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NWSL's Paul Riley controversy points to a bigger problem in which league repeatedly fails its players

Since the inception of the National Women's Soccer League, its club owners, executives and coaches have loved to call the NWSL the best women's soccer league in the world -- and for the on-field product alone, they may have been right. But when it comes to just about everything else in the NWSL, it would take willful ignorance to make such claims.

Consider this season's biggest storylines for the so-called "best" league in the world: Four different coaches, all men, have been fired in just the past four months for off-field reasons, including alleged sexual misconduct, verbal abuse, toxic work environments and racist remarks.