This is a special "Journey to the Cup" episode brought to you by Google Chrome.

Meg is joined by Charlotte Harpur and Steph Yang to discuss everything happening with the French women’s national team — from multiple players stepping away from the team over their concerns, including the team’s captain Wendie Renard, to the exit of head coach Corinne Diacre, the resignation of FFF president Noel Le Graet, and now the entrance of the team’s new head coach Herve Renard and possible return of players. All of this is happening only months before the World Cup, and time is running out for the team to prepare for this summer’s major tournament.

Read Charlotte’s feature on France: https://theathletic.com/4260181/2023/03/01/france-wendie-renard-diacre/

More on Noel Le Graet’s resignation: https://theathletic.com/4259868/2023/02/28/noel-le-graet-french-football/

Corinne Diacre out as the team’s head coach: https://theathletic.com/4290895/2023/03/09/corinne-diacre-france-women-sacked/

And Herve Renard in: https://theathletic.com/4329031/2023/03/20/herve-renard-france-women/

Read all of The Athletic’s Journey to the Cup coverage here: https://theathletic.com/tag/the-journey-to-the-cup/

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Meg checks in from New Zealand where she's on USWNT duty, and has audio from the post-game press conferences from the first match of the World Cup year for both the U.S. and the New Zealand Football Ferns. Vlatko Andonovski and Mal Swanson offer their thoughts on the match, followed by Ferns head coach Jitka Klimkova and Olivia Chance.

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Meg and Steph are back for 2023, with so much happening on the first real Monday of the year that we needed an emergency pod. First up, new Portland Thorns FC head coach Mike Norris, then a discussion of the corrective actions and sanctions announced by the NWSL on Monday following the joint investigation, and finally, the major free agency news of the day: Debinha’s staying in the NWSL, and heading to Kansas City!

Portland Thorns promote assistant Mike Norris to head coach: What’s next for the NWSL side? 

https://theathletic.com/4073756/2023/01/09/portland-thorns-coach-mike-norris/

How the Kansas City Current landed Debinha, the NWSL’s top free agent https://theathletic.com/4069897/2023/01/09/debinha-kansas-city-current-nwsl/

NWSL bans Paul Riley, Christy Holly and others following joint investigation https://theathletic.com/4073531/2023/01/09/nwsl-investigation-bans-suspensions-riley-christy/

All our NWSL investigation coverage: https://theathletic.com/tag/nwsl-investigations/

The Journey to the Cup: What you need to know as we prepare for Australia & New Zealand 2023 https://theathletic.com/4020580/2022/12/21/2023-womens-world-cup-dates-info/

Get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase at athleticgreens.com/MLS

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Following the release of the NWSL/NWSL PA joint investigation report that found “widespread misconduct” across the league, Meg and Steph discuss their reactions to the report, the timing of its release, and the major findings and how they’ll impact the league moving forward. Also: a few words in memory of our friend, Grant Wahl.

Meg’s breakdown of the joint investigation report: https://theathletic.com/4002142/2022/12/14/nwsl-pa-joint-investigation/

Steph’s updated and comprehensive NWSL timeline of allegations, reports and inaction: https://theathletic.com/3677339/2022/10/10/nwsl-abuse-allegations-timeline/

All our NWSL investigation coverage: https://theathletic.com/tag/nwsl-investigations/

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It’s time to catch up with Steph Yang! First, we discuss the new partnership between The Athletic and Google and reflect on what it means about where we’ve been and where we’re going. Then, tons of topics from the NWSL championship, NWSL fines, the USWNT’s readiness ahead of a World Cup year, Rose Lavelle’s big karaoke moment, and Lauren Holiday heading into the Soccer Hall of Fame.

Subscribe to The Athletic for $1/month for 12 months during our Black Friday deal: www.theathletic.com/fulltime

For more on the new Google partnership: https://www.nytco.com/press/the-athletic-and-google-launch-program-to-double-the-athletics-coverage-of-professional-womens-sports/

And https://theathletic.com/3908527/2022/11/22/project-womens-basketball-soccer-google/

That interview with CBS’s Dan Weinberg on the NWSL: https://theathletic.com/3742148/2022/11/01/fox-world-series-astros-phillies/

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Let’s talk about some numbers! National Research Group’s Jay Kaufman (Executive Vice President and Head of Sports) and Mary Moczula (Global Marketing and Communications Director) join Full Time to discuss NRG’s recent study on women’s sports titled Leveling the Playing Field. The study sets out to answer a few major questions: what the increased attention on women’s sports actually means, if we are truly at a turning point, and if increased funding, viewership and interest can help overcome long-standing structural inequities. With a new media rights deal on the horizon for the NWSL, it’s the perfect time to dig deeper into the data.

Read Leveling the Playing Field: https://www.nationalresearchgroup.com/news/leveling-the-playing-field

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Becca Roux, executive director of the USWNT Players Association, joins Full Time to discuss the collective bargaining agreement between the USWNT and U.S. Soccer, now available for everyone to read. From equal pay and equal prize money to safe working conditions and other important things to know from the document, Becca is here to provide the breakdown whether or not you opt to read the whole PDF. And: we talk about the infamous scrimmage against a boys team in 2017.

Follow the USWNTPA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/USWNTPlayers

And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uswntplayers/

USWNTPA website: https://uswntplayers.com/

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We survived the NWSL Championship, and we’ve got one of the Championship winners on this week’s show! Janine Beckie is here to discuss the big game, the vibe in DC, the celebrations and what’s coming up in the off-season for her (spoiler: naps). Plus… we had to do it, we detoured into plenty fo Grey’s Anatomy talk (with Janine making sure we were major spoiler free).

Follow our NWSL coverage at The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/football/nwsl/

Follow Janine on Twitter: https://twitter.com/janinebeckie

And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janinebeckie4/

Meg on the Ally deal: https://theathletic.com/3742895/2022/10/29/nwsl-ally-sponsorship/

Steph on Rhian Wilkinson: https://theathletic.com/3744844/2022/10/30/portland-thorns-nwsl-rhian-wilkinson/

The final NWSL Chaos Column of the year from Steph: https://theathletic.com/3749537/2022/10/31/nwsl-championship-thorns-sophia-smith/

Meg on the congressional letter to U.S. Soccer: https://theathletic.com/3752017/2022/11/01/nwsl-investigations-congress/

For more on Paul & Sam’s new USMNT podcast, From Couva to Qatar: https://theathletic.com/3748886/2022/11/01/usmnt-world-cup-podcast/

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Meg’s on the move in DC this week ahead of the NWSL Championship. This week, players from the Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current, live from media day, answer questions about this weekend’s final.

Follow our NWSL coverage at The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/football/nwsl/

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Claire Watkins is back on Full Time to discuss the Chicago Red Stars, following the release of her exhaustive investigative report on the team this week. We discuss her new full time role at Just Women’s Sports, her reporting, and what comes next for the Red Stars — plus, a quick celebration of the new 2023 World Cup mascot.

Follow Claire on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScoutRipley

Read her Chicago Red Stars story at Defector: https://defector.com/how-the-chicago-red-stars-became-the-epitome-of-nwsl-dysfunction/

Subscribe to the JWS newsletter: https://justwomenssports.com/newsletter/

Here’s Meg’s Red Stars story at The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/3705608/

Our World Cup draw guide: https://theathletic.com/3704486/

Meg and Steph Yang on the NWSL quarterfinals: https://theathletic.com/3702263/

And our NWSL playoffs guide: https://theathletic.com/3691227/

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