Women's Soccer Still Fighting To Exist

The first United States women’s national Soccer squad was established in 1985]. Before the first national squad was established, women’s soccer made gradual progress with the establishment of Title IX in 1972; Title IX mandated gender equality in education programs]. Women would begin playing soccer at a recreational level which led to playing in collegiate teams: the highest form of soccer women could play at the time. The United States Women’s National Team [USWNT] would go on to win their first World Cup in 1991 which would lead to two more in 1999 and 2015]. Despite the USWNT’s accolades and accomplishments, the team suffers from an ambiguous nature in regarding the USWNT as a success story. The USWNT has succeeded in establishing consistent

Jamie Lowe, a journalist for the New York Times, states “If women's professional leagues in the United States have struggled in part because of FIFA's gender problems, they haven't been helped by their own,” in her article, “Why is U.S. Women’s Soccer Still Fighting to Exist?”. She makes a great point because women’s domestic leagues have struggled because of lack of support in the states which is noted in the article “Women’s League Loses Support”. The article was published by the New York Times by an unnamed author where it is disclosed that “plans to start a women’s first-division soccer league in the United States ended yesterday when the National Soccer Alliance [NSA] withdrew its application to the United States Soccer Federation [USSF].” Also, what is disclosed is that the NSA did not receive approval by the USSF to postpone the start of the league after the 1999 World Cup which lead to lack of interest among investors. An organization that should be dedicated to the evolvement of Soccer failed take part in the development of domestic women’s Football. The idea of postponing the start of the league made sense because the World Cup would have generated more interest since the USWNT was the team to win, and they did win. However, the USFF took another direction with the Women’s United Soccer Association [WUSA] which folded in 2003 due to lack of corporate support. Despite the USFF ditching one attempt for another, both the NSA and the WUSA failed because of the same reason: a shortage of domestic support. These are prime examples that the USWNT has failed to participate in a domestic league which should not be an issue considering their caliber and their successes. Mia Hamm, the highest goal scorer for the USWNT, was willing to take a shortage in her salary to keep the WUSA running. This is arbitrary because the players should not have to deal with trying to prove that they are a