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WPS suspends operations permanently, Borislow lawsuit settled confidentially

It’s finally official. Women’s Professional Soccer is completely done having announced on Friday morning – albeit via a Facebook press release – that the league has permanently suspended operations and dissolved. In a separate Facebook press release, the league announced that it has confidentially settled its lawsuit with former magicJack owner Dan Borislow outside of court.

The news should come as no shock as the league and almost the entirety of its staff parted ways in late March. With no season and WPS off the radar, Friday’s long in the making announcement confirmed the inevitable.

In the two statements, both former Atlanta Beat owner T. Fitz Johnson and Borislow were quoted, and everybody seems to be playing nice (publicly) these days with the lawsuit – and league – now in the past.

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“In retrospect, we wish certain things had happened differently but magicJack, like all WPS teams, invested a tremendous amount of resources in and contributed to the growth and development of the women’s soccer in this country, ” said Johnson, who is also chairman of the WPS board. “Mr. Borislow was there with magicJack when the League was in search of a sixth team, and helped ensure the League could play the 2011 season.”

Borislow issued an equally chummy statement.

“I am very proud to have been a part of a group of owners who were unified and resolute in their commitment to women’s soccer,” Borislow said. “While many of my ideas happened to be different from some other peoples’ ideas, we all shared a common purpose of providing these talented players with a place to play. I can honestly say one of the finest moments of my life was watching the WPS players display their talent in the 2011 Women’s World Cup with magicJack so finely represented. I continue to be in awe of our U.S. Women’s National Team, one of the finest to represent this country, and look forward to watching them compete in the Olympics.”

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Now everyone can proceed with their regularly scheduled programming. This has been long in the making and the jockeying for what league or entity will be next began the day that WPS announced it was done for 2012 – which most realists could recognize meant for good.

Whether it’s the W-League’s new professional league in the works, the WPSL Elite League or some other concoction, women’s soccer has a long way to go. Ironically, the popularity of the U.S. women is surging. More on all of this later.

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