The Big NWSL Preview: The most anticipated season yet?
Two new teams, a whole host of intriguing coaching hires and world record fees smashed. Does that make this the most exciting NWSL season to date? WFC asked players and coaches that very question...
The new NWSL season got under way last night UK time as NWSL Shield winners San Diego Wave pipped Championship winners Gotham FC to the newly formatted Challenge Cup in a one-off game thanks to Alex Morgan’s goal two minutes from time.
It reignited a rivalry which may see the two go head-to-head for the honours again this season, but that can never be a given when you take into account the open nature of the NWSL, where quite literally all 14 teams could compete, particularly with eight play-off spots now available due to the inclusion of two new franchises.
Between the arrival of big spending Bay FC and the returning Utah Royals, as well as a catalogue of intriguing coaching appointments and the world record transfer fee being broken, this is potentially the most hotly-anticipated NWSL season there has been as the league passes a decade since it was first held back in 2013.
With its franchised model, as well as allocated players, trades and the college draft, the NWSL still very much holds a unique place in the world, far away from the traditional European model, but nobody can argue it doesn’t create close competition, with Gotham the perfect example having finished rock bottom in 2022, yet ending 2023 with the Championship trophy.
The actual league action gets under way at 5pm UK time today when Kansas City Current host Portland Thorns at their brand-new purpose built 11,500-seater CPKFC Stadium, another first for the league, and indeed the women’s game as a whole.
Check out over 70 more unique stories in WFC’s Premium section, available for just £45 for 12 months, paid in one go, or an £8 a month rolling subscription.
All subscriptions come with a 7-day free trial to allow you to explore our full archive.
Plus, guarantee you everything that is to come over the next 12 months, including our Olympics coverage.
What – or who – is new?
Plenty, and that’s beyond just Bay FC and Utah Royals. There has been a whole host of big signings, including from the new Bay Area franchise, but also just a shedload of interesting coaching appointments across the league.
Five of last season’s 12 sides are starting out with new head coach’s, while Bay are relying on the vast experience of Albertin Montoya, and the Royals on former player and USA international Amy Rodriguez.
The rest though all hold plenty of intrigue in their own right. Probably the highest in that list is former USA head coach Vlatko Andonovski who has taken over the Current after leaving his US Soccer role post-a disappointing World Cup last summer.
Washington Spirit may have to wait until the summer, but the pending arrival of Barcelona’s Champions League-winning coach, Jonatan Giráldez, may even trump Andonovski, while former Jamaica head coach Lorne Donaldson has taken the reins at Chicago Red Stars.
Other new faces include Fran Alonso who has swapped Celtic for Houston Dash, and don’t forget new Damallsvenskan champion, Pablo Piñones Arce, who has left Hammarby to become Technical Director alongside Alonso.
At Racing Louisville, the popular Bev Yanez has stepped up from assistant to head coach after the departure of Kim Björkegren.
Some of those remaining in their posts include defending champion, Gotham’s Juan Carlos Amorós, and Angel City FC head coach Becki Tweed, entering her first full season in charge.
Both are excited about the extra challenges this season has created, as well as the extra tests facing them on the touchline with a who’s who of big name coaches entering the NWSL.
“Honestly, as a coach it’s extremely enjoyable and extremely challenging at the same time,” says Amorós. “It’s exciting to watch, I’m a football fan and you never know what will happen. Everyone has top coaches, top players, plays in top stadiums. We get good crowds, there is so much interest every week, every game, new deals with ESPN and CBS.
“There is a lot more money coming in and I’m not surprised big coaches are coming here. Other teams are making big moves, records are being broken. We are limited with the salary cap still, it grew this year, but it is still there and you are seeing more internationals coming over. We play in the summer, the weather is nice, the stadiums are full and the clubs treat the players the best they can. It’s a very interesting league and I’m looking forward to seeing how the season unfolds, but it will be challenging.”
Tweed echoes the sentiments. “I think again…as important as it is to have quality of players, quality of coaches is really important as well. We strive and in my opinion, I think we are the best league in the world and we should be attracting these coaches and players.
“You have to embrace and enjoy the challenge. I’m really excited to see what they do with these teams. Jonatan coming is exciting, why wouldn’t we want someone like that here to see what he can do? Those things excite me, they add a challenge, but they add quality and as a coach you want to be involved in world class quality. If it wasn’t that level, would you want to be here as a coach? My goal is to grow and work among world class coaches and the NWSL is affording me the opportunity to do that.”
