First as a player, then as coach and now as sport business executive, Amanda Vandervort has worked for 20 years in soccer and now is the president of the USL Super League, which will start in 2023, right after the Women’s World Cup, with 10 to 12 teams in the first year.

Vandervort has experience working in all levels of soccer. She served as president of the Soccer Coaches Association in the US, then moved to Europe and worked as a Chief of the women’s office at FIFPro, before coming back to America and working as Vice President of Fan Engagement at Major League Soccer (MLS), for nearly a decade. Now, she’s embarking on a new journey to bring more opportunities to women and girls in soccer.

USL Super League: Expanding the women’s girl in the United States

With 20 years in the industry, Vandervort knows how it is to be a woman working in a business runed mostly by men. “It’s challenging but equally rewarding,”she said to Bolavip at Soccerex. “For me one of the most important parts of my career has been learning from everything, from the men’s game, from men in the industry, and being able to take that knowledge and apply it to build a really successful women’s professional league in the US.”

As a president of this new competition, she says equality is one of the core values of the project. “Players are going to be full professionals, and the pay is equal to our men,” Vandervort affirms. “It’s important to us to pay them equally and create equal standards and facilities.” These standards include pregnancy and maternity leave for the women across the league.

If Vandevort had to give a message for women and girls interested in playing soccer or being involved off the field, as she is, she would say to “have fun, first of all, soccer is about having fun,” she says, “live your dreams, if you really believe that you love soccer and you want to participate in this game, and you want to play as a professional, you can do that (…) Today we’re seeing more and more opportunities for girls and women to play soccer at all different levels, so there is a space and it’s a place where you can grow and build a career.”

The single entity structure was established in MLS as a way to make sure that in the early years of the league Major League Soccer would not go bankrupt or teams would not fold operating by themselves. Rather each team would piggyback on each other financially to help the league push forward. Over the last decade the league’s structure has come under question from FIFA, MLSPU, and fans.

Erika Montemor FIFA Head of Player Status spoke to Bolavip at Soccerex regarding the present situation of MLS and the USL and what FIFA, and MLS/USL are doing to come closer to having teams own player contracts and have both leagues following FIFA guidelines.

Erika Montemor on MLS and single entity

Erika Montemor stated that FIFA and MLS are at an understanding, but the idea is that sooner rather than later the league begins to follow the FIFA model. “In the panel I participated in we spoke about the growth of soccer in the United States… more and more there is an increase of player transfers from the United States not only in volume but in value, and more and more there is a necessity that MLS and USL follow FIFA player/transfer guidelines.”

Montemor hopes that in the coming years both USL and MLS are fully integrated in the FIFA player transfer model, “That is the biggest challenge for FIFA, to have one solution (in regard to player contracts and transfers) for over 200 member nations. Each member has their own issues with regards to contracts, USA, Brazil, Italy, and so on… our job is to make sure that everyone follows a principle set of guidelines, be it player transfers, the registration of minors, and free agency… What I see is that the leagues (MLS and USL) are not part of the FIFA guidelines, for FIFA the contractual agreement of players is between the players and their clubs, or coaches and their clubs. Even though MLS has a single entity, for us (FIFA) the clubs are owners of the playercontracts.”

“It’s interesting for us to be here (Soccerex) and learn from the American model, we had a great discussion with agents, MLS and USL executives about FIFA guidelines and the American system”, Montemor concluded.

The agenda will tackle the state of the sport and the future of soccer in the Americas, especially looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Those interested in attending the event can review the Conference Brochure.

Here is more information regarding Soccerex in Miami during March 15-16, 2022, with an overview of the participating leagues and television networks present at the event as well as the speakers agenda.

Soccerex Americas agenda

Members from the following leagues, clubs, broadcasters, and brands will be present: FIFA, Concacaf, MLS, Liga MX, Mexican Football Federation, US Soccer, CPL, ESPN, Facebook, FC Barcelona, FOX Sports, Inter Miami, LAFC, LA Galaxy, LaLiga, Liverpool, Nashville SC, NBA, Nike, NWSL, The Premier League, USL and Wasserman to name but a few.

Along with the opportunity to network, Soccerex Americas will also have discussion panels which will feature the following:

– Keynote Interview: Concacaf in Focus, with Victor Montagliani
– 2 Leagues, 1 Cup & the Concacaf Champions League, with Don Garber, Mikel Arriola & Philippe Moggio
– USL in 2022, with USL & USL Super League Presidents Jake Edwards & Amanda Vandervort
– Fine Tuning in the Music City, with senior directors from Nashville SC
– MLS in Focus, with Don Garber, JoAnne Neal, Sola Winley & Alexi Lalas
– Empowered and in power, with female Presidents from MLS clubs
– Soccer’s New York Yankees? Becoming bigger than the sport you play
– Taking the women’s game continental, as Concacaf’s Heidi Pellerano talks with Amanda Vandervort, ATA Sports and N3XT Sports

If you are interested in attending Soccerex in Miami, book your place right here!