NWSL Cancels Program Amid Coach Abuse Scandal

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It also complicated any collective action that players wanted to undertake. Members of the women’s national team playing in the NWSL are paid by the United States Soccer Federation, not their own club, and are therefore subject to a collective bargaining agreement with US Soccer. Under this agreement, players cannot participate in any strike or stoppage, a clause that will also relate to their employment at NWSL.

However, players were never required to initiate a formal stoppage when the league, belatedly recognizing the urgency of the crisis, canceled games instead.

The scandal had been growing for weeks. An NWSL team fired its coach “for no reason” at the end of August and fired its coach earlier this week following an investigation into his treatment of its players. The event that led to Friday’s announcement came Thursday morning. The Athletic published an article. this included allegations that Riley forced an actress to have sex with him; forced the two actors to kiss and then sent them unsolicited sexual pictures; and shouted at the players and belittled them.

The Athletic also reported that Riley left his coaching position at Portland Thorns in 2015, partly due to a violation of team policy, but then did nothing to alert players when another team quickly rehired him.

Riley denied most of the allegations against The Athletic and did not respond to The New York Times’ request for comment. He was dismissed hours after the charges against him were published on Thursday morning.

The anger of the players had been growing for weeks. On Tuesday, NWSL launched an investigation into another team, Washington Spirit. The league did not release a detailed report of its findings, but announced Spirit’s coach Richie Burke was fired and would no longer be allowed to work in the NWSL.

Just weeks ago, a third coach, Racing Louisville head coach Christy Holly, was fired for reasons, and Gotham FC general manager Alyse LaHue was fired for an unspecified violation of league policy. Holly did not speak publicly about her firing, and LaHue’s attorney denied that she violated any league policy.

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