Racing’s Youth Academy Joins USL W League

Courtesy Racing Louisville

Racing Louisville FC announced today that its youth academy will join the fledging USL W League which starts its inaugural season in May 2022. For the uninitiated, the USL W League is a “a pre-professional women’s soccer league” according to the league website. This is not to be confused with the USL Super League which is intended to be the second level in the US Women’s soccer pyramid and is scheduled to begin in 2023. In a nutshell, Racing has formed its own “Racing Louisville 2” and placed it the 3rd level of the soccer pyramid. By placing the academy team in the 3rd division, Racing will hopefully avoid the negativity seen in the USL Championship world where MLS teams routinely place their developmental “2” teams in the second division and where those teams consistently perform as doormats (Red Bulls 2 excluded).

This is a strong step for the Racing Louisville FC organization. They are the first team to “to complete its developmental pyramid topped by a franchise from the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)”. From the article, here is said pyramid:

This is a great move for the organization and the city’s soccer culture as a whole. It is also a very clever hedge. The NWSL has lasted longer than any other recent women’s soccer league in America. That doesn’t mean it’s invincible or frankly even that stable. The salary numbers thrown around for the USL Super League are very close to the current league minimums for the NWSL. Orlando Pride draftee (No. 5 overall) and UCLA Star Mia Fishel recently rejected the NWSL for Tigres in Liga MX Femenil. The winter transfer window in the FAWSL has been pretty busy and theoretically Racing should be using their international spots to complete for the same players. If the NWSL is the best league in the world, it’s only by a nose and may be hanging on by a thread if the 2022 season has similar off-the-field issues as the 2021 season did. This a great move for professional women’s soccer in Louisville, but it’s also evidence that Louisville may be NWSL-proof (pun intended).