Meg Linehan

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Emily Olsen |Meg Linehan |Tamerra Griffin |Asli Pelit

Full Time Newsletter ⚽| This is The Athletic’s weekly women’s soccer newsletter. Sign up here to receive Full Time directly in your inbox.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Asli Pelit |Meg Linehan

Washington Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez is set to become the next head coach of OL Lyonnes in France and will join the club at the end of June, sources confirmed to The Athletic. Assistant coach Adrián González, who previously led the team in an interim capacity before Giráldez arrived, will take over as head coach in Washington. OL Lyonnes is part of businesswoman Michele Kang's growing global portfolio of women's soccer clubs, under the umbrella of her company, Kynisca.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Meg Linehan |Jeff Rueter

Lo'eau LaBonta was with the Kansas City Current when U.S. women's national team head coach Emma Hayes called. By the time she hung up, she had earned her first senior national team call-up at age 32. She joins her club teammates, midfielder Claire Hutton (age 19) and forward Michelle Cooper (22). "Usually, I'm the one congratulating them like I'm the teen mom.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Asli Pelit |Meg Linehan

On Friday, the National Women's Soccer League's application to launch a Division II league in 2026 became public. In a letter to U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman formally outlined the league's proposal. CBS Sports was first to report the application, and The Athletic corroborated the document's existence. In the letter, Berman said establishing a second division was "essential for the development and sustainability" of the NWSL.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Meg Linehan |Asli Pelit

The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) has officially laid groundwork for launching a Division II league in 2026 to boost player development. The Athletic has corroborated the existence of the documents initially reported by CBS Sports, which confirm that NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman sent a letter to U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson on April 1, submitting its sanctioning application for a Division II women's soccer league.