Sports
NWSL commish on new contract: ‘Intend’ to stay
NEW YORK — National Women’s Soccer League commissioner Jessica Berman said she plans to continue in her role, but she did not offer a tangible update on the potential renewal of her contract, which ends in the coming months.
“What I can say is that I intend to be here,” Berman told reporters from the league’s headquarters on Thursday. “I joined this league because I believe in the future of women’s sports and professional women’s soccer, and that’s all I can say.”
Berman signed a four-year contract to become commissioner of the league in early 2022.
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She addressed reporters on Thursday following two days of in-person meetings in New York among the league’s board of governors. Among the board’s most important topics in recent months has been Berman’s future and the potential renewal of her contract.
The NWSL board meetings in New York happened in the weeks after the league lost one of its most high-profile players, 20-year-old United States forward Alyssa Thompson, to Chelsea in a transfer on England’s deadline day. The move sparked further debate across the league about the NWSL’s ability to compete in a global market while maintaining a salary cap, which is currently set at $3.5 million per team.
“While I could understand the focus on the salary cap, the way that players make decisions about where to play is a complex set of considerations, and we will always look at that not in a myopic way, but holistically,” Berman said.
“We are quite confident that the value proposition that we offer to players is compelling and we’ll continue to attract and retain the best players.”
Player safety was a major topic of concern once again in Berman’s press briefing following several high-profile incidents at games this season.
The NWSL had its second major medical emergency of the season occur on Sunday when Racing Louisville FC midfielder Savannah DeMelo collapsed on the field at the halftime whistle in a game against Seattle Reign FC.
The match was suspended and completed two days later — in stark contrast to May, when Angel City FC defender Savy King was treated on the field for over 10 minutes for what turned out to be a heart abnormality. That game resumed after King was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and players were visibly upset.
Berman said on Thursday that the decision to suspend Sunday’s game was ultimately hers, and any similar situation is ultimately her call, but there are others in a “decision tree” empowered to make the call in her absence.
“Just to state the obvious, the decision to not continue the game was a no-brainer and did not require contemplation,” Berman said. “We at least now know how to manage those situations and are confident that hopefully we will never have to do them again.”
On Thursday, Berman also announced that the process to expand beyond 16 teams is now open, but she defined it as a “rolling process” rather than a bid with deadlines, as was the case in recent years.
“We’ve made the decision to shift to a rolling process mostly because we’ve been through this, two rounds, and so, we pretty much know the universe of who’s interested. There’s more than a dozen of them.
“Those conversations are ongoing. Each of them has a different perspective on how much time they need to launch, the investments they need to make to be successful, including potentially around infrastructure, and we want to not force a square peg into a round hole.”
The NWSL will expand to 16 teams next year with the introduction of Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC. Berman has said several times that there is “no reason” the NWSL cannot be as big as the 32-team NFL, although on Thursday she appeared to walk back the number of teams as more of an idea than a target or hard cap.
Berman also confirmed that the second division that the NWSL plans to operate will not launch next year, which the league initially indicated as a timeline. The league is now focused on launching a second division in 2027, she said.
Sports
Transfer rumors, news: Real Madrid plot Vinícius Júnior exit
Vinícius Júnior‘s days at Real Madrid could be numbered, while Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic is attracting interest from Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe.
Transfers home page | Men’s grades | Women’s grades
TOP STORIES
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TRENDING RUMORS
– Real Madrid plan to offload Vinícius Júnior in summer 2026, Sport Bild reports. The decision was reportedly made after Los Blancos‘ 2-1 Clásico win over Barcelona 10 days ago. The 25-year-old protested against being substituted by coach Xabi Alonso and had to make a public apology. Club president Florentino Pérez reportedly feels that transferring the Brazil international; will show that no player is bigger than the club. Los Blancos are trying to renew Vini Jr.’s contract despite that stance, as they want to avoid the Brazil international driving down his €150 million valuation through his conduct.
– Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur are continuing to look at the potential opportunity to sign Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic as a free agent in the summer, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. The report adds that those three clubs would offer more than what the Bianconeri are offering the Serbia international in a new contract. This comes with Juve and Vlahovic potentially being open to continuing together, but finances could be an issue with Vlahovic currently earning €12m per year and Juventus wanting his salary to be around half of that figure.
– Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank could be reunited with former Brentford striker Ivan Toney as Spurs lead the race to sign him on loan from Al Ahli, according to TEAMtalk. A permanent move is off the table as clubs don’t want to pay £30m in January, while the 29-year-old would receive a large tax bill if his contract is terminated early. West Ham United and Everton are also interested in Toney, who wants to cement his place in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
– Sporting CP‘s Morten Hjulmand is on Juventus’ list of options as they look to sign a midfielder in January, reports Calciomercato. The 26-year-old’s contract includes a €60m release clause, which Sporting don’t generally want to stray far away from and will insist is met for a move to happen in the winter window. Other midfielders being considered by the Bianconeri are Newcastle United‘s Sandro Tonali and Al Hilal‘s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, although the former would be difficult to sign and there has been no contact for the latter about a January move.
