St. Louis Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) Team Announces Brazil's Jorge Barcellos...

St. Louis Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) Team Announces Brazil's Jorge
Barcellos as Head Coach
Team to Play Inaugural 2009 Season at Southern Illinois University -
Edwardsville

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Less than a week since leading his
Brazilian Women's National Team to a silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Games,
Brazil head coach Jorge Barcellos has agreed to take on a new career challenge
as inaugural head coach of the St. Louis-based Women's Professional Soccer
(WPS) team.
Barcellos, whose team brought home Olympic silver after a 1-0 overtime
loss to the United States last Thursday, brings an extensive resume to St.
Louis, having served as head coach of the Brazilian Women's National Team
since September 2006. In addition to guiding Brazil to second-place finishes
at the 2008 Olympic Games and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup -- the highest
placements ever for Brazil in world championship events -- Barcellos led
Brazil to a first-place finish at the 2007 Pan American Games and second-place
finish at the 2006 South American Women's Championship. Barcellos also
coached the Brazilian U-20s to a third-place finish at the 2006 FIFA U-20
Women's World Cup.
"I'm looking forward to coaching some of the world's greatest soccer
players in one of the world's greatest soccer cities, with the long-term goal
of guiding St. Louis to a WPS championship title," said Barcellos. "To get
involved with an elite league such as WPS at the very beginning is a once-in-
a-lifetime opportunity and I'm eager to get started."
"Coach Barcellos will be an asset to our entire organization, contributing
his expertise to not only the WPS team, but also to our extensive youth
system," said Jeff Cooper, owner of the St. Louis WPS team. "Our area's young
female athletes, who aspire to be just like their Olympic heroes, now have an
unparalleled opportunity to train under one of the world's greatest soccer
coaches."
"St. Louis' rich soccer history makes it the ideal city for Jorge to
launch his North American coaching career and we're extremely honored to
welcome him into the organization," said Caryn Chasteen, president of the St.
Louis WPS team. "Coaches of Jorge's caliber are few and far between. He will
certainly set the stage for our team to recruit the best domestic and
international player talent."
With Barcellos at the helm, the St. Louis WPS team will play its inaugural
2009 season at Korte Stadium on the campus of Southern Illinois University in
Edwardsville, Ill. (SIUE). The facility is just 20 minutes from downtown St.
Louis and the soccer field is named in honor of Hall of Famer Bob Guelker, who
coached at SIUE from 1966-1987.
"SIUE is eager to welcome Women's Professional Soccer and its fans to
Korte Stadium as we help make history in the league's inaugural season and
play host to some of the world's greatest soccer talent," said Dr. Brad
Hewitt, SIUE director of athletics. "With the addition of Jorge Barcellos as
head coach, Korte Stadium is set to become home to an international soccer
powerhouse, and we are committed to providing an exceptional facility to
further enhance that player and fan experience."
Korte Stadium is intended as a temporary home for the WPS St. Louis team,
pending approval of a Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion franchise for the
St. Louis area, at which time a state-of-the-art soccer-specific stadium will
be built in Collinsville, Ill.
For more information about the St. Louis WPS and potential MLS team, visit
http://www.stlouissoccerunited.com.
About Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)
The mission of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) is to be the premier
women's soccer league in the world and the global standard by which women's
professional sports are measured. Play kicks off in the spring of 2009, with
WPS teams based in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York,
St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. The league will expand to nine teams by 2010
with the inclusion of Atlanta and Philadelphia. For more information, visit
http://www.womensprosoccer.com.
SOURCE Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)

Jennifer Peters of Fleishman-Hillard Sports Business, +1-314-982-9167,
jennifer.peters@fleishman.com, for Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)