WPS Details Player Allocation

New Women's League Announces Timeline of Player Allocation

July 8, 2008

The new women’s pro soccer league set to launch in April 2009 – Women’s Professional Soccer – will draw its players from the US. National Team, international and domestic drafts and local team tryouts, the league announced Tuesday.

WPS will begin securing domestic talent in mid-September with the allocation of U.S. National Team player pool members after the Summer Olympics, followed immediately by an international draft.

In October, the new league, formerly called the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), will conduct a general draft for both domestic and international players, followed by east and west coast combines in December and a post-combine draft in January.

WPS Teams for the inaugural 2009 season, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, St. Louis, and Washington D.C., will then complete their rosters via local tryouts.

“The player allocation and draft process has been the top priority for the League office and Team owners since first announcing the League’s formation last September,” said WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci in a league statement. “WPS will be the ultimate showcase for the world’s best female soccer talent and, for those athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics, the next stage in their careers. As a North American league, our first priority is the U.S. Women’s National Team players, whose skills will be complemented by the world’s top players, as well as the domestic players who have the talent and dedication required of professional athletes.”

The marketing push of WPS is already in full force, as evidenced by women’s national team forward Abby Wambach’s appearance at the Youth Soccer Region I Championships in Maine last month.

“This is an exciting time for the National Team players as the Olympics are right around the corner and then a few weeks after we come home from Beijing we’ll be allocated to WPS teams,” said U.S. National Team star Abby Wambach. “I’m eager to learn which team I’ll be playing for and to connect with the fans in that market.”

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