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Players from fellow NWSL club Houston Dash are collecting funds in the wake of a winter storm that hit Texas this week, leaving thousands without electricity, heat and water.

We’re looking to send some love from Louisville, boosting the Dash’s efforts to raise money along with its MLS counterpart, the Houston Dynamo.

Those who contribute to the Dash’s Winter Relief Fund and add in the Additional Comments field the phrase “Love from Louisville” will be entered into a drawing for two Racing Louisville FC club seats to our inaugural opener along with a swag bag of goodies and gear.

• Amenities for these seats include:

• Access to the Fifth Third Club

• All-inclusive food and beverage (including beer and wine)

• VIP entrance

• Premium padded chair back seats

Proceeds to the Winter Relief Fund will benefit Kids Meals Houston and The Houston Food Bank. Additionally, Dynamo Charities is a registered nonprofit, and donations are typically tax deductible in the United States.

A date, time and opponent for Racing Louisville FC’s first NWSL home game at Lynn Family Stadium will be announced later. The league’s Challenge Cup tournament begins April 9.

As most of the region hunkered down under a Winter Weather Warning on Monday night, Racing Louisville FC’s staff put the finishing touches on a plan to ensure its preseason continued.

Players and coaches — preparing for their NWSL debut in April’s Challenge Cup — traveled north the next morning to Westfield, Ind., arriving for a stay at the Grant Park Events Center. Home to preseason camp for another top-tier team, the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, the grounds include a 300,000 square-foot indoor turf space with three full-sized soccer fields.

Racing Louisville is scheduled to train at Grand Park through Friday as its home base thaws out.

“It is so nice not to have to bundle up in like one thousand layers and try not to have our toes freeze to death,” said Brooke Hendrix, a defender from Sharpsburg, Ga. “It’s a really nice facility — great surface. I think we are going to get a lot accomplished in these short few days.”

This isn’t Racing’s first brush with winter weather since beginning training. Last Friday, the team similarly vanned east to Lexington, Ky., for training at Tower Hill Sports, another top-notch indoor facility.

Inside of two months from the NWSL Challenge Cup, players view this bit of adversity as valuable in building chemistry.

“We just want all of us to get into a groove and on the same page,” said CeCe Kizer, a forward from Overland Park, Kan.  “We are working a lot on our main principles right now because we are all new together. I think it is important to work defensively and offensively with the same standards. I think it is good to get in multiple trainings in a week because we haven’t been able to get into that rhythm yet of training”

Beyond that, Racing Louisville players are using this time to get to know one another off the pitch — at least as much as the COVID-19 pandemic will allow.

“At the apartments, you don’t always see everyone all the time even though we are living close,” Hendrix said. “I think this opportunity forces us to hang out with each other because we really don’t have anything else to do in the hotel. I think it is going to be good to get to know each other’s personalities off the field as well as on the field.”

On their way to Indianapolis, one van held a karaoke competition. Kizer described it as “just a good vibe.”

While out of town, team meetings will continue, too. There’s perhaps more time for impromptu bonding activities as well, with players mentioning rounds of Uno, Phase Ten and Bananagrams.

This is all in preparation for kickoff as soon as April 9. Following the Challenge Cup, Racing’s inaugural regular season will begin in mid-May.

The squad continues to build. Within the last week, forward Yuki Nagasato, a World Cup winner in 2011 with Japan, cleared quarantine and began training. The 2021  NWSL Draft’s No. 1 pick, defender, Emily Fox, will hit the pitch with Racing for the first time on Thursday having recently attended U.S. Women’s National Team camp.

Racing Louisville FC season ticket memberships are now on sale with more than 3,000 already claimed. To purchase your own, visit www.racingloufc.com/racingloufc/tickets or call (502) 568-2489 during regular business hours to reach our team.

It may not reflect on the scoreboard this season — such are challenges of being an expansion club — but Racing Louisville FC Head Coach Christy Holly expects to make the rest of the NWSL “uncomfortable.”

