WPS International Draft - Some Clarification from the Commish
The Fair Game brain trust has been busy trying to make sense of the International Draft. We sought some clarification from WPS, and league commish Tonya Antonucci was kind enough to field our questions.
Can you clarify how much contact the clubs have been permitted to have with the players prior to the draft? My understanding is that there was a brief period of time before the Olympics when the transfer window was open that there could be some discussion. Have they been allowed enough contact to have any indication as to whether these players are interested in coming over or was it a total shot in the dark in that respect?
Lauren Gregg, former assistant U.S. National team coach, is an independent consultant for the league and teams on player’s availability and contract situation. She was available to teams as an advisor up until the very last moment of the draft selection.
Do you think this draft is representative of the best players in the world?
The fact that there are players from all parts of the world from Asia to Australia, the Americas to Europe really shows the global reach that we are hoping to have with our league in terms of recruiting the world’s best. There certainly was a keen interest in Brazilian talent and I think that speaks to each team’s recognition that their national team plays some of the best and most entertaining soccer in the world, highlighted perhaps by their Olympic run to the gold medal game last month. Clearly there are other great international players who have not yet been drafted, and through the process of discovery and future drafts, beginning with the October General draft, we are likely to see more of these players placed on WPS teams.
We immediately noticed there were no picks from Germany. Was there an indication that they would not come over based on previous discussions?
It was our understanding from Lauren Gregg’s research that players were under contract for long periods of time and have been requested to remain in Germany through World Cup 2011 by their national team coach.
Word from across the pond is that Arsenal head coach, Vic Akers, is up in arms that two of his players are being promoted as having been drafted by WPS and that it is misleading. Do you have a response to that?
We made it clear prior to our draft on our website and within our draft press release that teams were simply drafting WPS-playing rights to players, nothing else. We went on to highlight the fact that teams must notify clubs directly before opening any sort of negotiation. Certainly by making our results public it demonstrates interest on the part of WPS in international talent. The transparency of our draft selections was important in establishing the proper framework for working within the guidelines of FIFA and in the context of how sports leagues in the U.S. operate.
Comments
Hope more chinese player
young
Sunday September 28 2008 11:11:33 am