The run-up to the start of the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League season is a time for the organization, its teams and its players to take a deep breath. The marathon — and one that’s being sandwiched around the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup — is about to begin. The preseason preparations have been completed, and the time is now to see the extent to which those will pay off for each of the NWSL’s 12 teams.
But the upcoming campaign is also a chance for the players to exhale. Over the course of the past two seasons, the NWSL has been rocked by multiple player abuse scandals that were investigated in excruciating and traumatizing detail. One investigation was conducted on behalf of the U.S. Soccer Federation, and another by the league and the NWSL Players Association. Coaches and/or executives from nine of the league’s 12 teams lost their jobs for charges ranging from verbal and emotional abuse to sexual coercion. Two teams — the Portland Thorns and the Chicago Red Stars — are now for sale. Yet the tremor-like effects on the players are still being felt.
“I personally have had two coaches who have been exposed through the reports and the investigations,” midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard told ESPN in an exclusive interview. Howard was previously with the Washington Spirit and…
