U.S. Soccer no longer directly manages the NWSL, but several general managers of NWSL teams told ESPN that they believe the federation is still not collaborating enough with clubs regarding player management, leading to tensions around international windows.
"Because of the history of the league and the way U.S. Soccer has been intertwined with this league, I think there is an expectation of clubs in this league to bend over for the federation whenever and at whatever cost, and I think that it's a real, real problem," one GM told ESPN. Another GM called for "cultural shift" to give clubs more respect in decision-making.
U.S. Soccer helped found the NWSL in 2013 and directly paid U.S. women's national team players' salaries to make the league more sustainable. The arrangement ended after the 2020 season, when the league became independent and USWNT players started shifting to contracts paid by the NWSL and its teams.
Comments from GMs across the league -- who were granted anonymity by ESPN to speak freely on sensitive topics -- came during interviews for ESPN's annual NWSL GM survey following a recent power struggle over releasing players for the U20 World Cup. Many NWSL team executives felt that the private back-and-forth over U20 players represented a wider power imbalance that still exists with senior players.
The U20 tournament fell outside of an official FIFA window, meaning teams were not obligated to release players to national teams. Some of the United States' best age-eligible players were not released by their NWSL teams because the U20 World Cup fell at a crucial time in the push for the NWSL playoffs.
Senior USWNT head coach Emma Hayes stressed prior to the tournament that the United States needed its best players available for their long-term development. Hayes told ESPN in August that she is "massively worried" about players missing out on development by not playing at U20 World Cups, and that she is "sending a warning sign" that there could be long-term consequences for the senior team.
Two weeks later, the USWNT U20 World Cup team was announced without several age-eligible star players, including Claire Hutton, Lily Yohannes and Kimmi Ascanio. U20 USWNT head coach Vicky Jepson called it "upsetting" to be missing players for the World Cup.
The way those conversations transpired "dented the relationship" between the clubs and the USWNT, a third GM told ESPN, adding it was "not a collaboration, at all."
All parties agreed that the only entity that could truly fix the U20 World Cup player availability issue is FIFA.
The USWNT was not the only team missing its top professional players at the tournament. More teenagers are becoming professional as the women's game grows. Among other prominent examples, the North Carolina Courage did not release midfielder Erica Meg Parkinson to England for the U20 World Cup.
"Clubs and federation are being left to figure it out themselves, and nobody wins," a fourth GM said. That GM was also complimentary of Hayes for being "supportive" and finding solutions that made everyone in their club feel respected. Feelings of frustration among GMs were not unanimous.
One GM felt that some colleagues were "short-sighted" for not releasing U20 players: "You have a responsibility to develop them, and playing in a World Cup is part of that." A different general manager said that, "Under Emma Hayes, we've had nothing but great relationships with U.S. Soccer on that front."
Still, seven different general managers expressed concerns to ESPN that NWSL clubs are expected to submit to the U.S. Soccer Federation's demands around player availability and player load management.
U20 added fuel, but senior USWNT drives conversation
For many, the power struggle over players for the U20 World Cup power was a microcosm for wider frustrations, including the U.S. women's national team's recurring January training camp, and the regular day-to-day management of players.
The U.S. women's national team will host a training camp and play a friendly match in January outside of an official FIFA window, as they have done almost every year for decades. In decades past, however, there was no professional U.S. league for long stretches, or the season was very short and reserved to summer.
This year, however, NWSL teams can begin preseason on Jan. 2 -- the league's earliest start ever.
The NWSL will begin its 2027 season on Feb. 11 -- one month earlier than any previous start -- to allow for a roughly six-week World Cup break in the summer. U.S. players who are called into that January camp will miss a chunk of the already-truncated NWSL preseason.
A similar battle unfolded ahead of the 2023 World Cup, when the USWNT wanted more time with players to prepare. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman initially decided to strictly enforce the February international window that year but eventually conceded to release players of all nationalities earlier than planned before the World Cup.
The NWSL team general manager who called for a "cultural shift" said they understand holding January camp ahead of a World Cup: "But in other years, I don't know. Do we need it? Do we not need it?
"Can we just trust the clubs to put the players are in proper full-time environments now, where they've got top quality performance people -- coaches that will get them ready? And I just feel like that camp is, for me, it's a nothing camp because you can't really do much with them because they're not at the level to be able to train. They need to be built up."
That issue of players being "built up" -- gradually getting players' bodies physically ready to safely compete without getting injured -- is the ongoing concern from GMs about collaborating with U.S. Soccer.
A fifth NWSL GM who voiced worries noted that players are with their clubs most of the year and with U.S. Soccer for only the equivalent of less than two months annually at most. The clubs should be trusted to manage a players' "load," -- or, in non-lingo: the data-driven measurements of how tired and stressed their body is, and how they should be rested or physically pushed accordingly.
This GM pointed out that players who go to national team camps and don't play any minutes come back 10 days later with "soft tissues that haven't been loaded, tendons and ligaments that haven't been loaded." That becomes a problem for the clubs when they return to them out of physical sync with the rest of their team, this GM said.
But another source said that rest during USWNT camp (which frequently has a rest day for all players) is necessary because of the heavy load that top players carry all year. "Load management" is a significant point of tension in the relationships, several sources said. NWSL teams and U.S. Soccer share the data they track.
January USWNT camp is a problem, this general manager said, because players are going into it after their only real true break of the year and their bodies need to reassimilate to the demands of training camp. (The NWSL Championship is Nov. 22 and the USWNT's World Cup qualifying tournament ends on Dec. 5 this year.)
Still, they and several other GMs said that they will still release players to the USWNT in January outside of the FIFA window: "That's also why I'm frustrated, that I don't feel like that level of understanding or collaboration is being reciprocated," one said.
This GM also understands that U.S. Soccer "has the same sort of obligations that we have," and must play enough games annually to fulfill commercial obligations. Sponsorship agreements were signed before FIFA recently reduced the number of international windows, which puts pressure on U.S. Soccer to play exhibitions in January.
"I think that's going to be an ongoing issue until the league put their foot down," one GM said.
Berman said earlier this month, when asked about her role in conversations around player availability for the U20 World Cup, that the league ultimately gave clubs permission in August to not release players if it didn't make sense for them.
"It is our hope that given how much of the real estate national teams occupy in the women's international calendar, that those kinds of tournaments can be played in FIFA windows," she said. "That will obviously be something that we advocate for and support. That will make the world order a lot easier to manage for us so that we can have clarity as to when we're going to have our players playing for club, and when we know that players will have to play for their country."
Two different general managers pointed out that NWSL teams are now paying players significant salaries -- over $1 million annually, in some cases.
For almost the first decade of the league, U.S. Soccer paid its players for their NWSL participation as part of the federation's role in managing the league. In that era, players frequently missed NWSL games before and after World Cups and Olympics, with U.S. Soccer and the player dictating their return dates. The expectations of that previous setup still linger, several general managers said.
And two different general managers pointed out that Hayes was previously the coach of Chelsea and felt she would share their feelings if tasked with releasing players to miss important games late in a season.
Berman, who sits on U.S. Soccer's board in her role as commissioner, was asked about collaboration with U.S. Soccer over youth development in August. She said that it is an area where "we've made the most progress over the last 12 months in terms of how closely we're working with U.S. Soccer."
One team general manager referenced those comments in speaking of the broader relationship and said that "from a sporting side, that's just not true."
"I do think we have to start having much bigger discussions around our league the way it is, with the pressure to win, with players' time away during FIFA windows, releasing players," this GM said. "And the expectation that they'll be released outside of windows is a huge bone of contention -- and also very American."