News of Note: Christen Press may not re-sign with K/Göteborg FC… FC Kansas City names head coach and assistant… FA WSL will add a lower division in 2014… The City of São Paulo International Tournament Begins on Sunday… FIFA Women’s Rankings, December Update due on Friday.
Christen Press may not re-sign with K/Göteborg FC: According to the Göteborgs-Posten (in Swedish), United States Women’s National Team Olympic alternate Christen Press, who was second in goals scored last season in the Damallsvenskan, and her current club, K/Göteborg FC are unable to agree on a new contract . The main sticking point is that the team is unwilling to release Press to the USWNT outside of the FIFA reserved dates. However, it appears that Press has a deadline of midnight tonight to change her mind (Twitter:@DandalBs), so there is a remote chance that Press could still re-sign with the team. So, if Press does not stay with Göteborg, then that opens up the likelihood that she will return to the States and play in the new professional league.
FC Kansas City names head coach and assistant: On Wednesday, the ownership of the new women’s professional franchise in Kansas City named Vlatko Andonovski as head coach with Huw Williams as his assistant. Andonovski is orignially from Macedonia, where he played professional soccer there before moving to the United States and playing professional indoor soccer (OurSportsCentral.com). Andonovski is also an assistant coach with the Missouri Comets indoor soccer team, who are under the same ownership as FC Kansas City. Additionally, he has experience coaching girls’ soccer, being a coach in Missouri’s girls ODP and the director of Sporting Blue Valley ECNL. Williams was born in Wales and was in the Blackburn Rovers’ youth system. He has a long career of coaching youth teams in Kansas and is a past Director of Coaching for the Kansas State Youth Soccer Association. William’s daughter, Nia, is a senior defender for Missouri State’s women’s soccer team (MSU profile) and is the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Defender of the Year (MSU Athletics).
FA WSL will add a lower division in 2014: On Wednesday, England’s FA announced that its Women’s Super League (WSL) will include a second division starting in 2014 along with promotion and relegation. At the end of the 2014 season, one team from the top WSL division (WSL1) will be relegated to the lower division (WSL2), while one WSL2 team will be promoted. The lower division will apparently consist of up to 12 teams, while the top division will remain at 8 teams. Also, all teams in the WSL will be required to have reserve squads which will play in one of two regional leagues. The FA has yet to comment on how the FA Women’s Premier League will be affected, which is currently the second tier in England for women’s soccer, after previously being the top tier prior to the introduction of the WSL in 2011.
The City of São Paulo International Tournament Begins on Sunday: The friendly tournament kicks-off with Brazil taking on Portugal at 13:00 local time (10:00 a.m. ET USA). Right after that match, Mexico faces Denmark. Write-ups are available for Brazil’s and Mexico’s rosters.
Tournament Schedule (local time):
09-Dec 16:00 Brazil vs. Portugal 09-Dec 18:00 Mexico vs. Denmark 13-Dec 19:30 Denmark vs. Portugal 13-Dec 21:50 Mexico vs. Brazil 16-Dec 16:00 Brazil vs. Denmark 16-Dec 18:00 Mexico vs. Portugal 19-Dec ??:?? Placement Matches
FIFA Women’s Rankings, December Update: The latest release of the official rankings for women’s international teams will be released on Friday, December 7th.
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