The third season of Women's Professional Soccer begins this weekend as the sport of women's soccer gears up for a huge summer. The FIFA Women's World Cup begins on June 26 as two-time defending champion Germany plays host to 15 other countries, including many WPS stars. Not surprisingly, the league hopes to capitalize on the buzz.
"There's going to be a lot of visibility for the sport," WPS CEO Anne-Marie Eileraas said in a phone interview this week. "[WPS has] a lot to offer. We're starting our third year and we're very excited to have the World Cup as a really nice kind of interlude to our season and to draw attention to the women's game."
Leading the way for WPS in the World Cup will be the United States. For the most part, the U.S. team is made up of players from the six WPS clubs. It will be a hectic summer for the players as they fly between national team warm-up games and league matches over the next few weeks.
"I have a really crazy Google calendar that I am constantly updating, trying to share with my family and stuff so that people know where I am and what I'm doing," U.S. women's national team co-captain and Boston Breakers defender Rachel Buehler said this week, taking a quick phone call from Scotland, where the U.S. had just won a closed-door match against Scotland, before she flew back to the U.S. for Boston's season opener Saturday in Atlanta. "We're traveling a lot back and forth with Boston and with the national team."
On the international side of the league, five-time FIFA Player of the Year and 2007 Golden Boot winner Marta -- who now plays for the expansion Western New York Flash -- has shown no signs of slowing down and will likely take a starring role as Brazil looks to improve upon its runner-up finish in the 2007 World Cup.
Marta's new club joined WPS at an important time. The league lost two teams -- the Chicago Red Stars and Marta's former squad, FC Gold Pride -- in what has been a tumultuous offseason. Fortunately for WPS, the Flash were able to elevate from the W-League to WPS after winning the W-League title last year.
"It's a new market for us, new geography where there's a great tradition of soccer," Eileraas said. "The ownership group that has come in with that team has been phenomenal. They've brought in incredible talent. They're taking this very seriously and they're in it for the long haul."
Though two games open the season this weekend, the Flash won't make their debut until they face the Boston Breakers in the league's national TV game on April 17. The match will be an early look at World Cup talent in WPS as top players from at least six countries (U.S., Brazil, Canada, England, New Zealand and Sweden) will likely start in the match.
Women's soccer fans in the U.S. remember that the league's predecessor, the Women's United Soccer Association, folded shortly after completing its third season, on the eve of the 2003 World Cup. As WPS heads into Year 3, Eileraas knows that the sport's troubled past is on the minds of a lot of fans.
"We're not WUSA. We have a completely different model," she said. "We recognize that building a professional sports league is a long-term process, but we also understand that people will be looking at us through the lens of WUSA. I think when you combine that with the World Cup and the visibility for the women's game that it will bring, it is a critical year."