IIt’s been a turbulent few weeks for the National Women’s Soccer League, from the announcement of a historic player deal who abolished the conscription systemto the record-breaking $250m sale of Angel City on Thursday. But the league clearly has no intention of resting on its laurels.
Two new recruits to the NWSL’s leadership team were unveiled on Friday: Sarah Gregorius, former head of women’s soccer at world players’ union Fifpro, joins as senior director, sporting, while Karla Thompson, former executive director of performance and development for the San Diego Wave, becomes the league’s new director of youth development. Both roles are designed to continue to raise standards for player welfare and facilities, and to develop more home-grown stars as the league enters a new era without a college draft.
Gregorius, a former striker who won 100 caps for New Zealand, won the English league title with Liverpool in 2013, at a time when the sport was almost “unrecognizable” compared to what it is now, she says. She describes herself as a “troublemaker” during her playing days because she was constantly asking questions about the facilities for players. Now, the prospect of finding ways to further improve the NWSL for its players is clearly more exciting to her than her overflowing enthusiasm for the prospect of moving to New York City.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, she says the NWSL’s potential isn’t even clear yet.
“Yes, the NWSL is leading in many areas, but I don’t get the impression that they want to sleep on it,” she says. “My impression is that they don’t feel like they’re at the top of the mountain yet. They feel like they’re still trying to climb the mountain.
“What I like about women’s football is that competitions want to improve together. [All women’s leagues around the world] have this idea of swimming in the same direction to improve women’s soccer. I think the NWSL wants to play a role in helping those other leagues and also learning from those other leagues. There’s a lot to be gained by being part of that global community. We’re doing better in women’s soccer than I’ve seen in men’s soccer, so there’s a lot to be learned going forward.
“The NWSL exists for one purpose, which is to develop women’s soccer professionally as a league in the United States, but I do think it can do things that maybe the league itself hasn’t thought of, or that I haven’t thought of. I’m sure those opportunities will manifest because you have a focused group of people.”
Gregorius’ role will draw on her union background, working closely with clubs and the NWSL Players Association on issues such as welfare. Discussing what she hopes to achieve in her role, she added: “I don’t pretend to know everything that needs to be done for the league to achieve what it wants to achieve. I’m going to spend a lot of time early on learning and understanding where my expertise and experiences can help. I think the NWSL is uniquely positioned to do things that are maybe a little out of reach for other leagues right now, so I’m excited to see how they can not only set minimum standards but also continue to raise things from the bottom up.
“Clubs move at different speeds and the investment is there, but it’s not always going to the most uniform areas, and I’m looking forward to making sure that investment goes to the most meaningful areas. I come with a huge bias and I think the most meaningful area is players.”
Her appointment comes half a month after the NWSL. historic new collective labor agreementwhich runs until 2030. The CBA ended the practice of clubs holding the “rights” to players without signing them and now gives players a say in transfers rather than allowing teams to trade them without their consent. Gregorius says that while she was not directly part of those negotiations, she is excited about the “world-leading” deal.
“I worked with the NWSL Players Association a lot when I was at Fifpro, so I knew how the conversations were going,” she said. “I’m so happy with where they’ve come in the negotiations. I’m happy for both parties, the players and the league. I totally agree with where they’ve come, I’m excited. It’s so innovative, it’s world-leading. The NWSL is uniquely positioned to make some of those decisions, whereas some other leagues around the world maybe don’t have the self-determination that the NWSL already has for itself.”
The 37-year-old’s footballing career has seen her play in leagues in England, Germany and Japan, as well as New Zealand, and 11 years ago she was part of the Liverpool team that won the WSL title. Of that success she reflects: “When was I there, in 2013? It feels like 50 years ago, when you think about the development. When I was playing football, it was almost unrecognisable to where the game is now.
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“Whenever footballers write articles in which they write to their younger selves, [I would say]it’s, ‘You won’t believe what the next 10, 15, 20 years will bring.’ [At Liverpool] we were in the boys [training ground] facility and we had shared housing. Without even talking about salaries, it has improved by leaps and bounds. There is still a lot of work to be done [but] World Cups and competitions are light years ahead now than they were then.”
Gregorius played a key role in those changes to the World Cup during her time at Fifpro, with a deal reached to ensure that players from each participating nation received at least $30,000 in prize money and that players had the same conditions as their male counterparts. Reflecting on her time at Fifpro, which also included advances in maternity benefits around the world, she says: “When I joined Fifpro as a policy officer, my reflection was, ‘This organisation could be really useful for players, but just not enough female players know about it.’ Things like the performance around prize money and the standards of the World Cup are a result of better engagement with players.
“When they [NWSL] approached me with this opportunity, I wasn’t unhappy at Fifpro, I loved my job, I was very passionate about that work – now I get to do something that’s very different but also feels a bit similar. This is a player-centric league. It feels like a good fit.”
She shows her sense of humor when she jokes that “no kid grows up dreaming of being in soccer administration.” But she admits she’s enjoying the “weird world.” She starts in the NWSL next week. Teams, fans and players will all be eager to see what further changes she can oversee.