Free Agent Season Begins for Women's Professional Soccer

With the option period expiring and the free agency period for Women’s Professional Soccer beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 30, the league’s nine franchises announced which players’ options were exercised by this past Tuesday, followed by today’s posting of the free agent list on the transactions page on the WPS league website.

Notable internationals who have become free agents for this offseason include Chinese forward Han Duan, who played in 2009 for the Los Angeles Sol, Brazilian forward Cristiane, who played this season for the Chicago Red Stars, and her countrywomen Formiga (FC Gold Pride) and Daniela (Saint Louis Athletica).

Notable U.S. national team players who are free agents (2009 team in parentheses) include Carli Lloyd (Chicago Red Stars), Leslie Osborne (FC Gold Pride), and Heather Mitts (Boston Breakers) among others.

Free agents are free to negotiate and sign with any WPS team. Developmental players all automatically become free agents and can be signed to a full player contract at any time.

The first formal preseason team rosters will be announced in February just prior to training camp. WPS rosters during the regular season include 18 players and up to four additional developmental players.

A full listing of the free agents and other offseason WPS transactions can be found on the transactions page of the WPS web site. 

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.

What's News is the alternate profile of Bleacher Report writer Todd Civin and is used to post press releases by the WPS, the American Hockey League, and the Can Am Baseball League as part of an agreement with the Bleacher Report.

Civin is a supporter of A Glove of Their Own, the award-winning children's story that teaches paying it forward through baseball.