Karla Overbeck, an assistant coach for the Duke University women's soccer team, was juggling two jobs at the peak of her career. She juggled her job as an assistant coach for the Blue Devils with her position as a starter for the U.S. Women's National Team. For most of the year, Overbeck trained alone. In 1995, when the U.S. women finished third in the World Cup, there was no women's professional soccer league in the United States. In 1996, when the team won the gold medal at the Atlanta Summer Olympics, there was no professional women's soccer league in the United States. In 1999, when Overbeck captained her team to the World Cup final, there was no women's professional soccer league in the United States.
“You can't just be labeled a professional and play soccer for a job,” Overbeck told the Chronicle.
Women's professional soccer is currently booming in America. Ten years ago, in the early days of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), few had confidence in the league's longevity, even the viability of women's professional soccer. Now, teams like Courage are proving those skeptics wrong.
But that doesn't mean it's easy or that there's a clear path to a career as a woman in professional football. The industry is undergoing profound change, driven by the growth of soccer and women's sports in general. Female soccer players do not earn as much as male soccer players, and there are fewer professional players on the women's side than men. But players and team owners are insisting on change, and everyone is watching to see it happen.
***
NC Courage's home field is just 37 miles from Koskinen Stadium, where Duke University women's soccer is played.
The cheers at WakeMed Soccer Park are higher-pitched than you would normally expect at a professional sporting event. A significant number of them come from small children (mostly girls) wearing pigtails and small jerseys for young people. Many people are holding up homemade signs, but in reality they're just stolen printed pieces of paper with the words “Be Courage!” misspelled on them.
WakeMed will host 8,135 fans in Cary on Friday night this April for Courage's home game against Seattle Reign FC. This is the fifth largest attendance in regular season history. The weather is perfect for soccer, with clear skies and sunsets. WakeMed is designed for the following crowd: With a maximum capacity of his 10,000 people, the park looks crowded and the cheers echo through the surrounding forest, but it's not overcrowded.
There was no women's professional soccer league in the United States until 2001, when Overbeck and 19 of her World Cup-winning teammates founded the Women's United Soccer Association. In 2003, the league filed for bankruptcy with $100 million in debt. Six years later, a new women's professional league played its first match. Three years later, the store also closed due to internal issues and lack of resources.
When the NWSL was launched in 2013, Overbeck was 45 years old and well past his playing days. She had a storied career at the University of North Carolina that included four national titles, the first Women's World Cup winner, an Olympic gold medalist, and a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, but she accomplished it all as a trailblazer. . There was no infrastructure for Overbeck to reach the level of success that she and her teammates had on the international stage. They made it happen through sheer force of will.
***
The girls still make things happen through sheer force of will, but now they have a foothold. Briana Pinto, a member of Courage since 2022, is 5 feet 5 inches tall, which is short for her professional profile. She is also on the younger side at 23 years old, compared to the average age in the NWSL which is 27 years old. Still, Pinto fits comfortably into the role of leader. She has good posture, strong posture and a flat voice suitable for public speaking. she is using it. On the field, the midfielder plays fast and intelligent football with quick footwork and frequent shot attempts. She passes by often. She is a team player and off the field as well.
In 2018, Pinto was one of three North American players in the running to host the 2026 World Cup. The players got what they wanted. The U.S. Soccer Federation is expected to hear back from FIFA in May about whether the Women's World Cup will be held in the U.S. and Mexico, and that seems very likely.
The United States is also scheduled to host the FIFA Club World Cup, and could host the first Women's Club World Cup when FIFA launches in 2026.
Factor in Lionel Messi's move to MLS in 2023, and you'll see that soccer, the world's most popular sport, is finally ascending to American sporting royalty. According to Francie Gotsegen, a 1988 Duke University graduate, this is exactly how women's professional soccer succeeds.
Gotsegen has been chairman of Courage and North Carolina FC for more than two years. Her strategy for growing women's soccer, and the industry's, is simple. It's about promoting soccer and promoting women. Increased interest in MLS will help her in the NWSL. Increased interest in the WNBA will help the NWSL. Caitlin Clark's success supports Brianna Pinto's success, and so does Messi's success. It is no coincidence that women's football has enjoyed great success in recent years.
“We are in the greatest era in women's soccer history, with so many brands across industries finally investing in women's soccer,” Pinto said.
According to CBS Sports, the minimum salary in the NWSL this season is $37,856. The average salary is about $65,000, but that doesn't include housing costs, which most NWSL teams subsidize their players with. Neither of these numbers are very large, but they used to be much smaller. From 2021 to 2024, the NWSL's minimum salary has jumped from $22,000 to its current level, which is an increase of more than 50%. In December, the NWSL signed its largest contract in its history, agreeing to give Houston Dash forward Maria Sanchez $1.5 million over four seasons, for an average annual salary of $375,000. Most professional players these days have sponsorship deals, so the average annual salary for a player is realistically much higher than it was in the mid-60s. For example, Ms. Pinto's income is heavily subsidized by her status as an Adidas athlete.
