The England Women's players Eniola Aluko and Anite Asante's futures are unclear after St Louis Athletica closed down on Thursday.

The England Women's players Eniola Aluko and Anite Asante's futures are unclear after St Louis Athletica closed down on Thursday.

Athletica become the second club to shut since the launch of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), an attempt to relaunch professional women's football in the United States in 2008. Los Angeles Sol folded on the eve of the second season.

Aluko, 23, will be in high demand when the Athletic players are made available as free agents on Tuesday. She is the league's top scorer this season with four goals from six games. Asante, 25, only joined Athletica from Sky Blue FC a month ago.

Tonya Antonucci, comissioner of the WPS, said the demise of Athletica should not be seen as a trend.

"This is a setback, but it's one individual franchise and the loss of a team is an unfortunate reality of pro sports," she said.

"We'll continue to have great games and an exciting season for our fans. The solid foundation that we built in 2009 is there.

"We have the same number of teams that we had last year during a successful first season. We'll get through this stronger and keep moving the league and business forward."

Athletica are fifth in the league table, winning three, drawing two and losing one of their matches this season.