Brazil may have impressed the masses with their 3-0 win over the Jamaican women’s national team on Sunday morning but it was Jamaican 19-year-old goalkeeper Sydney Schneider that stole the imaginations of millions with a performance that boosted her side and gave many the idea that the Caribbean minnows can be dangerous in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“I started when I was 14 or 15,” said Schneider to the Jamaica Observer about her origins in goal. “We were at a tournament and the coach threw me in the goal probably because of my height and I ended up being pretty decent at it.”
Decent is an understatement as the current keeper of the UNC Wilmington Seahawks made four crucial saves, including a penalty stop that made the crowd believe there was a chance for a comeback in the first half. Standing at 5’10, Schneider has the reach to match her reaction time.
Currently a sophomore, Schneider played in all 19 games last year, making her only the second goalkeeper in team history to do such a thing as a freshman.
What is even more impressive is that Schneider could have been a prospect for the US women’s national team having been born in South Brunswick, New Jersey. However, by age 16 she was already playing in Elite Club Nations League and earned a spot on the youth national sides as well.
Her connection to Jamaica comes from her grandparents on her mother’s side. Whether she anticipated a call-up to the United States isn’t know but she did turn down a call-up to the Jamaican U-17 team in 2015 before finally joining the team a year later.
Schneider will look to continue her run of form and hopefully guide Jamaica passed the group stage when the team plays Italy on Friday. Group C, which was once thought to be easy for Brazil and Australia, has turned heads following the shocking 2-1 scoreline between Italy and Australia. Jamaica could possible throw even more chaos into the mix by taking points against Italy on Friday.
Category: News
MLS Commissioner Don Garber Shares League Position on Growing Women’s Game
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber gave his annual State of the League address and was asked specifically if teams in his league are interested in investing in the women’s game ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. In year’s past, Garber has been coy when answering these questions but was far more talkative on Friday, perhaps due to the massive success of the host team Atlanta United FC. His answers didn’t necessarily strike at the heart of any issues but it did leave it in the hands of the clubs themselves.
“This is something we’re leaving to our individual clubs,” said Garber when asked about team investments in the women’s game. “It’s not something we’re looking at engaging at the league level through Mark at league operations on the competitive side or Gary on the commercial side. We made that decision a number of years ago to try to let the women’s league find their own way.”
Since MLS stepped away a number of years ago but several teams have still remained involved in varying levels. The Houston Dash, Portland Thorns, Seattle Reign and Utah Royals all have significant ownership stakes from MLS franchise owners. Even in the lower leagues of the men’s game, teams like North Carolina FC have worked towards bringing successful teams to the United states with the North Carolina Courage making the NWSL Championship last season. Despite the eagerness to engage in the women’s game, Don Garber and MLS seem reluctant.
Part of that may have to do with the United Soccer League. The USL which now controls the professional game below the first division with the USL Championship and USL League One, has shown an interest in potentially running the NWSL. First reported by Bob Williams of Sports Business Insider back in July, the ever-growing men’s league appeared ready to step in and take the reigns from USSF which has done a poor job by the judgement of many in running the only current women’s league in the country. Whether anything more comes of the rumors remains to be seen. However the rapid expansion of USL not just at the division 2 level but at the semi-pro level and their interest in controlling a division one league could find this a interesting proposition.
“We have been encouraging our owners to expand what they could offer to our fans,” said Garber, tactically pointing at the league’s interest without saying too much. “We have a 34 game schedule. 17 non-playoff games on a regular season. There’s no reason, if the market could support it, that we wouldn’t want our teams to have more inventory in those stadiums.
“We also believe that we need to drive the ‘Soccer Nation’ thing. While I am very proud of the fact that Major League Soccer has been a big driver of some of the successes that have gone on in the sport, whether it’s from a fan perspective and the supporter movement, growing the commercial aspect of the game or thinking about technology, social media and the like. I do think that we could use some of our collective wisdom to grow the women’s game.”
Predicting The Pride: Head Coach Edition
It is the lot in life for most head coaches to be let go of the team they are leading. This came to be true for Tom Sermanni, as the Orlando Pride wilted down the stretch losing the final four matches of the season, and were winless in the last six fixtures.
