United Women's Soccer (UWS, also commonly abbreviated UWS) is a second-division pro-am

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 original USL W-League. The league began play in May 2016 with eleven teams in two conferences. The first league currently has 45 teams in 6 conferences and second league currently has 49 teams in 6 conferences.

History

Background

In the summer of 2015, disorganization and the inability to field teams led to many last-minute changes in the WPSL playoffs. This, combined with a general lack of competitiveness due to rapid expansion, led to frustration from many long-time WPSL teams. The 2014 WPSL final four hosts

ASA Chesapeake Charge ASA Chesapeake Charge is an amateur, American women's soccer club that played in the Women's Premier Soccer League, the second level of women's soccer in the United States founded in 2010. It also participated in the Women's Premier Soccer Lea ...

elected to skip the 2015 WPSL playoffs altogether as did the entire Sunshine division, Fire & Ice SC was a no-show, and the New England Mutiny published a threatening response to how WPSL as a league was run and was regressing. Later that year, the USL W-League suddenly announced that it would be ceasing operations. There had been no outward signs that the league or its teams were struggling, but the league had been contracting steadily over the preceding several years - from 30 teams in four divisions for

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

to just 18 teams in three divisions for

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- and many of the teams that had left were recent finalists ( Buffalo Flash, Vancouver Whitecaps Women, Pali Blues, Ottawa Fury Women, and several Washington D.C.-area teams) leaving relatively few flagship teams.

Founding

Spearheaded by the New England Mutiny (a former member of the short-lived WPSL Elite), UWS's first five teams were leaked on December 15 ahead of the league's official announcement the next day; UWS hopes to provide a true second division beneath the

NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

. Negotiations to create the league since the beginning of the WPSL/W-League offseason, with plans that the league will be a national league of two conferences. The eight founding teams, all in the northeastern US and eastern Canada, were the Mutiny, fellow WPSL breakaway Lancaster Inferno FC, the W-League teams Laval Comets,

Long Island Rough Riders The Long Island Rough Riders are an American soccer team based in South Huntington, New York, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at Hofs ...

New York Magic New York Magic is an American women’s soccer team, founded in 1997. The team was an original member of United Women's Soccer from 2016-2017. They played in the USL W-League from 1997 until the league folded after the 2015 season. The team pla ...

, North Jersey Valkyries, and Quebec Dynamo ARSQ looking for a new league, and the expansion team

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. UWS will be sanctioned through

USASA The United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) is a national organization for amateur soccer in the United States. It consists of 55 state organizations as well as national, regional and state leagues. The National Premier Soccer League, NI ...

, as the W-League and WPSL were.

Rapid early growth

Between founding and the beginning of the inaugural season, hints of the desired second Western conference came to light in late January and was made official on February 5, with the first five revealed teams being

Real Salt Lake Women Real Salt Lake Women (previously known as Salt Lake United and ''Sparta Salt Lake'') was an American women's soccer team that was founded in 2008. The team was a founding member of United Women's Soccer league, in the second tier of women’s soc ...

and

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(both previously of WPSL), and the

Santa Clarita Blue Heat Santa Clarita Blue Heat is an American women's soccer team, founded in 2008. The club was known as the Ventura County Fusion for its first two years of existence. The team plays its home games at Canyon High School. During the Fusion days, they pl ...

, the

Colorado Storm Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, and the Colorado Pride (all previously of the W-League). On March 9, 2016, it was announced that the Canadian Soccer Association would not sanction teams in Laval & Quebec for play in UWS, leaving the league with only 11 teams for its inaugural season. On November 1, 2016,

Grand Rapids FC Grand Rapids FC was an American soccer club based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, whose senior men's team played in USL League Two. The team was founded in 2014 and ceased operations in 2021. Its first season was in 2015. It was initially funded ...

announced they would add a women's team, which would begin play in 2017 in a new Midwest division of United Women's Soccer. Three more Midwest teams (

FC Indiana F.C. Indiana, also known as F.C. Indiana Lionesses, is an American women's soccer team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2003, the team is currently a member of the United Women's Soccer league. They play their home games at Newton Park ...

, Fort Wayne United Soccer Club, and the Detroit Sun FC) were announced a month later, with the desire to add more mentioned. Further expansion ahead of the 2017 season included the Michigan Legends FC in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, Indy Premier SC in

Noblesville Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, a part of the north Indianapolis suburbs along the White River. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the state's 14th largest city/town ...

, the Syracuse Development Academy, the So Cal Crush FC in Montrose, and the

Calgary Foothills WFC Calgary Foothills WFC is a Canadian soccer club based in Calgary, Alberta that currently plays in United Women's Soccer. The club was founded as a youth club in 1972 and in 2017 as a UWS franchise. The team is the women's team of Calgary Footh ...

. On March 3, 2017, the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American soccer club based in Elma, New York that competed in the United Women's Soccer league. They have won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-League in 2010, Women's Pro ...

announced that they would establish a team for the 2017 season. This announcement came nearly two months after the organization, who had won the 2016 NWSL Championship, sold its NWSL franchise rights and roster which formed the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

. In April, the rebranded Rochester Lancers team joined the Flash in Western New York with a UWS side, the

Rochester Lady Lancers Rochester Lady Lancers is an American women's soccer team based in Rochester, New York, founded in 2017. The team plays in the East conference of the United Women's Soccer league, in the second tier of women’s soccer in the United States and ...

. They effectively replaced the Flash, which moved team operations to their original home of Buffalo, in Rochester.

Western contraction period

While UWS would see continued stability in the East and Midwest conferences, attempts to establish teams in the west would prove less successful. From 2017 to 2018, UWS grew from having just five teams west of the Mississippi River to having eleven, with the return of the Colorado Pride, joining of

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began p ...

OC academy, and four new teams in Texas, causing the West conference to split into a West and a Southwest conference. However, despite each conference adding a team for the 2019 season, each conference also lost two teams - including UWS founding member Real Salt Lake Women who rebranded as the Utah Royals Reserves in a return to WPSL - bringing the total number of teams west of the Mississippi to nine. Ahead of the 2020 season, four more UWS teams - Houston Aces, Colorado Pride, LAG OC, and the El Paso Surf - also left for WPSL, bringing the total back down to five.

Further expansion and creation of League Two

In the 2020 off-season, UWS continued to add more clubs to the league and expanding their reach, including the creation of the Southeast Conference. On February 6, 2020, UWS announced the creation of UWS League Two, a 2nd division focused on the U20-U23 age group. League Two will consist of a mix of UWS reserve teams and clubs that will be seeking to join UWS in the future. It will feature a promotion and relegation relationship with UWS starting in 2021, though the nature of how clubs will move up and down is still under discussion. The Midwest conference was the first announced for the new league, with the first four teams of said conference consisting of three independent sides as well as the reserves of Detroit Sun FC.

League One

League Two

Former members

UWS National Championship

References

External links

* {{CONCACAF women's leagues Sports leagues established in 2015 2015 establishments in the United States 1 Professional sports leagues in the United States Multi-national professional sports leagues