It’s not just the coaches which add intrigue either, because it’s probably been one of the biggest and busiest off-seasons the NWSL has known when it comes to recruitment too, as allocation money continues to increase, combined with ever-growing commercial and TV deals, with the league set to be shown across CBS Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime and Scripps Sports in 2024.
Those figures were only emphasised earlier in the week when the sale of San Diego Wave was approved for almost $120m, with rumours Angel City FC could also be sold for around the $180m mark. Eye-watering.
It is though remarkable the world record has been broken by a franchise which didn’t even exist until recently, with Bay FC spending $860,000 to bring Zambia international Racheal Kundananji to the league, with her national team teammate Barba Banda not far behind, joining Orlando Pride for only a slightly lower fee.
Bay, set up by former USA internationals such as Aly Wagner, Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne and Danielle Slaton, have made several big splashes, including Barcelona’s Asisat Oshoala, Manchester City’s Deyna Castellanos and experienced NWSL defender Emily Menges.
Others though have been similarly ambitious as the NWSL proves it cannot just continue to merely compete with the exponential growth in Europe, but remain ahead of the game, hence why this is shaping up to be the best season yet.
How do the Champions stack up?
When Gotham FC made an early move to sign four, yes four, senior USA internationals in Rose Lavelle, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnett and Crystal Dunn, it looked like the biggest statement of intent any club could make this off-season, until the transfer window got a little crazy.
With the European model of free agency now implemented for the first time in NWSL, it allowed Amoros to swoop for all four at the end of last season, to compensate for losses such as Kristie Mewis to West Ham United, and leaves the defending champions looking strong heading into the season, despite a narrow loss to the Wave on home soil.
The former Tottenham Hotspur coach though hasn’t just added names for the sake of it, but qualities he believes will benefit his team.
“Definitely. We believed they are players who can adapt to our style, we call it the organised chaos!
“They wanted to understand football in a different way. They are all very different but very creative, very intelligent. They are quality in terms of their ability but their football IQs are also very high. Free agency is fairly new here, but they were available at no cost, no trades or anything. We didn’t have to speak with the clubs, but it’s the same with the other players.
“People think of those four, but we have Ella [Stevens], Maycee [Bell], Cassie [Miller], they are the ones here doing pre-season and we are working with, we’ve only had those four for two weeks which is not ideal.”
Relevant Read: The Big Interview with Juan Carlos Amorós
For Dunn in particular, the move to Gotham is almost a move home, having grown up on Long Island, and she admits it’s a special feeling to be joining the champions, as well as offering an insight into the fact her and her new recruits are more than familiar with each other already, and therefore shouldn’t take a huge amount of adapting.
"New York is a really special place, everyone knows that. I'm from Long Island, but I'll be standing on corners with signs to get the Long Islanders out here. All my pro career my parents haven't really seen me play live, and for me I think it will be a different season. I can look up and see my people in the stands and what we have off the field will make me a better player. When you're off-field life is whole, it helps you go out and be the best player every day."
On her fellow USA internationals joining her, Dunn adds “"We were very well represented national team, but the reality me and Sonnett and T and Rose are still the new players on the team, so we've come back and we're still being integrated. I do feel like it was great to have so many of us in camps, we could support the team from afar and have watch parties and it helped us stay connected with our new team and learn more about the team.
“Everything I learned about this club before I even stepped foot here is the team is really close and that's important because the season is long and tough and a close locker room is something I noticed off the bat when coming in here.”
Africa finally gets its mainstream attention
There was a hope last summer’s World Cup would finally put some of Africa’s top talents on the mainstream map, as all of Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco made it out of their respective group stages down under.
Nigeria went toe-to-toe with European champions England, while South Africa gave it a good go against the Netherlands and Morocco were defeated by France, but it shone a spotlight on those who have gained little mainstream attention in a continent where the game is still battling growth.
Ironically, one of the stars of the tournament has actually departed the NWSL this off-season, with Thembi Kgatlana heading south to Mexico with Tigres, but she’s been replaced at Racing Louisville by Banyana Banyana teammate Linda Motlhalo.
Relevant Read: The Big Interview with Racheal Kundananji
Similarly ironic is the fact the two biggest money signings have been from Zambia, the one African nation who didn’t make it out of a group which did though include eventual champions Spain and former champions Japan.