While most fans of the league focused on the NWSL championship between the Portland Thorns and North Carolina Courage, Orlando Pride supporters look to find answers on who the next gaffer of the team may be.
Pro Soccer USA reported early this month the team was already interviewing potential replacements. Looking at who the club may target, I came up with this list of prospects. If you follow the tendencies of the organization, it makes it seem unlikely the team would replace Sermanni with a coach from the college ranks due to his coaching pedigree, and his history as U.S. women’s national team coach.
The club will target a higher profile manager, so in no particular order, these are some possible dream candidates that would be interviewed if I were the general manager for the Orlando Pride.
Steffi Jones, Former German Women’s National Team Head Coach
Steffi Jones rose to prominence through the German Federation, first by being appointed the Director of Women’s and Girls’ Soccer in 2011. She transitioned to the coaching staff of the German women’s national team as an assistant to Silvia Neid on April 2016 then taking over for her when she stepped down September of that year. Jones run of form as manager ended after 22 matches with a poor showing in the SheBelieves Cup back in March of this year finishing with an overall record of 13 wins, 4 losses, and 5 draws.
The knock against her, like former Houston Dash coach Vera Pauw coming into the 2018 season, is a lack of experience coaching at the club level. Additionally, she would also have to get up to speed quickly on the inner workings of the league she would be unfamiliar with. However, perhaps Jones could also find the similar success Pauw found in Houston on her lone season, it would take the veterans on the Pride squad buying into a potential new system going into a World Cup year.
Chance of Hire: Another time might work.
Pia Sundhage, Sweden U-17, U-15 Women’s National Team Head Coach
The name of Pia Sundhage should be very familiar with women’s soccer fans either with her tenure as coach for the United States women’s national team from 2007 until 2012 winning Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012. She departed to become the coach for the women’s team in her home country of Sweden. During her time there, she is best known for leading Sweden to a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics where Sundhage’s team was able to knockout the U.S. team in penalty shoot-out. The defensive style of play was called out by Hope Solo after the match, and things got weird. Sweden was able to take out the Brazilian team next in the same manner. Interestingly, against Sweden in the penalty shoot-out both Alex Morgan and Marta missed their kick.
After she stepped down as manager of the senior team in 2017, she’s been coaching the Swedish U-15 and U-17 teams. In addition to coaching, Pia performs public speaking, and seems to be settled in her life. However, last year there was a report in the now defunct Excelle Sports stating Sundhage was courted to come back to the United States to coach in the NWSL. Now this didn’t happen, but could the Orlando front office entice her to the Sunshine State?
Chance of Hire: More hope and a prayer than wait and see.
Emma Hayes, Chelsea F.C. Women Head Coach
Emma Hayes has been in charge of Chelsea F.C. Women since 2012 where she lead her club to two Women’s Super League titles, and two Women’s FA Cups achieving a club double each time in 2015 then in the 2017-18 season. Prior to her time with Chelsea, Hayes lived in the States where she coached the Chicago Red Stars for two season in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), the league at the time which preceded the NWSL, in 2009 and 2010. Prior to Phil Neville’s appointment as manager of English women’s national team, she had been a name rumored to be high on the Football Association wish list.
Hayes established herself as a highly desirable coach with her stellar reputation, and proven results has also allowed her to set down firm roots in London. She operates a business outside of soccer, and also had a child. Chelsea has been accommodating to her needs, and schedule. She would make an excellent coach to any NWSL side; however, with her life so well formed in England, is there much of a draw to coach in America?
Chance of Hire: Apologies, but I can’t make it.
Emily Lima, Santos F.C Head Coach
Emily Lima, the current head coach for Brazilian side Santos F.C., made history when she was the first female appointed coach of the Brazilian women’s national team in 2016 taking over for Vadão; however, her 7-5-1 record lead to her dismissal less than a year from her appointment. When Lima was let go, several of the players retired from the national team, and protested the level of support from the Brazilian soccer federation. Coach Lima afterward joined Santos F.C. where just after one year she lead the team to the Paulista Feminino championship and a quarterfinal appearance in the women’s Brazilian Championship.
