WPS Teams Will Each Take Three U.S. Players

The seven inaugural teams in Women’s Professional Soccer, set to launch next year, will next month each be allocated three U.S. national team players, according to WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci.
 
“It is not a draft,” writes Steven Goff at his Washington Post soccer blog, “rather the players have selected their preferences and the league investors, general managers and coaches will determine who goes where. Players’ hometowns, college alma maters, former pro affiliations and marketing and parity considerations will also influence the decisions.” Antonucci said that “at the end of the day, it’s the GMs sitting in a room hammering it out.”
 
After the Olympics, there will be a four- to six-round draft for other U.S. and some international players, then a supplemental draft later in the year. Brazilian superstar Marta will be out of contract July 1, after which WPS will move “to see where Marta is in her interest,” said Antonucci. “But what we are hearing is that she is going to be interested in talking to us.”