Former players accused North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley of sexual coercion and of the use inappropriate comments about players' weight and sexual orientations, spanning multiple teams and leagues and lasting over a decade, in a report by the The Athletic's Meg Linehan and Katie Strang.
One of the former players, Sinead Farrelly, detailed to The Athletic a 2011 incident in which she, while playing for the Women’s Professional Soccer league's Philadelphia Independence, alleges Riley coerced her into having sex with him and spending the night in his room. The sexual coercion toward Farrelly, who is now retired, continued during the offseason as well as while she played for a semi-pro team Riley coached on Long Island in ’12, she said.