The National Women’s Soccer League announced Tuesday that it is suspending the Washington Spirit from being involved in league business and that the team’s former coach, Richie Burke, has been fired from the club, after an investigation into allegations of verbal abuse against Burke that widened into an examination of the team’s culture.
The league did not announce the detailed findings of the investigation, which was conducted by an outside firm. But according to two people separately briefed on them, investigators identified multiple violations of the league’s harassment policy, and found that the team’s leaders had created a toxic work environment at the club.