when did the us women's soccer team start
United States women's national soccer team The team played its first match at the Mundialito tournament on August 18, 1985, coached by Mike Ryan, in which they lost 1â€“0 to Italy.[8]
United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning three Women's World Cup titles (including the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991), four Olympic women's gold medals (including the first ever Olympic Women's soccer tournament in 1996), seven CONCACAF Gold Cup wins, and ten Algarve Cups.[1] It medaled in every single World Cup and Olympic tournament in women's soccer history from 1991 to 2015, before being knocked out in the quarterfinal of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The team is governed by United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football).
Women's soccer in the United States The first organized women's soccer league in the United States was the Craig Club Girls Soccer League, which consisted of four teams in St. Louis, Missouri, playing 15-game seasons in 1950 and 1951.[6][7]
United States Soccer Federation On November 21, 2012, U.S. Soccer, in conjunction with the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and Mexican Football Federation (FMF), announced the formation of a new professional league for the 2013 season.[31] The league, unnamed at the time of the initial announcement but later unveiled as the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), launched in April 2013 with eight teams.[31] Like WUSA and WPS, NWSL teams are privately owned with some owned by existing MLS teams.[32] The American and Canadian federations pay the salaries for many of their respective national team members. U.S. Soccer initially committed to funding up to 24 national team members, with the CSA committing to paying 16 players and FMF pledging support for at least 12 and possibly as many as 16.[32][33] In addition, U.S. Soccer housed the league's front office for the first four years, and scheduled matches to avoid any possible conflict with international tournaments.[32] Four of the league's charter teams had WPS tiesâ€”the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue FC, and the Western New York Flash. The other four initial teams were located in the Kansas City, Portland, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. markets with the Portland team run by the Portland Timbers of MLS.[32] The NWSL expanded to nine teams for 2014 by adding the Houston Dash, run by the Houston Dynamo of MLS. In 2016, it expanded to 10 with the addition of another MLS-backed team, the Orlando Pride. Ahead of the 2017 season, A&E Networks announced it had taken an equity stake in the league and Lifetime would begin broadcasting games to a national television audience.[34] As of 2017[update], additional expansion teams were being discussed by Los Angeles FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, and FC Barcelona.[35][36][37]