
Women's Professional Soccer stars Marta Vieira da Silva, Johanna Frisk and Amy Rodriguez preside over the Closing Bell. The players are in New York to celebrate the unveiling of their PUMA-designed team uniforms for the 2009 inaugural season of Women's Profession Soccer, which starts on March 29.
Marta Vieira da Silva (Brazil): WPS - Los Angeles Sol, three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Amy Rodriguez (USA): WPS - Boston Breakers, WPS number-one draft pick Johanna Frisk (Sweden): WPS - Los Angeles Sol
About PUMA:
PUMA is one of the world's leading sportlifestyle companies that designs and develops footwear, apparel and accessories. It is committed to working in ways that contribute to the world by supporting Peace, Creativity, and SAFE Sustainability, and by staying true to the values of being Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in decisions made and actions taken. PUMA starts in Sport and ends in Fashion. Its Sport Performance and Lifestyle labels include categories such as Soccer, Running, Motorsports, Golf and Sailing. The Black label features collaborations with renowned designers such as Alexander McQueen, Yasuhiro Mihara and Sergio Rossi. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Tretorn and Hussein Chalayan. The company, which was founded in 1948, distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs more than 9,000 people worldwide and has headquarters in Herzogenaurach/Germany, Boston, London and Hong Kong.
About Women's Professional Soccer:
WPS is the highest level women's professional soccer league in North America. Formed in September 2007 as the result of the efforts of the Women's Soccer Initiative, Inc., WPS, which will begin play in April 2009, consists of seven teams across the country.
The markets for the 2009 season are Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. WPS expects to expand to Atlanta and Philadelphia in 2010 and continues to explore additional potential franchises for 2010 and beyond. The WPS team planned for Dallas is now slated to begin play in 2010 as the League continues to work on securing a facility, with the intention that the Team will start play in the League's second season. More markets will be announced as they are added to the League.
Franchises are individually owned and operated by a group of investors in each market. These include AEG-L.A. Women's Soccer LLC, Bay Area Women's Soccer LLC, Boston Women's Soccer LLC, Chicago Professional Women's Soccer LLC, Hendricks Investment Holdings LLC (Washington D.C.), St. Louis United Soccer LLC and Sky Blue Women's Soccer, Inc.
(New Jersey/New York).
About NASDAQ OMX:
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with over 3,900 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX Group offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market; NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, including First North; and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and ETFs.
NASDAQ OMX Group technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX Group exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com.