Around the world, women’s club soccer has had trouble over the years attracting an audience. While the issue in many countries is a lack of investment in the women’s game, even the United States, the foremost advocate of women’s soccer, has struggled to keep professional women’s leagues afloat. It looked as though the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) was finally going to break that barrier but a new, unforeseen problem has arisen.
In 2000, the U.S. Soccer Federation launched a fully professional women’s soccer league called the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA). Featuring eight teams located on the east and west coasts of the country, the league lasted nearly three seasons.