The CSA will directly fund the salary of up to 16 players to play in the new North American professional women’s league, which will launch next spring.
The announcement was made today as part of a conference call where officials from the USSF, CSA and Mexican federation confirmed the new league. It represents the third attempt to launch a pro women’s league in the last 15 years.
USSF president Sunil Gulati said he was confident things would be different this time.
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“Trying to create an economic model that is sustainable,” he said. He went on to suggest that each of the eight teams involved would likely have three US internationals, two Canadian internationals and two Mexican internationals. Those players would be paid by their national federation. The rest of the team would be made up of players that would receive a much smaller salary.
“You might see players with part-time jobs in the off-season initially,” Gulati said.
However, it was stressed that the playing and training environment would be fully professional.
It was clear that this would be a North American focused league with the seven internationals on each team making up the backbone of the teams. International players would be welcome, but Gulati suggested that it was important to let the league grow into itself rather than trying to start off bigger, but not sustainable.
“It will be one of the best leagues in the world immediately,” he said, “but we want the hype to develop from the play.”
Initially there will be no Canadian teams in the league. However, CSA president Victor Montagliani said “the door remains open” for a Canadian team in the future.