For anyone familiar with the Orlando Pride front office, Coach Lima checks a lot of boxes. She would be familiar with several of the players on the roster, her recent success at the club level is also appealing, and the style of play she would bring to the City Beautiful could be the answer to the poor performance from the roster in 2018. Could a limited English speaking ability hamper what could be a promising prospect?
Chance of Hire: Could the stars align?
Lisa Cole, Washington Spirit Academy Coach & pro team scout
Lisa Cole had an eventful 2018 NWSL season. She started by joining the coaching staff of Vera Pauw at the Houston Dash from the Papua New Guinea U-20 Women’s National Team in January, but on April 26, Cole would tweet she was no longer a part of the Dash coaching staff. A month later, the Washington Spirit would announce her in a dual role as a coach for their academy; as well as, a pro team scout.
Being a scout for the Spirit, Coach Cole is knowledgeable on both the college game and within the league on the level of talent with players. She would also have some familiarity with players on the Pride roster; as well as, the opponents the team would face in the upcoming season. The question would be if Lisa Cole is a name the front office and fanbase would get excited over. The club tends to like to make a big splashy acquisitions, so not sure if Cole would be on the club’s radar, and if she is if they would prefer a flashier name.
Chance of Hire: Never tell me the odds.
The Orlando Pride have yet to announce who will lead the team going into the 2019 season, but the fan base is certainly hoping to return to the playoffs after the dismal tailspin resulted in the seventh place finish in the standings. Here’s hoping the club provides an opportunity to a highly-qualified coach with experience in the women’s game, expertise handling big name players; as well as, player development. We’ll be knowing something shortly if the hints prove to be right.
While the NWSL is on Hurricane Watch, Rory Dames says what we’re all thinking
In the latest edition of “The NWSL needs a Commissioner”, we have a hurricane set to hit North Carolina as early as today. Hurricane Florence will hit the Tar Heel state just three days before the North Carolina Courage host the Chicago Red Stars for Sunday’s NWSL semifinal match.
Late Thursday afternoon–roughly ten minutes after a scheduled conference call with players and coaches from Sunday’s competing teams–the league released a statement regarding forthcoming hurricane:
“The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), in conjunction with the North Carolina Courage and Chicago Red Stars, continue to monitor the changing forecast of Hurricane Florence as it relates to the potential of the NC Courage’s NWSL Semifinal home playoff game being played as scheduled on Sunday, Sept. 16, at 3 p.m. ET.
The league and teams continue to explore all options and scenarios that would ultimately permit the match to be played in front of the NC Courage home fans.
The safety of the fans, players and staff, as well as the ability for the Red Stars to travel to North Carolina safely, remains the top priority for NWSL. An announcement as to the status of the match will be made as soon as reasonably possible.
However, for Chicago head coach Rory Dames, we’re already beyond “as soon as reasonably possible”. The league, in his mind, should have made the decision two days ago. “The hardest thing when preparing the team for a game is you always kind of work backwards from the game,” said Dames on a media call Wednesday afternoon.
He was insistent the decision should consider not solely Sunday’s tip-off time (3:00 p.m ET), but also the travel his team will have to endure, presumably through inclement weather, to get to North Carolina.
“I understand the wanting the wait as long as possible to see the next phase projections and all those things but it doesn’t change the fact that a lot of rain–best case scenario–a lot of rain is going to fall. The weather conditions are going to be bad and we still have no idea what we’re doing. So it just kind of leaves an anxious uncomfortable feeling on everybody involved.”
Earlier today, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper feared time was running low for residents to relocate from coastal areas, according to reports by NPR. The rain accompanying the hurricane is expected to be more than any other hurricane to hit the area and is projected to last through Monday.
Match delays or postponements are not something new to NWSL players. This year alone, teams have played through rain storms and smoke from wildfires. North Carolina defender Abby Erceg is content to place her faith in the the league, “I mean there’s not a lot we can do about it. We’ve had a lot of delays with weather delays and obviously with the Orlando game, we were delayed there as we. so you kinda just have to take it in hand. The decisions that the league make at the end of the day or what’s going to be best for the players.”