– Bayern Munich are willing to go against their approach to contracts for players over 30 to see off Barcelona’s interest in Harry Kane, according to talkSPORT. The Blaugrana having been linked with the England international as a possible Robert Lewandowski replacement. The 32-year-old already has 22 goals across all competitions, and that has persuaded them to offer him a multi-year contract where they would usually only offer one year to a player of his age.
EXPERT TAKE
1:33
Moreno: Vinicius’ behaviour is harming his career
Ale Moreno talks about Vinicius Jr attitude in El Clasico when Xabi Alonso subbed him off and at the players’ scuffle after full time.
OTHER RUMORS
– Real Madrid forward Endrick has agreed to join Lyon on loan in the winter transfer window, subject to both clubs reaching a deal. (Diario AS)
– Liverpool are planning to extend Dominik Szoboszlai‘s contract and are readying a deal that will run until 2030 or 2031. (Nicolò Schira)
– Manchester United are resigned to letting winger Jadon Sancho leave for free in the summer, even though they have an option to extend the Aston Villa loanee’s contract by a year. (talkSPORT)
– Newcastle United are monitoring the progress of Porto striker Samu Aghehowa, while Tottenham Hotspur view him as a replacement for Dominic Solanke. (Football Insider)
– Everton insist that Jarrad Branthwaite won’t leave in January despite Manchester United holding an interest in the centre-back. (TEAMtalk)
– Inter Milan are looking at Sassuolo’s Tarik Muharemovic, Lecce’s Tiago Gabriel and Parma’s Alessandro Circati with centre-back Yann Bisseck‘s interest being piqued by attention from Tottenham Hotspur. (La Gazzetta dello Sport)
– Sevilla are closely monitoring Boca Juniors midfielder Milton Delgado, 20, who impressed with Argentina as they finished runners-up at the Under-20 World Cup. (Estadio Deportivo)
– Niklas Füllkrug and his agents have informed West Ham United that the striker wants to leave in January. (Florian Plettenberg)
– Several Bundesliga clubs are interested in Sporting CP forward Rodrigo Ribeiro, who could leave on a January loan with an option to make the deal permanent. (Florian Plettenberg)
Sports
How the NFL is using AI to predict injuries
From a Virginia lab to NFL training rooms, data and “digital twins” are helping NFL franchises keep players on the field.
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Sports
Wrexham CEO: Eriksen wanted no part of TV doc
Wrexham chief executive Michael Williamson has said that Christian Eriksen initially rejected their summer approach because the former Manchester United star did not want to appear in the club’s award-winning documentary series.
Eriksen, whose heart stopped beating after he suffered cardiac arrest playing for Denmark at Euro 2020, was a free agent following his departure from Old Trafford when Wrexham, newly promoted to the Championship, made their bold move.
The club’s rise from the National League under Hollywood owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds has has been told in the Welcome to Wrexham series, which has won multiple Emmy awards and other industry honours.
Speaking to That Wrexham Podcast, Williamson, who was on the Inter Milan board when Eriksen played for the Serie A club from 2020-21, said: “I reached out to the agent and what was really interesting in the first call is the reaction was, ‘We don’t want his story to be in a documentary, because we’ve had plenty of opportunities for a documentary for his story.’
“He thought we were calling not because of his footballing capabilities, but because we wanted a documentary story.
“I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I didn’t even think about that’. Obviously, I’m aware of it, but that wasn’t the reason we were calling.
“We were calling because he could potentially be an interesting footballer, we’re looking for players that could play for us in the Championship. Difference makers that could help us be competitive on the pitch.
“After I explained what our actual objectives were, trying to build a competitive squad and that I wasn’t even thinking about it from a documentary perspective, we had a great conversation.”
Williamson said the idea of signing Eriksen was “kicked around,” but the midfielder wanted to continue playing for a “first-tier club.”
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The 33-year-old eventually joined Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg in September, but Williamson said Wrexham’s transfer business benefited from their interest in Eriksen being made public.
“I wasn’t expecting the agent to come out and say what he said because I typically expect those conversations to be confidential,” Williamson said.
“But what it did was it sent a signal around the players’ market, if you will. That we were serious about being competitive.
“I think that was important because a lot of people were just saying, ‘OK, what’s Wrexham doing? You know, they’ve been a little bit quiet at the start of the market, but now they want to be competitive.’
“It opened up doors and conversations to bring in players like Kieffer [Moore], Josh [Windass], [Liberato] Cacace, Lewis O’Brien, Conor Coady.”
Wrexham subsequently broke their transfer record three times, spending a reported £10 million ($13m) on Wales striker Nathan Broadhead and £33m in total.
The Welsh club are 16th in a congested Championship table, five points from the playoffs.
“It’s going to take a few windows to really build a squad that is pushing for promotion. But it’s only going to get better and that’s what I’m excited about,” Williamson said.
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