What to know as the WSL returns. Plus: Pride make head-coaching change
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This newsletter is a little different, as Meg and I wrote it from Billie Jean King’s Power of Women’s Sports Summit in New York City. Meg will dive into the learnings in a second, while I figure out how to get a pair of BJK’s iconic blue Adidas shoes from the 1973 Battle of the Sexes. The replicas are now available, but my size — 8 1/2, FYI — is sold out!
Visit turconews.click for more information.
Today:
🏀 Lessons from the Liberty
🦁 Orlando parts with coach
😠 Don’t mess with my clique
First, we have a new season starting up in England …
Welcome to the WSL
Throw out the crystal ball
If you haven’t fully locked in on England’s Women’s Super League, now is the perfect time. First, the season kicks off Friday at 2 p.m. ET with London City hosting Manchester United, a team with a lot going on (stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.). Second, your guess for who will win it all is as good as anyone’s.
OK, maybe not anyone’s. We do know our stuff, but the title race is as close as it’s ever been after Manchester City ended Chelsea’s near-decade run as titleholders last season. With the expansion to 14 teams, the most participants in WSL yet, we could easily see the league’s power dynamics get disrupted for the first time since Liverpool broke into the top four in 2024.
A quick refresher on the offseason:
City re-signed their star striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, who won the previous three Golden Boots. Can anyone beat the 29-year-old? It will be a tall task, one that a certain former FC Barcelona midfielder might have something to say about …
This summer, London City added Alexia Putellas, a World Cup winner with Spain who could continue her momentum from being Barcelona’s leading goal scorer by challenging Shaw’s record in the UK. But she’s not the only blockbuster signing for the Lionesses. The team that plays about 40 minutes outside London also added other big names in Mary Earps, Mapi Leon and Kadidiatou Diani. Their opponent Friday, Manchester United, went a very different direction in the transfer market.
Last year was bittersweet for United. They reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League their first time in the competition proper, but failed to qualify for this season’s edition. The club parted with coach Marc Skinner over the summer after five years in charge. With an eye toward “sustainability” and utilizing youth players, they hired Eva Olid, 40, after her successful run with Scottish team Heart of Midlothian.
But those are just the highlights. Stay close to The Athletic all week for top-to-bottom coverage leading up to the season opener. I also asked our women’s soccer staff to give us one big prediction for the year:
🏆 Charlotte Harpur: Manchester City’s squad is too thin to compete for the WSL title and the Champions League.
⚽ Megan Feringa: Tottenham Hotspur will, finally, beat one of the top three.
📈 Cerys Jones: Arsenal will go further in the Champions League than City or Chelsea, but finish below both in the WSL.
👀 Katie Whyatt: A team outside of the big four, most likely London City or Brighton, will make a final and become one of the historically weaker WSL sides to deliver a big upset.
Now that you’ve got the essentials, it’s time to learn which players are primed to make waves at their new club.
Three players to watch in WSL
Sure, Michele Kang’s roster-building at London City is unmatched, but the rest of the league has made moves too. Here are three names to keep an eye on:
Midfielder Manaka Matsukubo: North Carolina Courage ➡️ Chelsea
The 2025 NWSL Midfielder of the Year joined Chelsea this summer in a somewhat surprising move. The 22-year-old Japan international can score goals — she scored 11, the most of any midfielder, during the last NWSL season — but it’s her intelligence on and off the ball that those within the game admire most.
Defender Andrea Medina: Atletico Madrid ➡️ Manchester United
It is very difficult to dampen Medina’s spirit, which is a great characteristic for a player heading into the task at hand on the red side of Manchester. A left back by trade and preference, the 22-year-old is especially powerful and explosive in transition, according to United, and keen to get involved in attack.
Midfielder Lisa Baum, RB Leipzig ➡️ Arsenal
An expert at the 1-v-1 duels, Baum is adept at playing on either flank. The 19-year-old rose through the German leagues with Hamburger SV. Paired with another youthful winger in Olivia Smith, Arsenal’s attack gains a lethal boost.
