US (2023)- Women's Soccer Sheet of 20 Forever Stamps

This new Forever® stamp celebrates women’s soccer in the United States. From youth
leagues to the elite world champion U.S. national team, millions of girls and women
throughout the country participate in the fast-paced, competitive sport of soccer.
The stamp artwork depicts a female soccer player in action, walloping a ball with a side
volley. The somewhat grainy rendering lends a timeless quality to the design, evoking not
just a single all-star athlete or era but the entire legacy of women’s soccer.
For decades, women’s athletic programs were all but invisible on college and university
campuses, receiving very little of the funding and none of the recognition of their male
counterparts. In 1972, Congress amended federal education law by adding Title IX,
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex from any educational program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance.

By 1985, female soccer players were finally able to compete on an international level. That
year the U.S. women’s national team played its first official matches in Italy. In 1991, the
U.S. women’s national soccer team competed in the first official FIFA Women’s World Cup,
held in China, and won the championship.
Despite these successes, women’s soccer remained relatively unknown. It didn’t truly enter
the international arena and gain a following until the 1996 Summer Olympics when
women’s soccer was included as a sport for the first time. The U.S. beat out China for the
gold medal.

Since then, dozens of elite female athletes have donned the U.S. women’s national soccer
team jersey and dominated around the world. In 2019, the U.S. made history as the only
team to win four FIFA Women’s World Cup titles.
Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp with an original illustration by Noah
MacMillan (1988–2022).