FC Kansas City Logo

Soccer fans in Kansas City have had a lot to be excited about recently. With the success of Sporting KC, visits from the Men’s and Women’s National teams, and the recent announcement of the MLS All-Star game, Kansas City has been the center of soccer’s attention in the United States. With all this happening there was another soccer announcement in December that might have gotten overlooked. Kansas City was chosen as one of only eight cities to get a team in the new National Women’s Soccer League. Boston, Chicago, Western New York (Rochester), Sky Blue (Piscataway, NJ), Washington D.C., Portland and Seattle will all make up the rest of the new women’s soccer league.

There have been several women’s soccer leagues in the past. The most recent was the WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer) which only lasted from 2009-2012. Hopefully, the new NWSL will last a little longer. The new league is being backed by the United States Soccer Federation, The Canadian Soccer Association, and the Mexican Football Federation. What that means is that those three federations will pay the salaries of their national team players. That will keep the cost of running these soccer teams down, and hopefully keep this league afloat. Each team in the league got at least two players that are on the United States, Canadian, and Mexican National teams. So, the balance in the league should be good and make for great, competitive soccer matches. What that also means is that at every home game you will probably see one of the top women’s soccer players active today like Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, and Hope Solo.

FC Kansas City will play their home games at the Shawnee Mission District Stadium. The stadium will hold 6,150 people making it the third largest in the NWSL. FC Kansas City’s games start in April 2013, so definitely put them on your list of things to do in Kansas City this summer. I know I will.

If you are interested in more books on U.S. soccer, try reading Hope Solo’s new book Solo: A Memoir of Hope.