The Women's League Soccer (WLS) was a regional

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

league in the United States that was created in 2010 and began its first season 2011. After the 2012 season, the league transitioned to

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

under the name "Women's Arena Soccer League". Contrasting significantly from other soccer leagues in the U.S., WLS intended to be an open entry,

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

competition. The league observes all

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

standards, rules, player transfer windows and international calendar. The league consisted of six teams and the seasons lasted from May to the end of July. The league was largely the idea of

Shek Borkowski Shek Borkowski (born 30 January 1963) is a Polish association football manager who is currently the head coach of South Bend Lions in the USL League Two. He previously managed the Puerto Rico women's national football team from 2017 to 2018. and ...

. It was initially planned to be named "Women's Major League Soccer", but was changed prior to the start of the first season.Women's Major League Soccer to debut in 2011
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Format

WLS Elite Division consists of six teams. It is intended that future entrants will join the league's Division 2 and require promotion to the top level, while the club finishing last is replaced with the winner of Division 2. An Elite Division season will consist of 10 games combined. Each club will play a home-and-home set against each other. The season started in May and ended in June. WLS Division 2 currently consists of five teams and plays six games per season. The team in first place after the last day of play is the champion, gaining the title of ''WLS Champion''. Standings are determined by points a club has gained during a season. A win is worth 3 points, a draw 1, and a loss 0. The tiebreakers are in descending order goal difference, goals for, and head-to-head results. If the tie cannot be broken a tiebreaking game is held.

Current clubs

Elite Division * Chicago Breeze * Cincinnati Saints* * Cleveland FC * FC Indiana 1923 * Fort Wayne SC * Indiana Invaders FC Division 2 * Evansville* * Kalamazoo * Lansing * Michigan City * Westfield *To switch leagues for 2012 season

History

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

* {{Major women's sport leagues in North America Defunct women's soccer leagues in the United States Professional soccer leagues in the United States 2011 establishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 2011