USL W-League (1995–2015)

History

The W-League's inaugural season was in 1995. Originally called the United States Interregional Women's League, it later changed its name to the W-League. Although at its inception some of the league's franchises were barely above amateur level, it provided a professional outlet for many of the top female soccer players in the country. With professionals driving the level of play, the league made a very strong debut performance.

From 1995 through the 1997 season the W-League was a single tier format (all teams at the same division). This changed before the 1998 season when the W-League became a two tier league. The top tier/division was called W-1 and lower division, W-2. This division was in effect through the 2001 season – the first year of the new US Women's first division league WUSA. The W-League returned to a single tier format in the 2002 season.

The W-League grew to a maximum of 41 teams for the 2008 season, but then began contracting rapidly. By the time the league suspended operations in 2015, there were three, six-team conferences. Of those 18 teams, eight went on to found United Women's Soccer (though the two Canadian teams were denied entry) and another seven joined the WPSL.

The revival of the W-League as the USL W League was announced on June 8, 2021, with eight founding teams due to begin play in 2022, none of which were revivals of teams from the original iteration of the W-League. Instead, many were associate with USL League One organizations.

Teams

127 unique teams participated in the W-League over the course of its history. Fifteen still existed (at varying levels of activity) as of 2019.

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1. If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. – DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1995 till:2021 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 # to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20" Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:lightline value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5) id:bg value:white id:Member value:rgb(0.740,0.740,0.940) # Use this color to denote a team that was a W-League member id:MemberN value:rgb(0.740,0.840,0.940) # Use this color to denote a team that was a W-League member under a different name id:Pro value:rgb(0.980,0.700,0.700) # Use this color to denote a team that was in a professional league (WUSA/WPS/NWSL) id:WPSL value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that was in WPSL id:WLS value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that was in WLS id:UWS value:rgb(0.740,0.940,0.740) # Use this color to denote a team that was in UWS id:inactive value:rgb(0.940,0.940,0.940)

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text:^"W-League Membership History"

1. If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. –

(*) indicates championship

Past champions

For 1998 through 2001 the W-League was divided into two divisions: W-1 (the top division) W-2 (the lower division). The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of titles a club has won if they have won multiple titles. Click on year for W-League season summaries.

• 2015 Washington Spirit Reserves 2–1 Colorado Pride
• 2014 Los Angeles Blues (4) 6–1 Washington Spirit Reserves
• 2013 Pali Blues (3) 1–0 Laval Comets
• 2012 Ottawa Fury Women 1–1 (4–3 PSO) Pali Blues
• 2011 Atlanta Silverbacks Women 6–1 Ottawa Fury Women
• 2010 Buffalo Flash 3–1 Vancouver Whitecaps Women
• 2009 Pali Blues (2) 2–1 Washington Freedom Reserves
• 2008 Pali Blues 2–1 FC Indiana
• 2007 Washington Freedom 3–1 Atlanta Silverbacks Women
• 2006 Vancouver Whitecaps Women (2) 3–0 Ottawa Fury Women
• 2005 New Jersey Wildcats 3–0 Ottawa Fury Women
• 2004 Vancouver Whitecaps Women 0–0 (4–2 PSO) New Jersey Wildcats
• 2003 Hampton Roads Piranhas 1–0 Chicago Cobras
• 2002 Boston Renegades (2) 3–0 Charlotte Lady Eagles
• 2001
  • W-1: Boston Renegades 5–1 Vancouver Whitecaps Women
  • W-2: Charlotte Lady Eagles 3–1 Memphis Mercury
• 2000
  • W-1: Chicago Cobras 1–1 (4–2 PSO) Raleigh Wings
  • W-2: Springfield Sirens 2–1 Charlotte Lady Eagles
• 1999
  • W-1: Raleigh Wings (2) 3 -2 Chicago Cobras (OT)
  • W-2: North Texas Heat 5–1 Springfield Sirens
• 1998
  • W-1: Raleigh Wings 4–3 Boston Renegades
  • W-2: Fort Collins Force 3–1 Hampton Roads Piranhas
• 1997 Long Island Lady Riders (2) 2–1 Chicago Cobras (OT)
• 1996 Maryland Pride 3–0 Dallas Lightning
• 1995 Long Island Lady Riders 3–0 Southern California Nitemares

References

References

1. "Women play on with little fanfare".
2. "not found".
3. Kassouf, Jeff. (November 6, 2015). "USL W-League, once top flight, folds after 21 seasons". The Equalizer.
4. "W-League".
5. (November 6, 2015). "Equalizer Soccer – USL W-League, once top flight, folds after 21 seasons".
6. "United Soccer Leagues (USL)".
7. (2015-12-16). "UWS To Form National Pro-Am Women's Soccer League In 2016". United Women's Soccer.
8. (April 8, 2021). "WOMEN'S PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE – THE LARGEST NATIONAL WOMEN'S SOCCER LEAGUE IN THE WORLD".
9. (April 8, 2021). "NEW TEAMS, NEW CITIES, NEW STATES".
10. (June 8, 2021). "United Soccer League to Launch W League in 2022".
11. (June 8, 2021). "USL W League Unveils Eight Inaugural Member Clubs".
12. Rizakis, Kris. (February 25, 2010). "THE GRAND LIST, A - G". [[RSSSF]].
13. "Spectrum".