Forty Years Ago, the First-Ever US Women’s Soccer Team Sprang out of Seattle

Forty Years Ago, the First-Ever US Women’s Soccer Team Sprang out of Seattle

As far as I could tell, women’s soccer started with the 99ers, and there was no looking back. But I was wrong. by Grace Madigan As a girl growing up playing soccer in the early 2000s, I revered only a few things—the iconic film Bend It Like Beckham, Mia Hamm, and the 1999 team that won the World Cup. In 1999, the first professional women’s soccer league had just formed, and the idea of “being a pro soccer player” when I was older was no longer j…