The History of: Women's Soccer

Important Dates:

• 1921- England's government banned women from playing soccer for 50 years
• 1930's- Women's soccer started in Europe
• 1951- First organized women's soccer league
• 1972- Education Act, Title IX stated no one could be excluded from participation in any educational program or activity on the basis of sex
• Late 1970's- Women's soccer introduced in United States
• 1981- The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) santioned the first women's national championship tournament
• 1991- FIFA staged the first Women's World Cup in China
• 1993- Women's soccer is added to the medal event in the upcoming 1996 Olympics in Atalnta
• 1995- First women's national soccer league is started
• 2001- First professional Women's Soccer League is established

Interesting Facts: *This was a chance for Women to show equality to men. * England's male players chose the "soc" in the middle of "Association" and came up with "Soccer" this was the style of the time to shorten names by taking the first syllable of a word and adding "er" to it. Yet no one can imagine someone playing a game called "asser", so they took the middle syllable of association. *"Soccer is fast, rough, and strenuous and almost always played in shorts, so until relatively recent times, it was ocnsidered totally inappropriate by those who purported to understand the "limits" of the female mind and body" *By the mid-1980's over 200 women's teams were in college soccer. By: Kali

Other Women's Soccer Sites

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Sports Illustrated for Women
Women's Soccer World .Com
Soccer Rules
All About Women's Soccer
Women's Soccer History Overview