A group of life-long soccer professionals and business leaders have brought professional women’s soccer back to the Bay Area through the formation of a team to be known as the Bay Area Breeze. The Bay Area Breeze will play its home matches at Gaels Stadium on the campus of Dublin High School in Dublin, CA and participate in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL). The WPSL is a Pro-Am league with more than 60 clubs, making it the largest women’s soccer league in the world. Players on each team largely consist of women who have played in the WPS, have played professionally in other countries, or have experience at the college level.

The Breeze will participate in the WPSL as a professional club, and as such will be the only professional women’s soccer club in Northern California now that the FC Gold Pride of the WPS has folded. The only other professional women’s soccer club in California is a WPSL club based in Orange County which is managed by the same ownership as the Breeze. Scott Alford, a member of the Bay Area Breeze ownership team, stressed the club’s intention is “to create a club that encourages the community to support and get involved with its local teams; there’s a place in our club for anyone who loves soccer and lives in our community”.

The Dublin City Council enthusiastically welcomed the Breeze to the Bay Area at its meeting on April 6th, and is excited that the team’s home matches will be played at Gaels Stadium. The facility is an impressive venue constructed in 2006, and has a seating capacity of more than 4,000. Its location at the 580-680 interchange is ideal for all soccer fans in the greater Bay Area. In addition, Dublin’s located in the heart of the Tri-Valley area, a region known for its tremendous support of soccer and home to some of the West Coasts’ premier youth soccer clubs.

The Bay Area Breeze will make its debut in an exhibition match against the University of California Golden Bears on Saturday, April 16th at 6:00PM at Gaels Stadium. Admission to the exhibition contest against the Pac 10 squad is free, The regular season opener will take place on Saturday, May 14th at 6:00 p.m. when the Breeze host the Sacramento Storm.

Jerry Zanelli, WPSL Commissioner, sees the creation of the only two professional soccer clubs in California as an exciting new way for women’s soccer players to play at an even higher level here on the West Coast. He also added, “Hopefully this will be able to serve as a template for an eventual new nationwide concept for teams to survive on a professional basis.”

For the 2012 season, the WPSL will consist entirely of professional soccer clubs commencing with a West Coast Division, and as a precursor has permitted two professional teams to play in its existing Pacific Division. The Breeze is one of those teams along with Orange County.

Soccer is the fastest growing sport for women’s participation in the NCAA, with more than 700,000 more female participants than in any other sport. In recent years, there have been more than 205 new Division One women’s soccer teams and an increase of 185 percent in women’s Varsity soccer participation. Global popularity of the sport has increased 54 percent since 2000, and as the largest women’s soccer league in the world, the WPSL has the potential for great expansion in to women’s professional soccer.

2011 Bay Area Breeze Schedule

THE WPSL

The Women’s Premier Soccer League is a 60-plus team national pro-am league and is the largest women’s soccer league in the world. The league was formed in 1998 and is sanctioned by the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) as an affiliate of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). The WPSL’s mission is to provide the highest level of soccer in an effort to bring affordable and quality family entertainment to the community and to display positive role models for our youth, while being a stepping stone for aspiring professional & international-level players.