Chicago striker and two-time golden boot winner Sam Kerr felt more or less the same, but added, “I think this one is a little bit different. This one is a little bit more dangerous.” She noted when the smoke threatened a game cancellation in Seattle, the players felt they could play and wanted to play. Kerr and her head coach don’t believe the numerous circumstances and possible scenarios surrounding Hurricane Florence are the same.
Courage head coach Paul Riley offered a few potential alternatives to Sahlen Stadium if need be, “We’ll play in the local parking lot … we’re playing anywhere and you know obviously at this point it’s more about the safety of everybody That’s the most important part.” While Riley alluded to being comfortable changing the date of the match, it was unclear if he would be open to relocating to Chicago, or even Portland and giving up home field advantage.
Though, Dames is not calling for the match to be moved to Chicago, he just wants it moved! “It’s just an uncomfortable situation. And when you see all these other events getting canceled and college football games getting canceled and all the youth soccer games from the [North Carolina] triangle area are getting canceled. It’s kind of a head-scratcher, what the thought processes and what common sense is and is not,” added Dames.
“I’m not going to mandate somebody step on a plane and fly into something that they are not comfortable with or they fear for their safety,” Dames told the media Wednesday afternoon. ” Each person has got to make their own decision … once that decision is made or once we’re told what’s happening then we’ll have another talk amongst the group and people can make the decisions that they think are best for them.”
Many believe the North Carolina Courage should enjoy the home field advantage they earned as shield winners, but we might be beyond that. If the storm makes the pitch unsafe or causes an additional burden of travel for Chicago, the NWSL is jeopardizing everything from attendance and sales, to the health and safety of its players and staff.
Dames believes the best solution is to move the game to Portland. It seems the sensible plan to offer safety without any particular advantage to one team over another. Neither team would have home-field advantage, both must factor in travel, and to boot, the winner is already in Portland–the predetermined location of the 2018 NWSL Final. Furthermore, if any fanbase can muster up a crowd last minute, my money is on the Rose City Riveters.
As of now, no decision has been made. Backline Soccer will update this story as more information is available.
Euro Roundup: Casey Stoney Retires, International Previews, and More
Welcome to the third edition of the Euro Roundup. There’s a few different points in this week’s edition, with international tournaments coming up, and, of course, the top leagues being back in action after the international and winter break.
Press Play
Have you wanted to look behind the scenes and see what life is like for some of the pros in women’s football? Now you can, thanks to UEFA. In 2017, UEFA launched the #WePlayStrong campaign at the Champions League final in order to change perceptions of the game, and to encourage girls who may be interested in playing football. Anyone can get involved in spreading the word and taking part, from pros to fans.
They have continued this with a YouTube series called Press Play. This is where you see the lives of four European players—Eunice Beckmann (FC Basel), Lisa Evans (Arsenal and Scotland), Sarah Zadrazil (Turbine Potsdam and Austria) and Laura Feiersinger (SC Sand and Austria)—as they vlog it. There are already five episodes and it is uploaded every Thursday, so go and give it a watch.
SheBelieves, Algarve and Cyprus
It doesn’t seem that long since there was international action happening, but we are soon approaching another break—only this time, some silverware is up for grabs. First up is both the Cyprus Cup and the Algarve Cup. These tournaments both start at the same time—February 28—with a fair amount of European interest.
In the Cyprus Cup, the European teams involved are: Finland, Wales, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Hungary. Belgium, Austria, Finland, Switzerland and Wales have announced their squads, with other teams still yet to announce. There are some notable call-ups here. For Austria, Simona Koren, who plays for Sunderland, got called up and could make her international debut. Three uncapped players have been called up by Wales: Ellie Lake (Swansea City), Gwen Davies (Cyncoed) and Elise Hughes (Everton) have all been named in the squad.
In the Algarve Cup, seven out of the 12 teams are European. The Netherlands, the European champions, are involved, as well as runners-up Denmark, plus Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Russia and Portugal. The Netherlands and Russia are yet to announce their squads for the tournament.
