Hope Solo takes 'personal leave' from NWSL club after USWNT termination
After being kicked off the U.S. national team, goalkeeper Hope Solo is taking a break from club soccer now, too.
The Seattle Reign announced on Saturday that Solo “was granted a personal leave” and the club signed Santa Clara alum Andi Tostanoski to replace the beleaguered goalkeeper. No timeline for Solo’s return was given and the announcement came hours before a big rivalry match against the Portland Thorns in Seattle.
U.S. Soccer announced on Wednesday that they had suspended Solo for six months and terminated her national team contract after a history of problems with the goalkeeper, but there was one silver lining for Solo: Multiple reports said she would continue to play in the National Women’s Soccer League and collect a subsidized salary from U.S. Soccer, who founded the NWSL.
Reign coach Laura Harvey told the Seattle Times afterward that she was unsure how that would work.
“I don’t know whether they’re going to keep paying her to play in the league or not,” she said on Thursday. “…I think the feeling was that she could play, but again, I haven’t spoken to anyone individually to know that that’s truly the case.”
She added: “I’m not sure it’s as cut and dry as maybe we all think.”
When Solo’s USWNT contract was terminated, it potentially had implications on her NWSL status because members of the national team earn higher club salaries subsidized by U.S. Soccer. According to documents released in legal proceedings, U.S. Soccer has only one contract with players that cover both their USWNT salaries and their NWSL salaries. That NWSL salary, according to documents, is $56,000, which is significantly less than her $72,000 national team salary.
Solo said Sweden were "a bunch of cowards" for the defensive way they played in knocking the U.S. out of the Olympics quarterfinal, comments her teammates have disagreed with. But she also stirred controversy in recent years when her husband was arrested for driving a U.S. Soccer van after drinking while she was in national team camp, and after an arrest for allegedly assaulting two family members, a case that was initially dismissed but continues through the legal system.
Solo had reportedly missed Reign training after U.S. Soccer announced her suspension, even as fellow national team player Megan Rapinoe was there and other national team members arrived with their clubs around the country. In Solo's absence during the Olympics, Haley Kopmeyer has been the starting goalkeeper.
The Reign will miss Solo in net, though. They sit in sixth place, two spots out of playoff position, with just five more regular-season matches left.
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