Professional Women's Soccer League Finally Arrives in Colombia

 

This is a major feat for female soccer players in Latin America, who often have less opportunities to play the beloved sport than their male counterparts.

In a long-sought-after accomplishment for women’s soccer in Latin America, female Colombian soccer players no longer have to look outside their home country for year-round professional opportunities. On Saturday, the South American nation kicked off their first female professional soccer league, an important milestone for gender equality within the sport. 
Colombia’s women’s national soccer team, known as Las Superpoderosas or the Powerpuff Girls, will now be able to carry out their dream of playing in a national championship, opening up more options for professional development in their home country than infrequent international tournaments.
“The national championship will help raise the standard of the national team,” Colombian soccer player Yoreli Rincon told FIFA.com. “We used to train every six months or every year even, and now we’ll be training twice a day every day, and playing every eight days. We’re all going to become better players and the national team will keep getting better too, because there are a lot more girls out there who want to have that opportunity and who’ll see that they’re going to get noticed now.”
The new league will have 18 teams broken up until three sub-group,s who will compete against each other until May. In June, the league will crown its first national champion.
Female soccer players from the U.S. and Latin America have in recent years called out gender discrimination without the sport and unfair disparities between the opportunities available to men and women who play soccer professionally.
Colombia has long had a women's national team, Las Cafeteras, which has qualified for two FIFA Women's World Cups, in Germany 2011 and Canada 2015, and is currently in 22nd place in FIFA's rankings.

Brazil, Argentina and Chile already have professional women's leagues. Colombia's women's national league shows a developing trend and growing interest in the sport for women.
Some well known professional Colombian women soccer players who play for teams abroad include, Nicole Regnier, who plays for Rayo Vallecano in Spain; defender Natalia Gaitan, who plays in Valencia, Spain; and Melissa Ortiz, who plays for the Boston Breakers.
The first Women's World Cup was held in 1991, when the United States was crowned world champion. Countries across Europe, including England, Spain, Germany, Sweden and others, have for years had professional women's leagues.