But one of the off-season’s biggest new signings was that of Oshoala, who was tempted to part ways with Europe’s top team in the form of the Catalan giants and join Kundananji in a formidable front line for the newcomers to the league.
Add in promising young Ghanian forward Princess Marfo who has also joined the San Francisco-based team, and Africa might have a new favourite club to back.
Others have been busy too though, with Kansas City Current adding Temwa Chawinga - sister of PSG forward Tabitha - to their squad, after a goal-filled few years in China, and another to definitely keep an eye on this year.
"This is the first professional team in the Bay area,” says Oshoala. “We have a lot of fans already, it's been a surprise to us because we didn't know people knew about us so much already and I have to give it to our PR team because we've got a lot of attention already.
"I've just been here a couple of days, it's been good. I like how Albertin wants to play, that's one of the things that brought me here, how he wanted to play. Everyone is trying to change their mindset towards Albertin's style of play and I think it will be good."
She did though admit that despite the lure of Bay FC, it wasn’t an easy decision to leave Barcelona.
"There were nights I cried myself to sleep. Did I want to stay longer, did I want to move? I felt I wanted to do something different in this point of my career. Five years was a long time for me, based on the personal vision I have for myself. I won't lie, it was difficult, but I had to do what I had to do."
The City of Angels
Just down the road, or 383 miles, lies Angel City FC, who have been able to go under the radar somewhat this off-season after two years of fanfare for their new Hollywood-based franchise which garnered so much attention two years ago with its array of A-List backers and big-name signings such as Christen Press.
It wasn’t the easiest first 18 months and poor form led to the departure of head coach Freya Coombe, replaced by her assistant Becki Tweed, who guided the team to an excellent second half of the season and a spot in the play-offs.
Their off-season has been intriguing, with the club veering away from the previous strategy of adding big experienced names as they have with Julie Ertz and Amandine Henry, and focusing on youth, such as Gisele Thompson, younger sister of Alyssa, and Korea Republic’s Casey Phair who made her World Cup debut last summer at the age of 16.
“I think when we looked at our roster in the off-season it was important to look at the composition of it,” says Tweed. “We were in that time where we had the experienced players and then really young like Alyssa, the gap was quite stretched, now it’s quite interesting because you sit in a group of 30 people, you look around the circle and I’m not sure you could find a more diverse group in terms of people who are experienced, not experienced, travelled the world, not left LA, it has everything.
Relevant Read: The Big Interview with Becki Tweed
“How does a group of people end up together with so many different stories, languages, personalities? It’s wild to me. I look at Casey, Gisele and Alyssa, the draft picks and rookies, they’re their own era and their own group, then you have Syd and Ali and Amandine. The best part of this team is it doesn’t matter what age you are, you’re on the team. It doesn’t matter who sits with you, the conversation will be the same and that’s really special.
Another new candidate is Messiah Bright, one of the Rookie of the Year candidates last season after a standout season with Orlando Pride. Angel City paid $130,000 to bring Bright from east to west and help spearhead a new-look attack, and she’s looking forward to getting down to business with her new team.
“I've learned a lot and I'm continuing to learn a lot,” says the forward. “We have a very special group of players where everyone is relentless in what they do. It helps me to have that motivation to do anything that they need me to do for the team and I feel that we all work for each other. We're a predominantly young team and we’re getting after it every day with one another. It's definitely put me in the mindset of moving forward in a game setting and also translating from practices.
“Everything has gone accordingly, and that's nothing but the grace of God. I am super excited to be in this moment with a new team and coaching staff. We all have an end goal that we're trying to reach and to be a part of that is something that I feel any player would come into, wanting to help out in any way that they can. I'm continuously learning every day.
“Becki is a phenomenal coach, being able to be under her wing and learn from her. Also, players like Sydney Leroux and Ali Riley have pushed me tremendously in different areas. I can't wait to have a full season with them and hopefully win as many games as we can and bring back a championship.”
What of the Wave?
Casey Stoney would have been satisfied to have laid down an early marker by beating Gotham in their own backyard on Friday night, and was quick to interject a journalist on her pre-match press conference who asked about wanting to prove they were the best team in the league.
Before he could finish, Stoney lent forward into her mic and stated “We finished first, we were the best team”, before allowing the journalist to continue, but it will wrangle someone who was a serial winner as a player that Wave didn’t add the Championship trophy to their Shield.