“And now we're seeing audiences come alive,” Pinto said.
***
The kids with pigtails and misspelled signs that flock to WakeMed Soccer Park are a big part of the NWSL's growth. Gotsegen strives to connect fans and players. Any member of the Courage who wishes to do so, and that means most players, will be able to hang out in a designated area of the field after home games to meet with fans, take photos and sign jerseys.
“Female athletes engage with fans much more than male athletes, and I think about it in a different and more meaningful way,” says Gotsegen. “We have to do that to get that support, but it creates a connection.”
Perhaps female soccer players may have to work harder off the field to earn a livable or lucrative wage. Arguably, a career in the NWSL is more reliant on the support of young female fans than in other professional leagues (Gottsegen said the Courage's fan base, while less dramatic, is more youthful and female). It is said that it is biased). But those fans are there, the interest is there, the money is there, and it's coming in faster than ever before.
“We flipped the narrative,” Gotsegen said. “Women's football and women's sport as a whole has been seen to some extent as a charity and a cause. 'It's the right thing to do.'” But I think it's a smart thing to do now. That's what I want to say. ”
In November, the NWSL signed media rights deals with television providers (including CBS and ESPN) worth $240 million.
“We've put a great product out there on the pitch, and people want to come see it. Brands are starting to notice it, and media partners are starting to notice it, too,” says Gotsegen.
***
Riley Jackson, the youngest player on North Carolina College's roster, was supposed to be a Blue Devil. But between his sophomore year and his junior year in high school, his professional game turned into a solid enough career in Jackson's eyes to avoid college soccer, thanks in large part to Olivia Moultrie. Ta.
In 2021, Moultrie, then 15, successfully sued the NWSL to sign with the Portland Thorns before he turned 18. Until then, women could not become professionals or even sign contracts until they reached legal adulthood. situation. Teams can now sign female players without age restrictions, and the NWSL is quickly seeing an influx of young players. Moultrie has scored six goals in the regular season so far, earning him a spot on the national team. she is 18 years old.
Overbeck helped scout Jackson, who recently turned 18, to play at Duke in 2022 when he was a sophomore in high school. However, in 2023, Jackson withdrew his verbal commitment to the Blue Devils and instead signed with Courage. She spent her senior year taking online classes at a private school in Roswell, Georgia.
“It was truly the hardest decision of my life,” Jackson says. “Ultimately, I’m really glad I made this decision because I’m so happy to be here.”
Her work is going well so far. She says her parents told her that “she needs to earn enough money if she is going to skip her education.” Jackson felt the financial gamble was worth it. Things have changed a lot since Overbeck was her age, and Jackson doesn't have to worry too much about giving up her Duke education for a career in the NWSL.
But even if given the chance, Overbeck wouldn't necessarily follow Jackson's path.
“I think it's going to be a difficult decision not to go to college,” Overbeck says. “College was the best four years of my life. I had a chance to grow, I had a chance to fail, and I had a chance to succeed. When you jump into the pros all of a sudden, this is what you expect to happen. Sometimes I feel that player. I feel like I have to grow up quickly. ”
she's right. The risk of failure is higher in the NWSL than in college, and athletes are students whose livelihoods do not necessarily depend on soccer. A question is running through Jackson's mind. What if she gets hurt? What if she wasn't good enough? What will she do then?
But these are the kinds of questions every professional athlete, male or female, must ask themselves. What the NWSL has done in recent years is remove the question for female soccer players: “Can I make it to the pros?”
***
WakeMed Soccer Park's pigtails suddenly stand up. Striker Tyler Russi's volley off the back of his foot sailed over the outstretched arm of Seattle's pink-clad goalkeeper, breaking the half-hour silence. When someone beat a steel drum from the left sideline and the home team blared a siren, the players' blue jerseys blurred as the Carrage gathered in a group hug by the goal post.
Pigtails and her parents and thousands of others scream in the field. “NC!” A voice shouted from a corner of the stands. “Courage!” the other person shouts. It's clearly a practiced chant. These fans are regulars at WakeMed Park.
In the 89th minute, Jackson ran onto the field with his brown hair tied up in a ponytail. Up close, the 18-year-old looks her age, if not younger. But all anyone can see from the stands is a midfielder who runs the fastest, dribbles with all his might and defends with all his might.
Riley Jackson is proving herself and her sport worthy of the field.
Get The Chronicle delivered straight to your inbox
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. You can cancel at any time.
| Sports Editor-in-Chief
Sophie Levenson is a second-year student at Trinity University and the sports editor for Issue 120 of The Chronicle.
