Women on the Ball 英国女子足球职业联赛

By Maddy Savage, BBC News

Now female players will be able to get paid for taking part in games

媒体英语会带大家一起学习 BBC 撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

背景：英格兰即将推出超级联盟 Super League，为像阿森纳、切尔西和利物浦这样的多个女子足球队提供一个竞技赛场。这样一来，英格兰的女子足球运动员将首次带薪参加联赛比赛。英格兰足协希望通过此联盟能吸引更多女子足球迷。

Women’s football – or ‘soccer’ as it’s known in many countries – has been played in England for more than a hundred years. But unlike men’s football, it’s always been an amateur game. The new Super League will be the first semi-professional competition for women, with eight teams from across the country competing for the title.

The players will get paid for their efforts, although their salaries will be nothing like those given to top male football stars. The Football Association says it hopes to avoid uneven competition where the country’s richest clubs get access to all the best players.

Each club in the women’s super league will have a maximum annual budget of around US$ 400,000. Some clubs, like Arsenal and Everton, will be helped by their respective male clubs, but others are trying to match their incomes by coaching school pupils or raising money through social events.

Organisers are hoping the league will eventually attract the world’s best female players and stop England’s top stars heading to Germany and the United States where there are already major professional competitions.