Of course, concurrent with these two tournaments, we also have the SheBelieves Cup, a round-robin tournament between the USA, France, Germany, and England. 2017 has been an interesting year for all three of the European teams. They all made it out of the group stage in the Euro, with the Lionesses faring the best as they won all three games. France made it difficult for themselves, just getting through after drawing with Austria and Switzerland. Germany, who had won the last six European Championships, were knocked out by Denmark, and England eliminated France in the quarterfinals. England were of course knocked out by the eventual champions, the Netherlands.
The USA is the only side that has yet to announce their final roster.
League and cup action
There’s been a fair amount of action in European football this month, with a fair few top leagues in action. In France, Lyon are still yet to drop as they have 15 wins—the most recent win being against Bordeaux, with a comfortable 4-0 scoreline. They’ve been on fine goalscoring form in the Coupe de France, too, with 41 goals in three—yes, three—matches. Their opponents have been teams lower in the standings, and Lyon have shown the power and talent they have in their squad. Their next opponent, Marseille, is slighter higher in the league than previous opponents, but it looks like Lyon will get through yet again.
In Germany, the league came back after a winter break on February 4. It’s fairly close in the league, with three points between first-place Wolfsburg and second-place Bayern Munich, and just four points separating the third- through fifth-place teams (Freiburg, Turbine Potsdam, and Frankfurt, respectively). Both Bayern and Wolfsburg had close matches recently. Munich beat SGS Essen 2-1. Essen took the lead 23 minutes in, and the winner came in the 89th minute. Wolfsburg beat Hoffenheim 1-0 with the only goal of the game at the 15th minute scored by Pernille Harder.
It’s been a mixture of cup and league games in the WSL. This month saw all WSL teams enter the FA Cup—the knockout tournament where all English teams, down to the county leagues, can enter to try and get to the final at Wembley. Cardiff City, from the WPL South, produced a shock in the 4th Round when they beat WSL2 side Oxford United on penalties. Cardiff are in the league below Oxford. The next round saw Cardiff knocked out by fellow WPL South side Charlton Athletic to see Charlton become the remaining WPL side left in. All other ties went pretty much as expected but Millwall came so close to producing a shock in terms of league position. Millwall are flying in WSL2 and managed to only lose 1-0 to Arsenal, in a game that saw Kim Little’s long-awaited return from injury.
In the league, however, Chelsea and Manchester City are pulling away from the rest in their quest for the title. They faced each other on February 1, a meeting that ended in a draw, but the next match, on February 24, is likely to be different. Chelsea can’t afford to draw, as they are two points behind City and only one goal behind in goal difference. A win for them would see them just edge out in front. City, meanwhile, could afford to draw, but a win would increase their lead.
Casey Stoney retires
February 18, 2017 was Kelly Smith’s farewell game. A year on from that, another England legend announced her retirement. Casey Stoney has announced her retirement from both league and international football and she will be part of the backroom team with the Lionesses.
Stoney started her career at Chelsea at age 12, and later moved on to Arsenal. She played with Arsenal from 1999-2002, before going to Charlton Athletic—a team that was disbanded in 2007 due to the relegation of the men’s team, which Stoney spoke out about (Charlton have since started up again, and are currently second in the WPL South). She then made her return to Chelsea, before moving on to Lincoln; she didn’t follow the team when they moved to Nottingham and became Notts County, instead going back to Arsenal in 2014. Finally, she landed in Liverpool, where she’s been since 2016.
Over her career, she won the WPL National Division twice, FA Cup four times and the WPL Cup four times.
As for her international career, she made her debut in 2000 against France, although she missed out on major tournament appearances until the World Cup in 2007, where she played every minute of every match. She was one of the 17 female players who were part of history in 2009 when the FA introduced central contracts. She became England captain in 2012 when Faye White retired from international football. In that year she also captained Team GB at the Olympics in London, where the team advanced to the quarterfinals.
In 2015, Stoney again made history when the Lionesses had their best-ever finish in the World Cup. They battled on after a loss to France in the opening match to go on and finally beat Germany. They finished third and claimed the bronze medal after a heartbreaking loss to Japan in the semifinals.
Stoney will play her final game February 21, when Liverpool take on Sunderland at home in the league. She has inspired so many players on the pitch, including many of pros that now ply their trade in the WSL. She has been a leader and a true Lionesses legend, and she will continue to inspire off of it and maybe inspire the Lionesses to future international glory. All that is left to say is, thank you, Casey.