"The overall feeling is excitement and anticipation,” says the head coach. “We were happy last season we won the league, but we want to be more consistent home and away and we want to start that on Saturday out here. We have a lot in our locker room to help them, we know what we've done in the window."
Stoney’s recruitment has been more evolution than revolution and that appears to give them a good chance of repeating last season’s success, with their squad looking a lot more settled than some of their rivals.
The former England international has added bright young Swedish defender Hanna Lundkvist from Atletico Madrid, as well as Australia’s Kaitlyn Torpey, while bringing Savannah McCaskill in from Angel City FC, among others.
But she will be as equally reliant on the ever-improving USA forward Jaedyn Shaw, the unflappable Naomi Girma and the boost of the experienced Abby Dahlkemper returning to full fitness.
"It's about building our style even more. We brought a few in, lost a few. We want more control of the ball for larger periods because it will give us more chance of winning. Our home form wasn't as good as it should be, but our away form was excellent. We've been working on being a bit more aggressive in that, every team starts out wanting to win and I think we have a roster capable of doing that."
The Welsh Revolution
The Reign, guided by Laura Harvey once more, are always there or thereabouts. The combination of club and head coach is one of the most well-known in the NWSL’s history, but it still hasn’t yet brought about that elusive Championship title for Harvey.
The franchise has gone back to its roots this year, breaking with the Olympique Lyonnais link and becoming Seattle Reign once more, and Harvey’s off-season recruitment has been one of intrigue, while adapting to life without the retired Megan Rapinoe.
One name synonymous with the Reign over the years has been Jess Fishlock, and she’s been joined by two fellow Welsh internationals as Angharad James returns to the league and is joined by long-serving Reading defender Lily Woodham.
With Ji So-yun also an intriguing catch after a spell back home in South Korea, with Harvey looking to compensate in the middle for the losses of the likes of Lavelle and Sonnett, with Reign too have done minimal business over the winter compared to some, but their new recruits are settling in.
“I think as soon as I found out that Seattle was interested, it was an easy decision for me to make,” says James, who previously played for Orlando Pride. “To come to such a prolific club with such experienced players and great, young players coming through too, it’s an environment that I could see myself and picture myself being in and I want to win trophies and we win trophies here.”
Both too unsurprisingly admit they spoke to Fishlock at length before making the move across the pond.
“Obviously, Jess has loved being here for the long time that she has been,” says Woodham. “I spoke with Laura before I came out here and just got a really good feel for the club and obviously we’re all aware that the fans are amazing and the stadium gets pretty full. So yeah, it’s been nice to actually feel it in real life.”
“Obviously the club has done well for the last couple of years and we obviously speak to Jess a lot, so we knew a lot already. It’s exciting to go somewhere that’s got really high ambitions within the league and it’s obviously shown that the last couple of years that that’s where the team is aimed to be every year. So yeah, to be a part of that is exciting.”
James adds “Yeah, every time that we get on [international] camp and we speak to Jess, Jess says how wonderful of a place Seattle is and I hear the summers are good here, so we can’t wait for that. Since Jess has been here, I think it speaks volumes for how long she has stayed at a club for her to come over here and be here for over 10 years, speaks for itself. I’m really excited to be a part of it.”
“I’ve played in this league before and I kind of know what to expect and it’s good to be back, I’m really excited to be back in the league and the style of football here is a little bit different to what we’re used to back at home, but it’s one that I feel like I can challenge myself and I might be out of my comfort zone at times, but that’s pushing to get better and to be better for the team. The winning culture that we’ve created here and has been created over the last few years was an environment that I want to be a part of. It was an easy decision to come back into the league and to play for Seattle.”
A Thorn in the side?
Despite finishing second in the regular season, just two points off Shield winners San Diego Wave, it felt like they weren’t somewhat under the radar off the back of winning the Championship in 2022.
With Rhian Wilkinson gone, it was down to Geordie-native Mike Norris, previously Wilkinson’s assistant, to lead a team with the likes of Sophia Smith and Christine Sinclair, and they’ll be hoping to go one better in 2024.
The club has spent big to bring Jessie Fleming in from Chelsea, but the core of last season’s squad remains, with Olivia Moultrie improving all the time alongside Smith and co, as well as the impressive Sam Coffey in midfield.