In a new story by The Athletic’s Matt Pentz, Holly talked up the facilities and culture around Racing, which will kick off its inaugural campaign this April in the NWSL’s Challenge Cup tournament.

“Our owners have shown a real desire to raise the level,” Holly told Pentz. “Sometimes you look around and get frustrated that what we’re doing (in professional women’s soccer) is not the standard. I think it will make people uncomfortable around the league, truthfully, but I think the people within this organization are going to drive continual evolution of standards within this league.”

Of course, Racing will play home games at the new Lynn Family Stadium, which can accommodate 15,304 fans and is situated just east of downtown Louisville. Players are housed in riverfront apartments, and a nearby $15 million training facility is expected to fully open this spring.

“There’s just something so exciting about this,” goalkeeper Michelle Betos said. “I’ve been around the league for a long time and just my initial impressions about the stadium and the way they presented themselves on social media and their messaging — the way they spoke about the club and what they wanted it to be — it was just an impressive thing for me. Even if I wasn’t involved with the club, I would still be grateful that Louisville is involved in this league.”

Holly also described some difficulties in assembling a roster amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, Swedish midfielder Freja Olofsson continues to await her visa. The coach hinted that other reinforcements are to come.

“Will we win the NWSL next year? Probably not,” Holly told Pentz. “Will you come here and take three points for free? I certainly hope not, or shame on me.

“…It doesn’t have to happen overnight. Make sure that we do this step-by-step, and build something that will hopefully outlast all of us.”

Read The Athletic’s full feature on Racing Louisville FC here.

Ask the mild-mannered Racing Louisville FC Academy star what’s going on in her life, and Ella Sanchez tends not to mention that she’s been called into a United States U-17 National Team Women’s Virtual Camp.

But bring up Sanchez with her coaches, and they can’t stop talking about how this was no fluke.

“I’m not surprised about Ella’s call up in the sense that she works incredibly hard behind the scenes on her own,” said Tim Nowak, director of the Racing academy. “I know how hard she works in an environment when no one is watching her to hone her craft. This is just validation for everything she does away from the team.”

Sanchez, who turns 16 in March, has entered the player pool for the 2022 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India as she goes through a series of video conferences with the national team that began last Friday.

“It’s everything,” Sanchez said of this opportunity. “That’s my dream, so it’s just so cool to even get called up and even have the opportunity to prove myself at that level.”

The invitation marks the first national team call up for either the Louisville City FC or Racing academies. They launched within the last year in support of the corresponding professional clubs.

Sanchez is also building on a strong family legacy in the game. Her father, Mario, is a former University of Louisville men’s assistant and SIU Edwardsville head coach who has returned to town to lead both academies. Their vision is to develop more collegiate, professional and national team athletes than any other academy in the U.S.

“We’re a new academy and we have aspirations of producing national team players on both the male and female side,” Mario Sanchez said. “So having the first official athlete called up is a huge deal for the club and for the player. We hope it inspires all the young girls in the club to aim high.

“As a dad, I’m extremely proud. I see how much work she puts in every day, and how it has paid off. It’s exciting to see because she has aspirations of playing in the youth World Cup, senior World Cup and maybe Racing Louisville FC someday.”

Ella Sanchez began her club career upon the family’s move from Louisville, first playing for one of the midwest’s most competitive youth soccer programs in St. Louis Scott Gallagher. As with Racing, it’s a member of the top youth circuit, the Elite Clubs National League.

Back here with her dad at the academy’s helm, Ella Sanchez credits the program’s competitive nature as well as a working relationship with Racing Louisville FC’s players for her motivation.

“It’s a really professional environment, especially having the first team,” she said. “You can see the level you need to be training at to get to that next level.”

Already home to the two-star USL Championship club Louisville City FC, Lynn Family Stadium is in the running to win a trophy of its own.

The venue, which celebrated its inaugural season last year and in 2021 is also becoming home to the National Women’s Soccer League expansion side Racing Louisville FC, has been nominated for Stadium Database’s 2020 Stadium of the Year competition, it was announced Monday.

