Hartford Athletic Announce Addition Of USL W League Team
The club aims to being play in the women's pre-professional league in time for the 2026 season
Hartford Athletic announced on Thursday that they would launch a team in the USL W League, with the club aiming to begin play for the 2026 season.
According to a statement from the club, “the addition of a W League team aides Hartford Athletic in reaching its goals of supporting athletes in pursuing their dreams of playing at the collegiate and professional levels, along with providing access to recruitment resources, scouting networks and professional development.”
The USL W League is a ‘pre-professional’ or amateur league, similar to the men’s USL League Two, with college players or those with aspirations to play at the college level making up one key group of players. According to the league, other key groups of players include elite youth players and former professionals, with the aim of “developing the next generation of women’s talent both on and off the field, and enhancing the women’s soccer pipeline between college and professional soccer.”
Hartford Athletic Chairman Bruce Mandell highlighted the importance of the club expanding their efforts into the women’s game.
"Since our founding, we've seen the incredible passion and talent among female players throughout our state,” he said. “This expansion allows us to offer these athletes the platform they deserve while inspiring the next generation of young women to dream bigger than ever before."
This is the second time the club has announced the launch of a team in the W League, with the first time being during the league’s initial reveal.
When the W League was launched in June 2021, Hartford was announced as one of the founding members, alongside Queensboro FC, South Georgia Tormenta FC, Greenville Triumph, Kaw Valley FC, Chattanooga Red Wolves, Minnesota Women’s Soccer, and a team in Washington D.C. led by D.C. United’s ownership group. The club ultimately did not move forward with a women’s team at that time, and it was subsequently announced that they would instead do so in partnership with AC Connecticut, with the latter club acting as the W League ‘affiliate’ of the Championship organization.
AC Connecticut’s women’s team continues to play in the W League, competing in the Metropolitan Division — a likely home for Hartford Athletic as well — where they have finished last in each of the last two season.
In the W League’s initial season in 2022, 44 teams competed with South Georgia Tormenta FC becoming the inaugural champions following a 2-1 victory in extra time over Minnesota Aurora FC. The league has continued to grow in subsequent years, and for the 2025 season, which will kick off on May 3 as Stockton Cargo hosts Oakland Soul, 93 teams will take the pitch.
The makeup of the league has been much as advertised, with college players that have professional aspirations making up a significant portion of the top talent. To take just one example, in 2022, Tormenta was led by Englishwoman Amy Andrews who was the league’s first Golden Boot and Player of the Year winner and Puerto Rico international Sydney Martinez, the Golden Glove winner that season, who played at Western Illinois and South Florida respectively. Andrews now plies her trade in the second-tier Barclays Women’s Championship with Newcastle United while Martinez now plays for Brooklyn SC in the USL Super League.
It’s unclear at this time how Hartford will approach its W league team. The club currently operates girls academy teams at the U-10, U-11, U-12, U-13 and U-14 levels, and so an expansion of that infrastructure to include players at the U-15 and above levels will almost certainly be one component as the club aims to build a complete pipeline for women’s players from the youth ranks through college and ultimately to the professional level.
The Blazing Musket will continue to cover the development of Hartford’s W League team as more information is available.