U.S. Soccer unveiled the name of the women’s professional league in which the Washington Spirit will play on national television Saturday during halftime of the final U.S. Women’s National team match of 2012.
The new eight-team women’s soccer league will be called the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
The new league logo is appropriately red, white and blue and features the silhouette of a female soccer player about to strike a shot.
With the confirmation of the league name and logo, the National Women’s Soccer League has also launched its official pages on Facebook and Twitter. Fans are encouraged to like the league at facebook.com/NWSLsoccer and follow on Twitter @NWSL_soccer. A league website will be launched in the near future.
U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced on Nov. 29 that former U.S. Women’s National Team General Manager Cheryl Bailey had been named the Executive Director for the new league.
“We are working on finalizing a number of league items, but we now have a name and a logo that we think the fans will identify with and enjoy,” said Bailey. “This is a league we have to build from the bottom up and we have a group of dedicated owners and talented support staff at U.S. Soccer to keep this process moving in a positive direction while slowly growing the brand.”
U.S. Soccer will subsidize the salaries of up to 24 U.S. Women’s National Team players while the Canadian Soccer Association and Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for up to 16 players.
The eight teams in the league are: Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Sky Blue FC, Washington Spirit, Western New York Flash and Seattle, which has yet to announce its team name.
More information on the details of the league will be released as they become finalized.