Raleigh Wings was a W-League women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based out of

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. The team began play in 1998 and folded after the 2000 season.

History

The club was founded in 1998 by the owners of the

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club Raleigh Flyers. In their inaugural season the team amassed a record, and won the W-1 Championship by beating the

Boston Renegades Boston Renegades was an American women's soccer team, founded in 1995. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played in the Northeast Divisio ...

4–3 at

Bowditch Field Bowditch Field Athletic and Cultural Complex (or simply Bowditch Field) is the main public athletic facility for the City of Framingham, Massachusetts, US. It is located on Union Avenue midway between Downtown and Framingham Center. The facility ...

before 2,180 spectators. Before the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted as well as ...

, Raleigh Wings played

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

s against the national teams of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(a 2–1 defeat) and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(a 1–0 win). They retained the W-1 Championship by beating the Chicago Cobras in a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

after a 2–2 draw in front of a club record 2,260 home crowd at

WRAL Soccer Center The WRAL Soccer Center is a soccer complex featuring a 3,200-seat, lighted soccer-specific stadium located on Perry Creek Road in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is situated between Capital Boulevard ( US Route 1) and Louisburg Road (NC Route 401) ...

. In 2000, Raleigh Wings went but were defeated by Chicago Cobras in the W-1 Championship final. They lost 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw at WRAL Soccer Center. The club then folded due to the creation of

Carolina Courage Carolina Courage was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Fetzer Field on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in 2001, and then at the soccer-specific SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina i ...

to play in the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

Players

Year-by-year

References

External links

Official website
Defunct soccer clubs in North Carolina Sports in Raleigh, North Carolina Defunct USL W-League (1995–2015) teams 1998 establishments in North Carolina 2000 disestablishments in North Carolina Association football clubs established in 1998 Association football clubs disestablished in 2000 Women's sports in North Carolina {{RaleighNC-stub