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Report: Washington Freedom Of WPS To Fold

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Washington D.C. may be losing its Women's Professional Soccer team.

According to Jeff Kassouf of The Equalizer, sources have confirmed that the Washington Freedom and the Bay Area's FC Gold Pride will no longer be members of the formerly eight team league.

Sources have confirmed the league will announce publicly Monday that the Washington Freedom and FC Gold Pride have folded. The two teams will cease operations and players will become free agents.

Stars of both clubs like Abby Wambach of the Freedom and the world's best player Marta of Gold Pride will be forced to find new clubs.

The Washington Freedom organization is actually older than the WPS league. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a part of the WUSA from 2001-2003, then existed without a professional league, playing exhibitions only, until the W-League was founded in 2006, and then rebranded as the current WPS.

The WPS has already lost two clubs this year. The Los Angeles Sol folded prior to the season in January, and St. Louis Athletica shut its doors midway through the 2010 season.

With the league losing two of its premier members and contracting down to just six teams, one has to wonder if the WPS will be able to survive much longer.