For the W: What is W League?

The Ivy, Richmond's pre-professional women’s soccer team here! What is W League, the league the team will participate in?

Semi-professional and amateur women’s soccer actually preceded the fully professional game in the US. The first iteration of the league was the W-League, launched by USL in 1995. Branded as semi-professional, it was the first women’s soccer league in the country. By not being a fully professional league, college players could (and still can) participate while maintaining their collegiate eligibility, alongside other non-collegiate players, including current or former professional players.

In 1998, the league’s Western Conference broke away to form the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL), an amateur league at the same level as W-League. Still an amateur league, the WPSL has been in operation since 1998, with 131 member teams in 31 states. On February 6, the league announced the sixth team required to launch a DIII-sanctioned professional league had signed an LOI. WPSL plans to launch WPSL Pro in fall 2025.

In the frequent absence of sanctioned DI professional leagues, amateur / semi-pro / pre-pro leagues would be unofficially considered the top flight leagues in the country. 

In 2000, building on the momentum of the USWNT’s 1999 World Cup win on home soil, the US’s first fully professional league, WUSA (Women's United Soccer Association), launched. This pushed W-League (and WPSL) to lower league status. But WUSA folded only three years later and amateur leagues regained unofficial top flight status until the formation of WPS in 2009. WPS folded in 2011 and many of the players joined W-League teams until the NWSL - currently the only operational D1 women’s league in the US - launched in 2013.

Despite the constantly shifting league landscape, W-League had peaked in size in 2008 with 41 teams, and had shrunk steadily - 18 teams remained when the league decided to cease operations in 2015. 

After W-League folded, 8 of the teams, along with breakaway teams from WPSL, helped create United Women’s Soccer (UWS), another pro-am league. UWS is also still in operation today, with 49 teams in its first division and 47 teams in its second/U23 division. 

Amidst the success of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, conversations within USL to restart the league began in the summer of 2019. The revamped W League (no hyphen!) - now branded as “pre-professional” - kicked off in May 2022, with 44 teams participating across 20 states. Many of the teams are affiliated with USL men’s clubs at all three levels, including Lexington SC Women, Charlotte Independence Women, Greenville Liberty SC, Chattanooga Red Wolves SC Women, Tormenta FC Women, and Northern Colorado Rain FC. 

The league welcomes players from a range of backgrounds:

“The USL W League is a pre-professional league open to elite youth players, collegiate players, aspiring professionals, and former professionals. The League is focused on developing the next wave of elite talent in the women’s game while also respecting the amateur status of players in order to protect collegiate eligibility. The League welcomes participation from domestic and international players.” 

However, with rosters primarily composed of collegiate players, W League’s short season from May to July serves as a bridge between the collegiate offseason and preseason. 

Currently, 81 teams play across 10 divisions, with 12 teams joining for the 2024 season, including Richmond Ivy, Charlottesville-based Charlottesville Blues FC, and Spokane Velocity-associated Spokane Zephyr FC.

Conference overview

For the regular season, teams play home and away in their division. The top team in each division and the fourth overall best team in each conference qualify for the conference semifinals. The playoffs then consist of conference finals, league semifinals, and an overall league final. Overview of the 2023 season here.

In 2023, Minnesota Aurora finished with the best overall regular season record (12-0-0) and Indy Eleven won the playoff championship. 

We’re so excited to watch the Ivy in the 2024 W League season!

For a professionally reported article on the lower division women’s soccer landscape, check out this article from The Athletic!

https://theathletic.com/4126158/2023/01/26/womens-soccer-lower-division/