Kicking off this summer in Canada is the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

Although it may be a big deal to female soccer players here and around the world, it’s still not relatively common knowledge.

This previous summer, Americans all over united to cheer on our men’s team, which did arguably well, compared to past World Cups.

Where was all that enthusiasm during the 2011 Women’s World Cup?

“I wouldn’t say the mens national team is more popular than the womens national team, both World Cups get a decent amount of attention,” Alden Butzke said.

However, the womens league here in the states, the National Womens Soccer League, is hardly discussed: no news, no highlights on television, and no games actually shown on television.

“I never knew we had a professional womens league,” Butzke said.

The MLS has seen crowds of over 60,000, while the the most the NWSL has seen is about 19,000.

How are people supposed to know about this professional women’s league when there’s no advertising for it?

“They should broadcast it in on TV, the players would get more money and their teams would also benefit from it,” Butzke said.

“Men’s soccer in general is more popular, but with advertising, women’s soccer would gradually get more attention,” the Dimond Freshman added.

South Freshman Dani Cyr said, “I think we could promote it more, which seems to be happening a little more. We can advertise it more so children grow up playing and see that they could play in professional soccer league.”

“I would say I watch men and womens soccer equally,” Dimond Freshman Allison Shafer said.

“Right now womens soccer is a lot more popular than it used to be, which I think is because of the 1999 Womens World Cup. More girls play soccer now and that helps the popularity of the sport.”

The United States womens national team is always in the top five ranked teams in the world, but why do they get so little recognition?

“I just think women are still looked as not as strong, independent people, so people think physical sports, like soccer, aren’t worth watching. It is true that men move faster and are a little more intense, but nowadays it’s not much better than women. Right now, the best soccer player in Alaska is a woman. What does that say?” East Freshman Becca Fischer says.

Abby Wambach, a well known soccer player for the women’s national team, was recently in the media for publicly protesting playing on turf for the upcoming World Cup.

Wambach said men would never be forced to play on turf, especially in such a high stakes tournament.

“I would’ve followed Abby in her movement because she is totally right,” South Freshman Gina Orizotti said.

“Men wouldn’t be forced to play on turf, and we deserve equal conditions as men.”

Helena Costa quit her job as the first ever woman to lead a men’s football club.

Costa, the former coach of a second division French soccer club, quit due to disrespect.

The management undermined her position and signed players without her approval.

“The popularity of womens soccer and the awareness will go up if we win the World Cup this year,” Kaleigh Haworth said.

The 2015 NWSL season begins April 10th.

It marks the third season of the National Womens Soccer League, which is giving fans hope that the league will last, unlike other failed womens leagues here in the states.