With the folding of the Women's Pro Soccer league (WPS) following the 2011 season, Americans have been pursuing playing opportunities abroad, most especially in Europe and Japan. Although some players choose to stay domestic and find roster spots on teams in the amateur USL W-League or WPSL Elite league. Others take advantage of the seasonality differences, joining teams abroad during the fall to spring and then return to North America for the summer season.
Some teams abroad have proven to provide quality experiences whereas others don't live up to expectations. The European leagues have the advantage of being eligible to play in the UEFA Champions League, a club tournament featuring the top teams in each nation. Currently CONCACAF does not organize this type of tournament for club teams in their region of North and Central America and the Caribbean. The 2012-13 Champions League features 32 teams with a total of 25 American players.
American Lindsey Horan passed up a scholarship with the top-ranked University of North Carolina for a six-figure two-year professional contract with Paris Saint-Germain in France's Division I. As an 18 year old playing abroad, Horan's situation is unique as the majority of player's venturing overseas tend to be college grads who have already played out their four years at a college institution. Also unique is the size of her contract. There is no evidence showing that many teams any where in the world can pay this kind of money.
Following a collegiate soccer career at Penn State University, American Ali Krieger signed a contract with FFC Frankfurt in Germany in 2008. She developed into a world-class player, landing a spot on the US National Team in 2010 proving that being abroad doesn't mean you lack visibility to the national team programs.
Americans Beverly Goebel-Yanez and Becky Moros captured the 2012 Nadeshiko League title with INAC, in front of a crowd of 5000 fans.
Yael Averbach documents her experiences playing in Europe through The New York Times Goal blog. She explains the nuances of different living cultures, soccer styles and some of the off field adventures that come along with living outside of her home country.
US Soccer prefers to have a domestic pro league for their talent pool to play in and is currently working with stakeholders to determine the best economic model to execute the 3.0 version of a USA pro league. The first two editions, WUSA (2001-2003) and WPS (2009-2011), are now-defunct.
Sources: Our Game Magazine, December 2011, The Denver Post, The Equalizer, The New York Times.
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