The 2024 U.S. Soccer Annual General Meeting took place last week in Dallas, And, per usual, the various AGM deliberations led to a number of big outcomes. But, easily among the biggest, was U.S. Soccer’s sanctioning of the United Soccer League’s nascent Super League as a Division I Women’s Outdoor League. USL Super League President, Amanda Vandervort, was ecstatic on the news of the announcement. “This is a tremendous moment for the USL Super League and for women’s sports. Receiving Division One sanctioning further showcases the work that our ownership groups, our clubs, and the league are doing to create a professional environment for top-level talent to compete. This is a crucial step toward realizing our vision to be a global leader in women’s soccer on and off the field. We cannot wait to see our clubs take the field when we kick off in August 2024.”

While it is the oldest professional soccer league in the United States, the USL has never had a professional women’s league. The USL launched the first national women’s league, the W-League, in 1994. But, that league was a purely amateur competition. The original W-League ran from 1995* until 2015. The USL recently reorganized a new version, the W League, in 2022.

The USL Super League’s sanctioning also is the first time that the U.S. will have two sanctioned Division I leagues (either men’s or women’s) competing at the same time. The NWSL has been the only Division I women’s league since its launch in 2013.**

The decision to play two different Division I leagues at the same time flies in the face of soccer tradition. And, conjures up historical visions of the various “Soccer Wars” that have hounded men’s soccer in the U.S. But, there are a number of factors where this decision may not have to end up in the same conflagration.

First, women’s soccer is generally a more collaborative space than the men’s game. While not perfect, the women’s game is usually seen as more cooperative in its competition. Men’s soccer competition in the U.S. has been more about control of the game. While it is still unknown how NWSL and USL Super League will work together, there are differences between the current women’s and men’s games which may bode well for those organizations. U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone highlighted that difference by focusing on the growth of the game. “The USL Super League is looking to grow the women’s game and to expand the opportunities for women to compete at the highest professional level. As with all our professional leagues, we look forward to collaborating with the USL Super League and extend our best wishes to the clubs as they gear up for the upcoming season this August.”

The sanctioning of professional leagues in the U.S. is regulated by the USSF’s Professional League Standards. Last revised in March of 2023, the PLS outlines a list of general requirements for all professional leagues as well as standards for each specific Division.***

The specific standards for a Division I Women’s League are more in line with the specific standards for a Division II Men’s League. Because the franchise owners of USL Championship teams already meet Division II Men’s League standards, those same owners basically already meet the standards for a Division I Women’s League team. And, since most of the USL Super League ownership groups are coming from the ranks of USL Championship and League One owners, it made practical sense for the Super League to acquire Division I Women’s sanctioning.

The USL Super League is also playing a traditional fall to spring soccer calendar. This means that its season won’t greatly overlap with the NWSL’s spring to fall season. Other professional leagues, specifically the second NASL and NISA, have attempted to play a traditional season with mixed results.

NISA transitioned from their traditional season to the more common U.S. summer season due to difficulties in signing players and finding stadium space. The Super League will still have to negotiate those issues but likely won’t have as many problems.

In recent years, USL has made it a priority for its professional teams to have venues in which they are the primary residents. As most USL Super League teams would be part of already established USL professional franchises, this greatly eases the difficulties for Super League teams to put together their schedules. In addition, while the U.S. men’s professional game has over a hundred teams in competition for players, the Super League only has the 14 teams in the NWSL. That means the available player pool for the USL Super League is much bigger than what was available for NISA.

As far as the competition itself, the USL Super League will launch this fall for its inaugural 2024-25 season. Eight teams have announced their intentions to play in the first season****. Four more teams are planning on joining in 2025 with another four in the works.*****

Launching any league, let alone a professional one, is a tricky business in the United States, but given the work USL and Vandervort have done, there’s plenty of reasons to think that the USL Super League could be an instant hit. Bringing professional women’s soccer to communities starving for it would seem to be a recipe for success. This fall we’ll find out for sure.

- Dan Creel

*The USISL W-League did operate in 1994 but that competition was considered a pilot program and not a formal league season.

**U.S. Soccer has sanctioned two prior Division 1 Women’s Outdoor Leagues - the WUSA from 2001 to 2003 and WPS from 2009 to 2011’

***There are seven specific professional Divisions sanctioned by U.S. Soccer: Division I, II and III Men’s Outdoor Leagues; Division I, II and III Women’s Outdoor Leagues; and Indoor Professional Leagues.

****The first eight franchises are Brooklyn, Carolina, Dallas/Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Lexington, Spokane Zephyr FC, Tampa Bay Sun, and Washington D.C.

*****Teams planning on joining for the second 2025-26 season are Indianapolis, Sporting Jax, Madison, and Palm Beach. Chattanooga, Oakland, Phoenix, and Tucson have announced plans to join but at an unknown date. Arkansas announced a USL Super League team joining in 2026 but that organization is not listed on the Super League’s website.