POSTED: Friday December 4th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WPS Commissioner Applauds Expansion of FIFA Women's World Cup®

FIFA Executive Committee Increases Tournament to 24 Teams in 2015

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 2, 2009) – The FIFA Executive Committee met
on historic Robben Island, South Africa on Thursday and announced its
decision to increase the FIFA Women’s World Cup®
from 16 to 24 teams for the 2015 tournament. The decision was taken in
order to promote the further development of the women’s game worldwide
and FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke emphasized that the value of
women’s soccer around the world has grown.

The announcement
comes on the heels of a successful 2008 Olympic Women’s Soccer
tournament, several sold-out national team games in Germany in
preparation for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the
launch of Women’s Professional Soccer in the U.S. this past year.

“This
move recognizes the continued growth of the women’s game happening at
all levels around the world and we applaud the decision to increase the
size of the Women’s World Cup in the future. The quality and depth of
the women’s soccer is improving exponentially worldwide and this will
further spur investment by countries in the women’s game,” said WPS
Commissioner Tonya Antonucci in response to the announcement. “We know
that WPS, as the premier soccer league for women in the world, is an
important part of the global growth of the game and we look forward to
seeing our U.S. and international WPS stars shine at World Cups in
2011, 2015 and beyond.”

About Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS)
Women’s
Professional Soccer (WPS) is the premier women’s soccer league in the
world and the global standard by which women’s professional sports are
measured.  The Inaugural Season kicked off in March 2009 with seven WPS
teams based in the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New
Jersey/New York, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.  The league’s eighth
and nine franchises, Philadelphia and Atlanta, will begin play in the
2010 WPS Season, which begins March 2010. For more information, visit www.womensprosoccer.com.

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Keywords · FIFA Executive Committee · Robben Island · South Africa · FIFA Women’s World Cup® · Tonya Antonucci

Name: Robert Penner
Organization: Women's Professional Soccer
Email:
Phone: +1.(415) 553-4469
URL: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/

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