those of the individual teams:
@BostonBreakers
@ChicagoRedStars
@FCKansasCity
@HoustonDash
@ThornsFC
@SeattleReignFC
@SkyBlueFC
@WashingtonSpirit
@WNYFlash
To follow those who cover the NWSL on a regular basis, here's a starter list:
@EqualizerSoccer - Women's soccer website
@JeffKassouf - Runs The Equalizer
@TheDanLauletta - Contributor to The Equalizer
@KeeperNotes - Radio/podcast host based in Houston
@RichardFarley - Fusion
@ljbarks - SB Nation
