"I've lived in the United States long enough to call it soccer now-but where I come from, it's most definitely football, and it is life. I grew up 20 minutes from Dens Park, home to Scottish Premier League team Dundee FC (not to be confused with Dundee United). I inherited my fandom from my mother, who sneaked off to matches in her teens without her parents knowing."
"Back then, few girls followed football, let alone played it. During my high school years, I spent five days a week on the field hockey pitch-something I loved but wished it could be football. When I moved to South Florida in the late '90s, I latched onto the short-lived Miami Fusion, then in Boston dabbled in the New England Revolution. Major League Soccer (MLS) was an upstart at the time, fighting for a toehold among the Big Four (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB) and barely hanging on in some markets."
"The Women's United Soccer Association and Women's Professional Soccer laid the foundation, but it wasn't until 2013 that the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) took root-emerging as the premier league in the U.S. and now a global powerhouse. The momentum shows no signs of slowing. At the August 2025 UEFA European Women's Championship, there were record-breaking viewership numbers, exceeding 400 million live viewers worldwide and a cumulative audience of over 500 million for all programming."
A childhood near Dens Park fostered deep Dundee FC fandom passed down from a mother who secretly attended matches in her teens. Limited local opportunities led to playing field hockey in high school while yearning for football. Moves to South Florida and Boston produced brief loyalties to Miami Fusion and New England Revolution during MLS's early struggle. The US Women's National Team's 1999 World Cup victory shifted attention, and successor women's leagues culminated in the 2013 founding of the NWSL. Women's soccer now shows surging global viewership, exceptional fan loyalty, and growing commercial momentum.
Read at Fast Company
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