Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra is an American retired professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team from 1987–2004. Hamm was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom from 2001–2003. She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team and helped the team win four consecutive NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship titles.
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. With headquarters in Chicago, the FIFA member governs U.S. amateur and professional soccer, including the men's, women's, youth, beach soccer, futsal, and Paralympic national teams. U.S. Soccer sanctions referees and soccer tournaments for most soccer leagues in the United States. The U.S. Soccer Federation also administers and operates the U.S. Open Cup, which was first held in 1914.
Michelle Anne Akers is a former American soccer player, who starred in the historic 1991 and 1999 Women's World Cup victories by the United States. She won the Golden Boot as the top scorer in the 1991 tournament.
Mary Abigail Wambach is an American retired soccer player, coach, two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women's World Cup champion. A six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Wambach was a regular on the U.S. women's national soccer team from 2003 to 2015, earning her first cap in 2001. As a forward, she currently stands as the highest all-time goal scorer for the national team and holds the world record for international goals for both female and male soccer players with 184 goals. Wambach was awarded the 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year, becoming the first American woman to win the award in ten years. She was included on the 2015 Time 100 list as one of the most influential people in the world.
The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning three Women's World Cup titles, four Olympic women's gold medals, eight CONCACAF Gold Cups, and ten Algarve Cups. It medaled in every single World Cup and Olympic tournament in women's soccer history from 1991 to 2015, before being knocked out in the quarterfinal of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The team is governed by United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF.
The Canadian Soccer Association is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides. Within Canada, it oversees national professional and amateur club championships.
College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in South Korea and Canada. The institutions typically hire full-time professional coaches and staff, although the student athletes are strictly amateur and are not paid. College soccer in the United States is sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the sports regulatory body for major universities, and by the governing bodies for smaller universities and colleges. This sport is played on a rectangular field of the dimensions of about 64m (meters) - 70m sideline to sideline (width), and 100m - 110m goal line to goal line (length).
The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of promotion and relegation typical in soccer elsewhere. Instead, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) defines professional leagues in three levels, called divisions, with all other leagues sanctioned by USSF not having an official designated level or division.
The Canada women's national soccer team is overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association and competes in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).
Heather Ann O'Reilly Werry is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for the North Carolina Courage. She played for the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT), with whom she won three Olympic gold medals and a FIFA Women's World Cup. She signed with the Arsenal Ladies Football Club on January 18, 2017. O'Reilly previously played for FC Kansas City of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), Boston Breakers (NWSL), Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Shannon Ann MacMillan is an American retired soccer player, coach, FIFA Women's World Cup champion, Olympic gold and silver medalist. Named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year for 2002, MacMillan played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1994–2006 and was part of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup-winning team. She won gold with the team at the 1996 Summer Olympics and silver at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
The United States U-23 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the full Women's National Team. The team's most recent major tournament was the 2008 Nordic Cup, in which the United States team won 3–0 over Germany. The team competes in a variety of competitions, including the annual Nordic Cup, which is the top competition for this age group.
Carli Anne Lloyd is an American soccer player. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time FIFA Player of the Year, and a three-time Olympian. She currently plays for Sky Blue FC in the National Women's Soccer League and the United States women's national soccer team as a midfielder. Lloyd scored the gold medal-winning goals in the finals of the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She captained the United States to victory in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup as well as appeared in the 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Anthony D. DiCicco Jr. was a U.S. soccer player and coach and TV commentator. He is best known as the coach of the United States women's national soccer team from 1994 to 1999, during which time the team won an Olympic gold medal in 1996 and the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. He was also coach of the USA team that won the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 season, with continued plans for future expansion. The WPS was the highest level in the United States soccer pyramid for the women's game.
Alexandra Patricia Morgan Carrasco is an American soccer player, Olympic gold medalist, and FIFA Women's World Cup champion. She is a forward for Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. Since 2018, she co-captains her national team alongside Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe.
The history of soccer in the United States has numerous different roots. The modern-day game was thought to have been brought to the United States through Ellis Island in the 1870s. However, recent research has shown that the modern game entered America in the 1850s through New Orleans when Scottish, Irish, German and Italian immigrants brought the game with them. It was in New Orleans that some of the first organized games that used modern English rules were held.
Women's soccer in the United States has developed quite differently from men's soccer. Until the 1970s, organized women's soccer matches in the United States existed only on a limited basis. The United States is now regarded as one of the top countries in the world for women's soccer, and FIFA ranked its national team No. 1 in the world after its championship victory in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league owned by the teams, and under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federation. At the top of the United States league system, it represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The NWSL was established in 2012 as a successor to Women's Professional Soccer (2007–2012), which was itself the successor to Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003). The league began play in 2013 with eight teams, four of which were former members of Women's Professional Soccer. With the addition of three expansion teams in Houston (2014), Orlando (2016), Salt Lake City (2018) and the loss of FC Kansas City and Boston Breakers, it now has nine teams throughout the United States.
United Women's Soccer is a second-division pro-am women's soccer league in the United States. The league was founded in 2015 as a response to the dual problems of disorganization in the WPSL and of the folding of the USL W-League. The league began play in May 2016 with eleven teams in two conferences. The league currently has 23 teams in 4 conferences.