The contest matches Lynn Family Stadium against other new facilities from across the globe with voting running now through March 15 at StadiumDB.com. Lynn Family Stadium is up for both the Popular Vote, decided solely upon fan selections, and Jury Vote determined by a panel of architectural experts. 

To vote, click here and select five stadiums, rating them one through five stars, to complete a ballot. Users can vote once per device.

After more than 30,000 votes were cast from 127 countries or territories, last year’s Popular Vote was headlined by Hungary’s $615.8 million Puskás Aréna with the Premier League’s $1.3 billion Tottenham Hotspur Stadium coming in second. The architectural vote, however, swung to the Japan National Stadium which was constructed in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics now rescheduled for this summer.

With a capacity of 15,304 in the Butchertown neighborhood just east of downtown Louisville, Lynn Family Stadium was intricately designed to embody the culture of the city its clubs proudly call home. 

“Featuring a bourbon barrel-inspired facade, the unique ‘eyelash’ lights and ideal sight lines from every section, we’ve added to the city’s landscape the type of venue that can put Louisville into global conversations when it comes to the international game of soccer,” said Brad Estes, President of Soccer Holdings LLC.

“We can’t wait to see Lynn Family Stadium in all her glory with 15,000 supporters cheering on our Racing Louisville FC and Louisville City FC teams.”

Lynn Family Stadium’s construction includes a number of supporter-friendly features. There’s a state-of-the-art video board — second largest in Kentucky behind Churchill Downs’ massive screen — ideal seating close to the pitch, myriad food and drink options, solar-powered charging stations, a beer garden and a 72-foot bar at the facility’s open end believed to be the longest in the state.

The $65 million project was completed in March of last year, but Lynn Family Stadium waited until July for its grand opening to 4,850 fans — roughly one-third capacity given restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With its safe-standing supporter zones providing ardent support, it still served as a solid home field advantage as LouCity took a 13-game unbeaten streak into the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference Final.

Racing Louisville will kick off its inaugural season in the NWSL Challenge Cup, which starts April 9, while LouCity’s 2021 campaign opens on or around May 1.

In a club career stretching more than 10 years, goalkeeper Michelle Betos has played both around the National Women’s Soccer League and internationally with stops in Seattle, Portland and Australia, among other destinations.

“It’s really a dream come true,” Betos said of her new organization, Racing Louisville FC, which this week began its inaugural preseason camp. “I’m really excited for the season to start and the other teams and TV to see what we’re working with here, because I’ve been a lot of places in this league, and this is the most special one for sure.”

Betos, teammate Lauren Milliet and Racing Louisville coach Christy Holly each spent time with reporters Wednesday, sharing their first impressions of both the team environment and the facilities in which they’re happening — the new Lynn Family Stadium and multimillion-dollar training facility at Champions Park.

The preparation immediately leads up to the NWSL’s Challenge Cup beginning April 9. But Holly has also often stated intentions to think longterm. He’s constructing a culture now that could pay off for years.

“Truthfully, we haven’t started ramping up preseason just yet,” said Holly. “We are going to layer them up so that by four weeks’ time, we can get after them hard and let their bodies get ready for that.

“Ultimately, the focus within that is embedding that style of play that we wish, helping them get more aligned with the culture, and build up that chemistry.”

Holly expressed his desire to play an attractive, effective style that will allow the club to compete at the highest level of women’s soccer. His new bunch of players are matching that mentality.

“There is a real onus on intensity and everything being done 100 percent all the time,” said Milliet, who was acquired in the 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft from the North Carolina Courage. “I think that is really important, especially with a new team.”

Racing will have upwards of 30 players in camp at any given time, combining roster and non-roster players looking to earn contracts. One big arrival coming later is that of Emily Fox, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NWSL Draft. The defender out of UNC will train later this month with the U.S. Women’s National Team as it prepares for the SheBelieves Cup.

Holly expects Fox on the field in Louisville around Feb. 18-19.

