Off The Pitch

While the first organized attempts by Italian women to play football date back to 1932, when a group of female students in Milan began playing the sport, the regime at the time systematically suppressed their efforts. Soon after, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) even banned female athletes from participating in football competitions. 

It's actually happening. Alexia Putellas is transferring to London City Lionesses. What seemed to be impossible last season is now reality. When La Reina Announced her departure from Barcelona after 14 years, all eyes were on Michele Kang. 

On June 10 2026, Gotham FC announced the construction of the first ever dedicated training facility in club history, with $35 million of private funding going towards renovating the former Red Bull New York training facility into a 27,000-square-foot environment centered on high performance, recovery, and athlete well-being. 

In the NWSL in 2025, 13 separate players saw their season cut short due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. In the ongoing 2026 season, nine players have already torn their ACLs, most recently Brazilian forward Dudinha in a friendly against the USWNT on June 9. It’s no surprise, then, that the league and its players association (NWSLPA) are joining Project ACL, a global research project hoping to reduce ACL injuries in professional women’s football.

At the end of last year, Forbes published a list of the world’s most valuable women’s sports teams in 2025. Of the 25 teams featured, 13 were football clubs and eight were clubs playing in the NWSL, making it the most-represented football league on the list. What have these NWSL clubs done to earn such high valuations?

When the United States women’s national team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019, businesswoman Michele Kang was so uninformed of the world of football that she didn’t even know who Lionel Messi was. That idea seems inconceivable today as the women’s football tycoon owns and is closely involved in three clubs across the globe. How did she get here and what impact has her investment had on the sport?

June is Pride Month, and few areas of sport embrace queer visibility as openly as women’s football. Compared to the men’s game, female footballers are far more likely to be openly LGBTQ+, while clubs themselves often actively speak about inclusivity and make it clear that everyone is welcome at their matches, regardless of identity.