New York, September 16, 2008—Shearman & Sterling hosted a two-day closed-door meeting to allocate members of the U.S. Women’s National Team to the seven teams in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), the new North American women’s professional soccer league. Shearman & Sterling is corporate counsel to WPS.

At the player allocation meeting, the league’s Board of Governors, executives, team owners and team general managers and coaches met to allocate the U.S. Women’s National Team players to the new league’s seven teams. WPS will begin play in April 2009 with the following teams in action: Bay Area, Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, Los Angeles, NJ/NY Sky Blue FC, WPS St. Louis and Washington Freedom.

The announcement of U.S. Women’s National Team player allocations will be made today at the Sports Museum of America in Manhattan. After Allocation, the WPS Board of Governors will weigh the seven teams by strength. This ranking will determine the selection order for the International Player Draft, to be held the week of Sept. 22.

For additional information contact: Ron Brandsdorfer | New York | T +1.212.848.5081 |