The Schedule Has Landed: NWSL Releases Schedule for 2018
The NWSL has dropped the hottest release of 2018, the schedule.
The NWSL has given us the full schedule as well as the details on the NWSL Game of the Week teams. Both Jenn Hildreth and Aly Wagner will be back to call all 20 of the NWSL Game of the Week games. They will still be on Lifetime and the pregame still starts at 3:30 p.m. ET, 3:50 p.m. ET kickoff time, but having Hildreth and Wagner takes some sting out of the less than ideal start time. Dalen Cuff will be back to host the 20 minute pregame show.
The NWSL is once again trying out using the go90 app for US based fans. Fans from outside the US, or fans inside of it with a VPN, can watch via the NWSL app and NWSLsoccer.com.
The NWSL Game of the Week
Taking a look at the games that Lifetime and the NWSL have picked our for the NWSL Game of the Week, we note a few things.
The new Utah Royals will be hosting five games, a league high. The Portland Thorns, Orlando Pride and the Washington Spirit will each host three times, while the Chicago Red Stars and the North Carolina Courage each host twice. The Houston Dash and Sky Blue FC each host once. The Seattle Reign will not host at all.
While only hosting two of the NWSL Game of the Week games at home, the Chicago Red Stars will feature in six of the games as the away side. The Orlando Pride are the away side five times, three times for the Seattle Reign, twice each for the North Carolina Courage and the Portland Thorns FC, and only once for the Utah Royals FC and the Houston Dash. Sky Blue will not be the away team on any of the NWSL Game of the Week games.
NWSL Game of the Week Schedule
[table id=3 /]
The Full Schedule
Moving on to take a look at the full 108 game NWSL schedule there are a few things to note here too.
Out of the 108 total games, 74 are played after 7 p.m. ET. Many of the Utah, Seattle, Portland home games are played in the 9 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET time frame to keep the effects of the heat down.
31 of the games will be held during the week, Wednesday the most popular with 20, 10 games will be on Fridays while a single game is held on a Tuesday.
Every team will be playing a home and an away match against each team. They will also have a second home game against four teams plus go on the road for four matches to make up the 24 game schedule.
Chicago will be playing their second home matches against: The Houston Dash, the Orlando Pride, the Portland Thorns and Sky Blue FC.
Houston will be playing their second home matches against: the North Carolina Courage, the Portland Thorns, The Utah Royals FC and The Washington Spirit.
North Carolina will be playing their second home matches against: the Chicago Red Stars, the Portland Thorns, The Utah Royals FC and The Washington Spirit.
Orlando will be playing their second home matches against: the Houston Dash, the North Carolina Courage, the Seattle Reign and Sky Blue FC.
Portland will be playing their second home matches against: the Orlando Pride, the Seattle Reign, Sky Blue FC and the Utah Royals.
Seattle will be playing their second home matches against: the Chicago Red Stars, the Houston Dash, the North Carolina Courage and the Washington Spirit.
Sky Blue will be playing their second home matches against: the Houston Dash, the North Carolina Courage, the Seattle Reign and the Utah Royals.
Utah will be playing their second home matches against: the Chicago Red Stars, the Orlando Pride, the Seattle Reign FC and the Washington Spirit.
Washington will be playing their second home matches against: the Chicago Red Stars, the Orlando Pride, the Portland Thorns and Sky Blue FC.
The match ups for the last weekend? No Washington Spirit the final weekend because of the odd number of teams.
Friday, September 7, 2018 @ 10:30 PM – Portland Thorns FC vs Seattle Reign FC @ Providence Park
Saturday, September 8, 2018 @ 12:00 PM Sky Blue FC vs Orlando Pride @ Yurcak Field
Saturday, September 8, 2018 @ 3:30 PM – Utah Royals FC vs Chicago Red Stars @ Rio Tinto Stadium
Saturday, September 8, 2018 @ 7:00 PM – North Carolina Courage vs Houston Dash @ Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park
The Full NWSL Schedule
[table id=2 /]
The NWSL Schedule Announcement Spoiled by the NWSL
The NWSL has dropped the hottest release of 2018, the schedule.
