Instead of re-signing for her English club West Ham, the Matildas goalkeeper has returned to America's NWSL. But why?
Four years ago, as she sat on the bench watching her club Chicago Red Stars lose the National Women's Soccer League championship final, Mackenzie Arnold couldn't help but wonder whether bigger things were waiting for her someplace else, beyond a horizon that she couldn't yet see.
So she was looking for a new challenge. A fresh start. Consistent game-time. And a competition that would let her grow into the player she knew she could be. At the same time as the WSL was blossoming, the NWSL had begun to fade, losing its biggest internationals to Europe, watching some of its clubs fold, while also grappling with its own significant cultural and structural problems includingThe world of women's football, which had originally been dominated by the USA and its champion-producing NWSL, tilted towards Europe. And there it has stayed.
Unlike the WSL, whose teams are heavily dependent on the financial and structural support of their corresponding men's clubs, the American league is wholly independent from its male counterpart, Major League Soccer . It has been that way since its inception in 2012, and has only grown in its stand-alone success since then.
Kansas City Current, founded in 2021, is the first NWSL to build its very own stadium for its women's football team.And the league is continuing to expand, adding even more markets and more money to the pool. The current season sits at 14, while bids from several other major city centres including Boston, Denver, Minnesota, St Louis, and Cleveland have all expressed interest in joining the league in future years, with a reported license fee of over $50 million.
Change is now afoot. The club's new leaders are promising a bright new dawn. And Arnold has taken off towards that horizon. Manchester United Women are experiencing many challenges due to their reliance on the men's club for funding and support.after Reading's demise, is "an effect of having created structural incentives toward dependency on men's ownership groups whose level of interest simply cannot be controlled by women's football actors.
Both of these nations, in addition to Canada , will be co-hosting the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup, while the Los Angeles Olympics will take place two years later.
Mackenzie Arnold NWSL Portland Thorns United States West Ham England Europe Club Football Women's Sport Investment
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