“Pre-season has felt like a two-part series. We’ve been at home, we’ve been at Coachella which was fantastic. The squad we’ve had together has been two parts as well but everyone’s put a lot of work in to make the new players feel integrated because we’ve got a lot of new players.
“Everybody’s excited. There’s the buzz the first game of a season brings. It was a busy off-season, we had things we’d prepped for happening.”
The Chasing Pack
Six sides missed out on the play-offs last season, plus the return of Utah Royals to the fold, and all have in different ways gone about strengthening their respective packs ahead of the 2024 season.
As mentioned, the addition of two new sides means there is eight play-off spots this season rather than six, which would have benefitted both Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit last season.
The Pride though will be hoping for a continuation in their upward trajectory, led by Hines and his assistant Giles Barnes, with all eyes on the addition of Banda in attack, which could be a revelation for both them and the league as a whole.
“Once we were clear of expansion, we had the ability to start signing players,” Hines says. “Signing the likes of Angelina and Luana…we had a hole to fill losing Mikayla Cluff, she wanted to go home, having played myself and gone through that I wanted to help her and she became the franchise player in her home town, we didn’t want to stand in the way of that.
“We lost Viv [Villacorta] to an ACL, we let Jordyn Listro go, so we needed midfielders and we’ve added some big internationals who have played at a high level, but also fit our profile which is massive.”
Relevant Read: The Big Interview with Seb Hines and Giles Barnes
Hines has also strengthened their Brazilian contingent with the additions of Luana and Angelina to add to Rafaelle, Adriana and the legendary Marta.
“I look at chemistry, you’ve got Marta, Luana, Angelina, Rafaelle, Adriana. When they go to the Olympics they’re still playing with each other, so half your team doesn’t lose that chemistry. Those relationships transfer to performance.”
The Spirit, armed with the likes of Trinity Rodman, Andi Sullivan, Ashley Hatch, combined with experienced NWSL head coach Mark Parsons, looked like a prospect last season, but it never really worked out that way.
Parsons is out and temporarily replaced by Spaniard Adrián González who steps in until Giráldez takes over in the summer.
They too have made little in the way of major signings, but have added USA international Casey Krueger, though lost Sam Staab, while draft pick Croix Bethune is a good bet to make an early impact in the side.
Racing Louisville too is an evolution of their 2023 selves, but the side Bev Yanez inherits after being assistant has lost firepower in Kgatlana, but enjoyed a relatively settled off-season.
The likes of Jaelin Howell, Ary Borges, Uchenna Kanu, Savannah DeMelo and co all remain, and the franchise will be hoping for a couple of steps up the ladder this time around.
It’s extra special though for defender Arin Wright who is coming home in 2024, joining after eight with Chicago Red Stars.
“I don’t even know how to really describe it,” says the defender. “It’s an emotional feeling, just talking about it makes me emotional because every little girl’s dream here is to grow up and play professional soccer if you’re playing soccer in the state.
“For so long the state’s been overlooked with women’s soccer, and so to finally be able to come back and show all the little girls that grew up here that it is possible to live out their dreams is so cool.”
Houston Dash, Kansas City Current and Chicago Red Stars all occupied the bottom three spots last time around, but there’s reason for optimism for all three heading into 2024.
The combination of Alonso and Piñones-Arce in Texas is an intriguing one, and while it may take a little time to implement their ideas, the latter has been quick to pounce on his former rivals BK Häcken for talented Swedish midfielder Elin Rubensson, who under the radar should be one of the pick-ups of the season should she adapt to NWSL life right away.
"I’m excited to be here in Houston and I’m looking forward to get started with my new team,” Rubensson says. “This is a great adventure for me and my family. We are really looking forward to getting to know the city and the people. The Dash is the right place for me to develop and take the next step in my career. I can’t wait for the season to start and play in front of our fans!”
The Dash though scored just 16 goals in 22 games last season, not helped by the loss of key forward players, and have moved to bring Cece Kinzer in along with the experienced Yūki Nagasato, all while making María Sánchez one of the best paid players in the league.
While Gotham went one way in the league last season, the Current went completely the other. From Championship finalists in 2022 to second bottom in 2023, it was a torrid year in every year for the team, who should now be revitalised as Andonovski returns to the city he won multiple titles with.
All the ingredients are there, whether it’s their new state-of-the-art stadium, or existing world class talent such as Brazil’s Debinha or Sweden’s Hanna Glas, whose first season was beset by injuries, and unfortunately remains out for the time being.
