Since its inception in 2020, Athletes Unlimited has been pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in women’s sports.

First there was softball, which gave many of the best players in the world a platform to compete and elevate their sport. Volleyball and lacrosse seasons followed. But, for a league founded on the principle of growing women’s sports, running three sports seasons in eight months wasn’t enough.

Enter basketball.

“We think we’re filling an important need in the landscape,” Athletes Unlimited Co-Founder Jonathan Soros said during a recent press conference introducing AU Basketball, set to debut in January 2022 as a five-week season featuring 44 players.

“There’s plenty of opportunity to grow the sport of basketball and create more opportunities for the athletes who are well-served by the WNBA but often don’t have enough opportunity.”

When Soros and co-founder Jon Patricof were discussing the idea of making basketball AU’s next sport, they considered a wide range of factors. The sport’s deep talent pool and growing fan base were key, but the most convincing response was the resounding yes they got from players when the prospect of AU Basketball was floated to them.

One of those players was Sydney Colson, a seven-year WNBA veteran and the first person to sign on for the inaugural season.

“Without being too dramatic, it’s almost like I’m the Sheryl Swoopes of AU,” Colson quipped. “They’ve built something that’s super innovative for the fans and the players. I’m just excited to be a part of it.”

"It brings out a competitiveness in everyone." @T_Cloud4 talks about the unique format that Athletes Unlimited is bringing to professional basketball 🏀#BeUnlimited pic.twitter.com/hLJpaS1Qtd

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) October 22, 2021

In the spirit of providing more opportunities for top women’s basketball talent, Athletes Unlimited also hopes to fill another need by giving players the option to stay home in the offseason.

Roughly two-thirds of the WNBA’s players head overseas when their season comes to an end. The international leagues give them a chance to supplement their WNBA salaries (the league’s minimum salary in 2021 was $58,710 for players with zero to two years of experience) and improve their game before WNBA training camps reopen.

“With going overseas, women are playing year-round,” Washington Mystics guard and AU player Natasha Cloud said. “That’s wear and tear on your body. That’s wear and tear on the longevity of your career as well.”

“It’s going to provide people with one more option,” Colson told Just Women’s Sports. “It’s a good chance to do something different.

“There’s been nothing but positive feedback. I think women’s basketball players understand the need for a league like this and the need for more opportunities in professional women’s basketball.”

There’s also the matter of the WNBA’s new CBA, which is phasing out late reporting to camp. Beginning in 2023, players will be penalized for not joining their teams on time for preseason. With overseas seasons typically running from late fall to early summer, players could run into contractual conflicts with the two leagues.

Athletes Unlimited’s plan for a five-week season running from late January through early February gives players another option without the scheduling challenges.

“I think it’s a perfect match for the W,” Cloud said. “To be able to keep players home, to make sure that they’re getting adequate care and treatment, that they’re still working out and playing at a high level against competition.”

“What AU prides itself on is having top-notch athletes take part in all of its sports,” Colson added. “We don’t plan to be any different.”

The AU season will also give players the opportunity to prove themselves to WNBA coaches. With only 144 roster spots available in the 12-team league, a plethora of talent (and especially young talent) gets left out in the cold. For example, of the 36 players drafted in 2021, only 17 made it on to rosters as active players. Shyla Heal and Stephanie Watts, two first-round draft picks, were waived early in the season, before they had much of a chance to prove themselves.

As calls for WNBA expansion become more urgent, Athletes Unlimited hopes to fill the void right now. AU Basketball will have 44 roster spots for the 2022 season and, as it does with its other sports leagues, will tap the four top players every week to draft new teams, giving players the ability to showcase their individual talents.

“Sometimes people just need an opportunity to show that they’re capable,” said Colson, who has bounced in and out of the WNBA herself and is currently a free agent.

“People are talking about that now with Shey Peddy being in the league for Phoenix. From several teams, people will be surprised sometimes if players pop out of obscurity in their mind. But really, people have been around — they just haven’t been given an opportunity.”

Emma Hruby is an associate editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @EHruby.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.