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Modern Day Soccer is Created
On this date, there was a meeting at the Freemasons Tavern in London, England. This meeting laid the plans to create the Football Association, but also the first set of common rules to be regulate soccer. While there were 11 teams that found the rules to be fair and just, one team disagreed on some of the rules that were being put forth. The team that contradicted so heavily, they left and later made the Rugby Football Union. So, under the charge of Ebenezer Cobb Morley soccer began. -
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Pre-FIFA
This time period was before the creation of the International Asscociation of Federation Football -
The First Women's Soccer Team
The First women's soccer team was the Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. This team was comprised of women who were employed in 1914 to help produce ammunition for the First World War. This team had the capabilities to bring strong crowds, and also help raise money for injured service men. The first game was played on December 25, 1917. -
The Ladies Recieve Attention
The Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. played and game against the St. Helen Ladies at Goodison Park in Liverpool. The teams drew a crowd of over 53,000 spectators. The stadiums average crowd size at the time was only 29,000. There was even an estimated 10-15,000 spectators outside the stadium once capacity was reached. -
Englands Football Association Bans Womens Soccer
After seeing how popular the women’s teams were becoming, England’s Football Association felt it needed to act. The women's teams were seen as a threat to the men's teams. In order to keep the men’s sport the most popular; England’s Football Association placed a ban on women’s soccer. -
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Englands Football Association Places a Ban on Womens Soccer
For the next 50 years, the England Football Association places a ban that would inhibit women from playing soccer. This dealt a serious blow to the advancement of women's soccer. -
United States First Organized Women's League
This milestone relates to the creation of the first organized women's soccer league in the United States. The league consisted of 4 teams and was created by Father Craig of St. Matthew’s Parish of North St. Louis. The league did not last very long. It played two seasons with full schedules. This was the spark of the next wave of women’s soccer to come. -
Title IX
Title IX helped push women's sports into the mainstream of our culture. Title IX required that funding be spent equally between men's and women's sports in the collegiate realm. This allowed for more female athletes to receive scholarships and to attend college. This helped establish soccer as a sport in colleges. -
The United States Women's National Teams First Game
This date marks the first game played by the United States women's national team. The team had a lot of pressure riding on their shoulders. This game would decide how much popularity and attention the team would receive. The match was played in Italy, and although well- played the Italians beat the Americans 1-0. -
FIFA Women's World Cup
This date marks the start of the women's first FIFA World Cup. The tournament wast hosted by china. The cup consisted of 12 teams that were FIFA representatives. -
The Winner is.....
After a hard- fought tournament a victor had to be crowned as the World Cup Champion. The United States Women's team successfully won the first Women's World Cup. The United States defeated Norway in a 2-1 victory with both goals being score by Michelle Akers. This momentous occasion helped reinforce that women in sports can be very successful. -
Women's Soccer is Added to the Olympics
The Olympics added women's soccer in 1996. Since there were no rules on professionalism or age, the Olympics became a re-World Cup with the top teams playing one another. This helped keep women's soccer on the rise. With the help from the Olympics and the winning of the gold medal for the United States, the notoriety of women's soccer was becoming larger and larger. -
1999 Womens World Cup Starts
The United States hosted the 1999 Women's World Cup. The tournament had grown from 12 teams to 16 teams. Instead of 26 games, there were 32 matches played. The tournament was more popular and had an average attendance af 37,319 speactators per match. -
The United States Wins Again
Here is the winning goalThe 1999 Women's World Cup tournament was coming to an end and the final games was between the United States and China. This match had drawn a crowd of over 90,000 people, making it the most attended women's sports event in history. The two teams were scoreless at the last whistle, and so with penlty kicks The United States beath China 5-4 in the shootout. -
Women’s United Soccer Association
This was the first league where women were paid as professional athletes. Following the surge from the huge win against China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, they played a full 3 seasons starting in 2001. -
Women’s United Soccer Association Ends
After playing 3 full seasons the Women’s United Soccer Association was in trouble. While there was some demand for the sport, it was not as great as expected. After cumulative losses around 100 million dollars, the Women’s United Soccer Association was ended. -
Win in the 2004 Olympics
The United States went into the Olympics rocky from the loss of the Women's United Soccer Association in 2003. The United States overcame the loss with a win against Brazil ending 2-1. This created even more buzz about the sport and help to begin forming a new women's soccer league. -
Women's Professional Soccer League First Game is Played
The newly formed Women's Professional Soccer Leauge is formed and is comprised of 5 teams. The league seemed promising and showing enormous amounts of talent on the teams. -
Women's Professional Soccer League Folds
The Women's Professional Soccer League announces that it 2012 season will be suspended. Reasons for the suspension are cited as internal organiztion struggles for the cause. Regardless the League was ended and left a tarnish on women's soccer. -
U.S. Women's National Team
While there may have been difficulties in keeping a Women's Professional League, the United States women's national team is sttill going strong. They still play and are very active. You can see their next game on this very day against China's national women's team.