Their recruitment though has been bold, with the additions of Nichelle Prince, Bia Zaneratto and Temwa Chawinga on top of Debinha meaning the attack looks mouth-watering, and that’s with 2023 number one draft pick Michelle Cooper in the equation too.
While there might have been a lot of change this off-season, there will still be plenty of people expecting at least a play-off push from the Current.
And what of the 2023 bottom side? It was a tough year for Chicago, with long gone the days they were spear-headed by the likes of Sam Kerr.
The season-ending injury to in-form Mal Swanson certainly didn’t help matters, and with the flying winger close to a return and the addition of Donaldson in the dugout, there’s reason for the Red Stars to be optimistic.
The recruitment has been solid too, with Staab bringing NWSL experience to the backline and Shea Groom doing similar in attack. Natalia Kuikka looks to be an excellent pick-up from Portland Thorns, while the club has also swooped to bring Germany international defender Maximiliane Rall from Bayern Munich.
That just leaves the returning Utah Royals, back in the league for the first time since 2020, with former long-serving Reading head coach Kelly Chambers leading the way as Sporting Director, with US legend Amy Rodriguez in the dugout.
Relevant Read: The Big Interview with Kelly Cousins
They’ve been a lot quieter in the market than fellow newcomers Bay, but assembled a solid squad led by the likes of Paige Monahan, Iffy Onumonu and Imani Dorsey. Perhaps we shouldn’t expect miracles first time around as the Royals find their feet with a solid base, but it’s good to see them back.
Young Dutch midfielder Dana Foederer though will be one to keep an eye on.
The most exciting season yet?
That then is the question, and all the ingredients add up to make a really intriguing recipe when you look across all 14 teams.
With the action set to get under way later on Saturday, what do the stars of the league think ahead of the big kick-off?
"I think the excitement is over here as well,” says NWSL veteran Kelley O’Hara. “It's great, every year, every season, every off-season, there's changes to the CBA so it makes things different and interesting and creates those storylines to be had over the course of the season.
“Like you said, it's probably made for one of the most exciting, if not the most exciting and anticipated seasons to happen. For me, it's just so fun to watch how the NWSL has grown, how clubs have developed and yeah, it's great. It's what we've always wanted and it will continue to get better and better. There's so much more growth but I think the storylines we'll see this season will be so exciting and they deserve a lot of attention."
More players, including Oshoala, DeMelo and Angel City’s Claire Emslie, also echo the feeling this is the most exciting season yet, and will only continue to go one way.
"I feel like there's an extra buzz,” says Emslie. “With the new teams coming in and new TV deals that are being signed, there's a lot more money in it so it does feel like it's gone up a level. The league has also been opened to changing its structure with free agency and hopefully that gets even better next year. The USA wants to align a bit more with Europe, its realised it needs to think about how football works elsewhere rather than making its own rules up and I think it's improving, for sure."
Menges, another of Bay FC’s recruits this off-season, is also excited about the big kick-off.
“I think a lot of the international talent we have brought in has given us a little bit of…you can get stuck a little bit of stuck in the NWSL mindset and I think bringing in players like Deyna and Jen and Zee, all different players from all different places who played in different countries, different leagues from their national teams to top clubs in the world.
“It just gives a different perspective, and it gives not just on the field, but off the field as well, a new challenges to a backline which is always exciting, and for me to know that I will not be playing against them, I'll be playing with them!”
Oshoala adds "More players will keep talking about the NWSL. I want to be a part of something new, something special. We have more players, stars around the world coming here and everyone wants to be a part of that."
DeMelo meanwhile believes the league encapsulates the growth the whole sport is seeing right now.
"I just think across the globe women's soccer is taking off and I'm really excited to see how much it's taking off now here in the NWSL,” says the Louisville midfielder. “There's so many more opportunities for us as players to keep playing for longer and I hope it keeps growing because our fan bases are growing as well. We love to see that.”
Wave head coach Stoney believes this is the place to be for top international footballers, despite the continued strengthening of top European leagues.
"I think if you want to play international football at the highest level you come here. This is more representative of international football than any other league. More and more top players are coming in and we want to make it the best league in the world. We have great stadiums, we have fantastic crowds and the fan base is great. It will continue to grow and it's about the advert we put out to make sure people keep coming back."