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NWSL Under-18 Entry Mechanism
The Under-18 Entry Mechanism sets the rules for how soccer players below the age of 18 may sign professional contracts in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Background The NWSL had a minimum age requirement of 18 until 2021, when 15-year-old Olivia Moultrie filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league. She reached an settlement that allowed her to sign with Portland Thorns FC after going through a league discovery process that involved her rights being acquired by OL Reign and traded to the Thorns. The following year, the NWSL allowed 17-year-old Jaedyn Shaw to sign with San Diego Wave FC through discovery, with five other teams submitting bids for her rights including the Washington Spirit which she had trained with for months. Other sports leagues in the United States continue to have minimum requirements, such as 18 in the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. Major League Soccer allows younger p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Association Football
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 to score more goals than the opposition by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular framed goal defended by the opposing side. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45 minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries, it is considered the world's most popular sport. The game of association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 with the International Football Association Board (IFAB) maintaining them since 1886. The game is played with a football that is in circumference. The two teams compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Women's Soccer League Expansion
The expansion of the National Women's Soccer League began with the league's sophomore season in 2014, when the league expanded to a ninth team in Houston, and is an ongoing process that currently has seen five expansions, three direct or indirect relocations, and one contraction. The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) was established as the top level of professional women's soccer in the United States in 2013 in the wake of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA, 2001–2003) and Women's Professional Soccer (WPS, 2009–2011). On May 10, 2023, league commissioner Jessica Berman announced the league's intent to expand further to 16 teams in 2026. Summary , the NWSL consists of 12 teams with 12 separate NWSL owners, ownership groups, with two teams approved for expansion in 2024. Of those 12 teams, seven are considered expansion teams either through net-new expansion (Houston Dash, Orlando Pride, Racing Louisville FC, Angel City FC, San Diego Wave FC) or the wholes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seattle Reign FC
OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, OL Groupe, the parent company of French clubs Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, became the team's majority owner and rebranded to its current name, badge, and colors. Laura Harvey is the team's head coach; she led the team to two consecutive NWSL Shield wins in 2014 and 2015 and a third in 2022. OL Reign has played its home matches at Lumen Field since 2022. The team previously played at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila (2013), at Memorial Stadium (2014–18), and at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma (2019–21). History Establishment Following the demise of Women's Professional Soccer in April 2012, the United States Soccer Federation announced in June that it would found a new professional women's soccer league (l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angel City FC
Angel City Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California, and was announced on July 21, 2020. The team has many high-profile owners, including Becky G, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Mia Hamm, and Serena Williams. The team is the Los Angeles area's first women's professional soccer team since the Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer folded in 2010. History On July 21, 2020, the National Women's Soccer League announced that Los Angeles would be awarded an expansion franchise for the 2022 season. The team was announced with a majority female ownership group led by actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, and venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian. Other founding members of the team included professional tennis player Serena Williams, actors Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, and Eva Longoria, late night talk show hos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defender (association Football)
In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either side to their left and right, but can be played in threes with or without full-backs. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-back, sweeper, full-back, and wing-back. The centre-back and full-back positions are essential in most modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised for certain formations dependent on the manager's style of play and tactics. Centre-backs are usually tall and positioned for their ability to win duels in the air. Centre-back The centre-back (also known as a central defender or centre-half, as the modern role of the centre-back arose from the Midfielder#Centre-half, centre-half position) defends in the area directly in front of the goal and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansas City Current
Kansas City Current is an American professional women's soccer team based in Kansas City, Kansas. It began play as an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2021. History Establishment Kansas City last had an NWSL team in 2017, when two-time champions FC Kansas City ceased operations and its player-related assets were transferred to expansion team Utah Royals FC. Three years later, the Royals also had to cease operations after controversies from the team's owner Dell Loy Hansen, and a Kansas City-based ownership group led by financial executives Angie and Chris Long took advantage to secure an expansion team along with the Royals' player-related assets on December 7, 2020. Brittany Mahomes, wife of NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a former college soccer player at University of Texas at Tyler and fitness trainer, purchased a stake in the team as well. 2021–present The Longs named Huw Williams, former general manager of FC Kansas City, as the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Flash. The Courage is affiliated with the men's team North Carolina FC of the United Soccer League and plays its home games at the Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park. In 2018, the Courage became the first team in NWSL history to win the Shield and the Championship in the same season. In 2019, the team became the first team to win the Championship on its home field. History 2017 On January 9, 2017, the North Carolina Courage announced their formation as the relocated Western New York Flash, with a new home of Cary, North Carolina. The Courage officially hired Paul Riley, the Flash's coach prior to relocation, on January 30, 2017. The team played their first match, on April 15, 2017, against the Washington Spirit, and won 1– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forward (association Football)
Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on being able to create space for attack. Attacking positions generally favour irrational players who ask questions to the defensive side of the opponent in order to create scoring chances, where they benefit from a lack of predictability in attacking play. Team formations normally include one to three forwards. For example, the common 4–2–3–1 includes one forward. Less conventional formations may include more than three forwards, or none. Striker The normal role of a striker is to score the majority of goals on behalf of the team. If they are tall and physical players, with good heading ability, the player may also be used to get onto the end of crosses, win long balls, or receive passes and retai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundaries, with mobility and passing ability, they are often referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box midfielders, or holding midfielders. There are also attacking midfielders with limited defensive assignments. The size of midfield units on a team and their assigned roles depend on what formation is used; the unit of these players on the pitch is commonly referred to as the midfield. Its name derives from the fact that midfield units typically make up the in-between units to the defensive units and forward units of a formation. Managers frequently assign one or more midfielders to disrupt the opposing team's attacks, while others may be tasked with creating goals, or have equal responsibilities between attack and defence. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chloe Ricketts
Chloe Cathleen Ricketts (born May 23, 2007) is an American professional soccer player for the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). At the age of 15, she became the first player to join an NWSL team through the Under-18 Entry Mechanism in 2023. Club career Early career In 2017 and 2018, Ricketts won back-to-back state championships with the 2007 Michigan Hawks Black. Beginning in 2020, she played on a boys' team – the 2007 Michigan Tigers Gold – that won multiple state and regional championships, culminating with the under-15 US Youth Soccer National Championships in 2022. She also played for the Michigan Jaguars academy of the Girls Academy. In January 2022, at age 14, Ricketts became the youngest player to join AFC Ann Arbor of the pre-professional USL W League. In a game on May 7, 2022, still aged 14, she became the youngest goalscorer in USL W League history. Washington Spirit Ricketts took part in preseason training with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large national audience. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. Financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation, work continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham (Meyer's daughter and son-in-law), who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post'' 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Subsequently, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press's investigation into what became known as the Waterga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The company was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen along with his son Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan. ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut. The network also operates offices and auxiliary studios in Miami, New York City, Las Vegas, Seattle, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. James Pitaro currently serves as chairman of ESPN, a position he has held since March 5, 2018, following the resignation of John Skipper on December 18, 2017. While ESPN is one of the most successful sports networks, there has been criticism of ESPN. This includes accusations of biased coverage, conflict of interest, and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts. , ESPN reaches approximately ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