As first found by Steven Goff, the NWSL site updated and now lists dates and times for all the games.
Below you will find the full schedule as presented on NWSLSoccer.com.
[table id=5 /]
Utah Royals Announce Record-Breaking Jersey Sponsorship
As part of their jersey unveiling for the 2018 NWSL season, the Utah Royals announced a sponsorship deal with utility company Conservice. The deal is reportedly around two million dollars for a three-year deal, which would make it the biggest jersey sponsorship deal for a women’s soccer club in US history.
As recently as 2012, Real Salt Lake were in last place for MLS sponsorship deals, making just one million per year on a multi-year jersey deal with XanGo. For their new women’s team to approach that number a mere six years is a great sign, reflecting growing interest in the NWSL as well as the increasingly ambitious business that Dell Loy Hansen is running.
Many women’s teams who are affiliated with men’s clubs utilize their parent club’s existing sponsors when searching for jersey sponsors. The City Football Groups were already partners with Hays before putting their name on Manchester City Women’s kits. Providence Health already had a relationship with the Portland Timbers and chose to expand it into a jersey deal for the Portland Thorns. Deals like those offer stability, but not an open market, which may drive the price down.
Conservice, by contrast, is brand new to the club. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Dell Loy Hansen has an existing relationship with Conservice via his real estate holdings, but Conservice has no previous dealings with Real Salt Lake. The high price tag suggests that there was a healthy market driven by the desire to make headlines as well to secure opportunities for involvement with RSL.
With this news coming as it does so soon after the folding of the Boston Breakers, it’s hard to avoid making comparisons. The investment is positive news for a league that will be keen to assure observers of its long-term growth potential, but it’s difficult to imagine this deal being struck with an independent NWSL club. Microsoft’s deal with the Seattle Reign two years ago was accompanied by a broader adoption by the club of Microsoft’s analytics system, and seems a proof-of-concept deal close to home as much as an investment. Headline-making numbers like this deal will improve the overall ability of teams to get sponsors, but independent clubs will still be operating at a disadvantage.
Hopefully this investment will encourage other clubs to beat the deal and make the numbers public: there’s currently no other information on the what the numbers for the jersey sponsorship deals from other NWSL clubs are.
Long Traded To Seattle, Stott and Johnson To Sky Blue, Foord to Portland
A three-team trade has shuffled several players around the National Women’s Soccer League.
Sky Blue FC acquired the rights to New Zealand Women’s National Team defender Rebekah Stott and Mexico Women’s National Team forward Katie Johnson from Seattle Reign FC in exchange for the rights to Australian international Caitlin Foord.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Rebekah and Katie to Sky Blue FC,” said Tony Novo, Sky Blue FC President & General Manager. “Both have performed on the world stage and have been exceptionally productive at every level in which they have played. They are two young players with high-rising trajectories, and we cannot wait to have them on the field for our club.”
Seattle Reign FC traded the rights to Foord and a 2020 NWSL draft pick to Portland Thorns FC in exchange for U.S. Women’s National Team midfielder Allie Long.
“We are very appreciative of Allie’s contributions to the club over the past five seasons,” said Thorns FC general manager and president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson. “She accomplished a great deal during her time in Portland, winning two NWSL Championships and achieving her goal of making it to the national team, and we wish her all the best.”
Ellis Names Roster For January Camp, Denmark Friendly
Jill Ellis has named 26 players to the U.S. Women’s National Team roster for the annual January camp and the upcoming friendly versus Denmark.
Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC) and Sam Mewis (NC Courage) will not be in camp due to injury.
Rose Lavelle (Boston Breakers) is also not on the roster due to injury but will be in camp for rehab and light training.
U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (4): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
DEFENDERS (9): Abby Dahlkemper (NC Courage), Tierna Davidson (Stanford), Sofia Huerta (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Kelley O’Hara (Utah Royals FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (Utah Royals FC), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars), Taylor Smith (NC Courage), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Morgan Brian (Olympique Lyon), Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Andi Sullivan (Stanford)
FORWARDS (7): Crystal Dunn (Chelsea FC), Savannah McCaskill (South Carolina), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC), Lynn Williams (NC Courage)
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