The thirteen eligible members of the U.S. Olympic women’s team have agreed to play in the new National Soccer Alliance, the first-ever women’s professional soccer league in the United States.
Plans for the league are to be unveiled this weekend at the annual Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association Supershow in Atlanta.
Committed to playing in the league are gold-medal winners Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy, Carin Gabarra, Mia Hamm, Mary Harvey, Kristine Lilly, Shannon MacMillan, Tiffeny Milbrett, Carla Overbeck, Briana Scurry and Tisha Venturini.
“A professional league will provide competitive games and a positive training environment,” said Hamm. “To continue to be gold medalists and world champions, we need that environment and this league will give it to us. The longer we wait, the less we can develop as players.”
“I’m not just excited about this league, I’m ecstatic,” adds Foudy. “To remain dominant in the world, this is a necessity.”
Gardner is Commissioner
Booth Gardner, the former governor of Washington and a retired Deputy U.S. Trade representative, has been named Commissioner of the National Soccer Alliance. Gardner has long been a supporter of women’s soccer and has coached and sponsored numerous state and national championship club teams.
“It’s tremendous to see how women’s soccer has grown in this country,” says Gardner. “The next step is to create the best women’s soccer league in the world.”
Anson Dorrance, the North Carolina head coach and former U.S. national team coach who has been “a catalyst” in the formation of the league, is the chairman of the NSA Advisory Board.
Barnstorming tour this fall
The NSA will begin in the fall of 1997 with a multi-city tour consisting of two or three teams comprised of players from the U.S. national team and other elite American and international stars committed to the league.
“The fall tours make this league unique,” said Venturini. “With those tours, the league is giving us the opportunity to really bring the sport to the fans and to participate in helping soccer in the U.S. grow.”
This fall’s tour will become an annual event. The 1998 tour hopes to feature two league all-star teams and possibly an international soccer power.
“The founders of the NSA understand that the league’s largest support will come from the huge grass-roots community of American soccer,” says Commissioner Gardner. “With that in mind, the fall barnstorming tour is designed to bring the finest players in the United States and some of the top foreign players to new markets and create new fans.”