Read all seven names we highlighted ahead of the season here. Now, on to why this newsletter is arriving a little later than normal. Meg, shall we tell them where we’ve been?
Meg’s Corner: ‘The arena alone isn’t enough’
Yes, I’m writing this corner from a theater at the New York Historical Society, where we’re attending Billie Jean King’s Power of Women’s Sports Summit today. New York Liberty owner and governor Clara Wu Tsai perfectly reflected on the bigger conversation we’ve been having in this newsletter and on the podcast over the past few weeks about infrastructure, growth and the impacts on the culture of the sport.
The Liberty’s game day experience has come up in our meetings as we talk about the culture of the NWSL and what the league can learn from the WNBA. As someone who has been to Libs games at Madison Square Garden, in Westchester, N.Y., and at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, I’ve seen the changes firsthand. The Liberty are an interesting case study for the NWSL, just like the Thorns have been since the early days of the league. But how much of Wu Tsai’s playbook can be copied? More than I expected.
Lesson 1: “The arena alone isn’t enough.”
Moving the team out of Westchester to Brooklyn was only the first piece. Wu Tsai spoke about the balance of culture: finding and reflecting Brooklyn’s culture alongside building the Liberty’s new culture.
A professional basketball game is about 100 times more overstimulating than a soccer game — and there’s no copying the specific magic of Ellie the Elephant — but culture that’s organically built by the community is necessary for more NWSL clubs.
Lesson 2: “It’s true we’re investing ahead of revenues. We’re investing mightily in every aspect: facilities, players, fan experience.”
Translation: putting money into the team before getting any out of it. Sometimes the obvious stuff still hits, especially at events like this. Serious owners like Wu Tsai, and like those ot the elite clubs in the NWSL, move differently. More clubs in the NWSL should embrace going all in.
News to Know
Orlando parts with head coach
Just hours ago, the Pride announced they parted with coach Seb Hines, who helped the club secure the NWSL Shield and league championship in 2024. Assistant coach Yolanda Thomas will lead the team as interim. Hines brought Thomas on board ahead of the 2023 season — his first full year in charge.
Hines’ departure comes just over a month after another assistant, Giles Barnes, left the club to join Al Qadsiah FC in the Saudi Women’s Premier League.
Hines was the first Black head coach in NWSL history to lift a trophy and did so alongside a majority-Black coaching staff. His departure comes as the team has struggled to climb the league table, as they currently sit in 12th place out of 16.
Even the best teams have to overcome cliques
The Athletic’s Asli Pelit has been finding the real-world connections in the fourth season of Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso,” and this week’s topic is my favorite yet: cliques.
Let’s be real, expecting 26 players to become best friends simply because they wear the same jersey is unrealistic. Cliques are an inevitable part of locker rooms. At their most extreme, they can tear a team apart.
“Ted Lasso” explores the complexities of the divides among a team and how having a common goal — or rather, enemy — can help overcome them. I loved how Asli incorporated the 2015 and 2019 U.S. women’s national teams, which did just that by winning two World Cups and fighting for equal pay. Because you don’t always have to be friends to get the job done.
First Looks
On the move: The WSL transfer window closes Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. While the big moves have gone through, teams aren’t completely done just yet. The latest news: Spirit defender Rebeca Bernal is nearing a transfer to Manchester United.
Investing in women: Asli spoke to two women leading the charge to pour money into women’s sports with Monarch Collective. Their involvement all started with a 10,000-fan bet.
Pick up the phone: Though Ashley Sanchez didn’t score in the Courage’s 3-2 loss to the Current this weekend, the midfielder still leads the Golden Boot race with 15 goals in 22 games. The question now is if Emma Hayes will give the 27-year-old her first call-up since 2024 to the U.S. national team. I mean, just look at her most recent goal, which broke the Courage’s single-season record (nice assist from the goalkeeper, too). It’s time, Emma!
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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