“We’re all very delighted and proud of Emily for her call up to go back in with the national team,” said Holly, who opted against having Fox arrive here between her other recent call up in January. “…We felt that it was more beneficial for her to build a program from our end that aligns with what the national team needs and allow her to stay in her home environment — and also celebrate the fact that she was picked as the No. 1 draft pick. She can spend some time with her family before the season starts. It’s a more holistic approach.”

Fox fits the mold of Holly’s Racing player — young and hungry for high-level soccer. The club will mix in that core with a few more experienced players, such as forward YÅ«ki Nagasato, who begins training next week, and Betos, who most recently played for OL Reign.

“The other veterans and myself, we are talking it upon ourselves to implement all of our knowledge we have from the league,” Betos said. “I am honored and really excited to be a part of building that culture, starting fresh, and really making this something special.”

Betos, who spoke Wednesday from Lynn Family Stadium, also touched on Racing Louisville’s setup.

“The stadium and training facility are beautiful,” she said. “We’re seeing it built more and more every day, so that’s been a cool process and I’m really excited to see it all come to fruition.”

The goalkeeper also reflected on her experience starting with the then-Seattle Reign FC, who began its NWSL journey in 2013, and described how the league has evolved years later.

“Everything is so well put together and we are so well taken care of,” Betos said. “It shows the growth of the league to see what a brand-new team looks like now versus when we started.”

Following the Challenge Cup, Racing’s inaugural NWSL season will begin in mid-May. Season tickets are now on sale with more than 3,000 already claimed. To purchase your own, visit www.racingloufc.com/racingloufc/tickets or call (502) 568-2489 during regular business hours to reach our team.

Racing Louisville FC will start preseason training this week with upwards of 30 players — a combination of those under contract and non-roster invitees — while anticipating more arrivals soon ahead of the NWSL expansion club’s launch this spring.

Among those in for the Feb. 1 report date are a pair of prominent forwards: recent No. 5 2021 NWSL Draft pick and University of Louisville graduate Emina Ekic, plus Savannah McCaskill, 2018’s No. 2 NWSL Draft choice with multiple U.S. Women’s National Team caps.

Leading the notables on their way to Louisville later is defender Emily Fox, who went No. 1 overall in the 2021 draft and is headed to camp with the USWNT ahead of this month’s SheBelieves Cup. Yuki Nagasato, a World Cup-winning forward from Japan, is about a week away from entering training. Defender Kaleigh Riehl will also arrive upon conclusion of her stint with Paris FC, a member of France’s top division.

Racing Louisville is preparing for an April 9 start to the NWSL’s Challenge Cup tournament before its inaugural regular season begins as soon as May 15.

“We are delighted that preseason is finally here,” said Racing Head Coach Christy Holly. “There has been a lot of work accomplished off the field to ensure we have everything ready for players to, as we say around here, run with us on the first day of training.

“These next couple of months give us a tremendous opportunity to build the team chemistry. They’ll allow the players to familiarize themselves with each other and ultimately further align themselves with where want to go as an organization.”

During their first preseason, Racing’s players will train at a variety of locations as the finishing touches are put on a multimillion dollar facility at Champions Park a few miles east of downtown. The grounds already offer turf fields for use, while nearby Lynn Family Stadium and Thurman Hutchins Park have natural grass surfaces available pending weather.

2021 Racing Louisville FC Roster

Goalkeepers (4): Brooke Ballinger (NRI), Michelle Betos, Katie Lund, Shelby Money (NRI)

Defenders (8): Julia Ashley, Molly Dwyer (NRI), Emily Fox (CDP), Brooke Hendrix, Nealy Martin (NRI), Addisyn Merrick, Kaleigh Riehl (NYR), Erin Simon

Midfielders (8): Chinyelu Asher (NRI), Grace Bahr (NRI), Lauren Milliet, Noelle Higginson (NRI), Alex Kimball (NRI), Freja Olofsson (NYR), Taylor Otto (CDP), Savanah Uveges (NRI)

Forwards (10): Jorian Baucom (NRI), Vanessa Kara (NRI), Emina Ekic (CDP), Alex Genas (NRI), Anika Kallash (NRI), Cece Kizer, Cheyna Matthews (NYR), Katie McClure, Savannah McCaskill, Yuki Nagasato

Key:

CDP – 2020 NWSL College Draft Pick

NRI – Non-Roster Invitee

NYR – Not Yet Reported to Camp

Racing Louisville FC also holds the NWSL playing rights to forwards Caitlin Foord, Tobin Heath and Christen Press, as well as midfielder Alanna Kennedy, who were selected in the 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft. Each is under contract with a club in England’s FA Women’s Super League.

