Hustle Rule: The Untold Stories of Women’s Soccer

This is the final episode in our series. In Act 1, Shapeshifters, we look at the generations of women who had no pro league to play in: what’s it like to be a 22-year-old who has to completely start over? They go on to become rocket scientists, CEOs, and big-time music supervisors. In Act 2, Side-Hustlers, we look at the early generations who did have a pro league to play in, but had to scrap and hustle at side jobs to make it work. In Act 3, we finish with today's generation – the New Guard – when the field of opportunity is wide open.

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Come with us to the most futebol-mad country in all the world, as we follow the trail of the magicians, some you may have heard of – and some you haven’t. We’ll head to Santos FC, where 1000 girls from all over the country show up to the open tryout, dreaming of playing for the most storied club in Brazilian history: the land of the King, Pele, and now the Queen: Marta.

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This is the story of Nadia Nadim – a professional soccer player, a soon-to-be surgeon, a daughter, a sister, a niece, and an Afghan refugee… and, above all else, a kid who loved to play football. In this episode, we'll meet the family who just won’t quit, including Diana, Nadia’s sister and a champion boxer, and Aryana Sayeed, Nadia’s aunt and Afghanistan's most famous singer who has taken her fight for the rights of Afghan women all the way to the UN.

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At the national team level, countries have ever-deepening talent pools; it’s harder and harder to hold onto your spot. If you get pregnant, that means months on the sideline while a young, hungry replacement is playing in your stead. The mothers who do go for it often face major doubt: it’s dicey to take a chance on a player undergoing both a gigantic physical transformation and a shift in priorities. This is the story of two moms on opposite sides of the world – Australia’s Melissa Barbieri and USA’s Amy Rodriguez – who were cut or traded… and who set out to make a comeback as good as any you’ll find.

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In this episode, we head to underground leagues in New York - to cutthroat games with high stakes, mega talent, big crowds, and cash prizes…where Allie Long plays against the men. This will be her proving ground. Her dream? To make the U.S. women’s national team. She is at an age when many players begin to retire. Will she get called up? Or will she, like so many of the men she plays with, be someone who just missed?

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This is the story of a semi-pro team in North Carolina that believes homosexuality is a sin - and the effect this belief has on its gay players. This is also the story of another team, 130-miles down the road: the Asheville City Blues, a team owned and coached by gay women and rainbow-loving allies who believe you can love whoever you want to love. The rivalry between these two teams is about more than just the queers playing against the evangelical Christians during Pride month. The history between these two teams runs deeper than you can possibly imagine.

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When the scout knocked on the door of Josephine Chukwunonye’s one-room home in Lagos, Nigeria, her father told him to leave. But Josephine (aka Alinco) pleaded – “Dad, if you don’t let me play, I will die” – until her father gave in. When she told her mother that one day she would use her soccer earnings to build her family a house, her mother laughed: “Child, that doesn’t happen for girls.” But Alinco kept dreaming anyway: at night, sleeping on the floor with her six family members beside her, she thought to herself, “One day I will change our lives.” This is the story of Alinco – and a Nigerian professional league that allows women to change the fates of their families.

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