Defender Emily Fox, selected No. 1 overall by Racing Louisville FC in the recent NWSL Draft, has been called back to camp with the U.S. Women’s National Team ahead of the 2021 SheBelieves Cup.

USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski on Monday named a 23-player tournament roster and counted Fox among three additional training players to help prep the squad in sessions from Feb. 8-15. The SheBelieves Cup — the most elite four-team international tournament in women’s soccer — will then be played on Feb. 18, 21 and 24 at Exploria Stadium in Orlando.

Fox is a former University of North Carolina star who guided the Tar Heels to a pair of College Cup appearances in 2018 and 2019. Most recently, she came on in the 79th minute of a 6-0 victory Jan. 22 over Colombia to mark her fourth senior team cap — and first since an ACL tear in the fall of 2019.

Following her time with the USWNT, Fox will join her new Racing Louisville FC teammates for the NWSL expansion side’s preseason. Racing Louisville on Monday begins training toward the NWSL Challenge Cup, a league-wide tournament that opens play in April, before the regular season starts in May.

Season, premium, group and student ticket options are available at www.racingloufc.com/racingloufc/tickets or by calling (502) 568-2489 during regular business hours. The club — operated by the same team behind USL Championship member Louisville City FC — has surpassed 3,000 season ticket members for its inaugural season at Lynn Family Stadium.

USWNT SheBelieves Cup Roster (Club; Caps/Goals)

Goalkeepers (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash; 4), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage; 0), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 65)

Defenders (8): Alana Cook (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA; 2/0), Abby Dahlkemper (Manchester City, ENG; 63/0), Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars; 27/1), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC; 107/24), Kelley O’Hara (Washington Spirit; 133/2), Margaret Purce (Sky Blue FC; 4/1), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 179/0), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit; 48/0)

Midfielders (6): Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars; 105/20), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC; 88/20), Rose Lavelle (Manchester City, ENG; 48/13), Catarina Macario (Olympique Lyonnaise, FRA; 2/1), Kristie Mewis (Houston Dash; 18/3), Samantha Mewis (Manchester City, ENG; 70/21)

Forwards (6): Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC; 296/123), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride; 170/107), Christen Press (Manchester United, ENG; 139/58), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign; 170/54), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC; 1/0), Lynn Williams (North Carolina Courage; 31/10)

Training Players: Emily Fox (Racing Louisville FC; 4/0), Jaelin Howell (Florida State; 1/0), Mallory Pugh (Chicago Red Stars; 63/18)

The National Women’s Soccer League on Wednesday announced the league’s Medical Task Force has approved play in home markets for the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup that’s set to begin on April 9.

The NWSL has also released updated medical protocols and key dates for the new and expanded 2021 competition framework.

Players will report to camp on Monday. Following the Challenge Cup, a tournament that will mark the debut of expansion club Racing Louisville FC, the NWSL’s 10 teams will face off in a 24-game regular season beginning May 15. The league will not break for the 2021 Olympic Games, and the regular season will conclude on Oct. 30. Full details on the Challenge Cup format and the complete regular season schedule will be released at a later date.

As previously announced, six teams will qualify for an expanded NWSL playoffs set to begin on Nov. 6, with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye. The league’s ninth season will conclude with the NWSL Championship on Nov. 20.

The league will close out the 2021 campaign with the Expansion Draft on Dec. 16 featuring Angel City FC and Sacramento.

The NWSL’s Medical Task Force has worked tirelessly in coordination with public health officials to update the league’s medical and testing protocols to ensure the safest environment for our players, teams and staff to return to competition. The full protocols can be found here.