This is an NWSL team founded by Hollywood actress Natalie Portman and will join the league in 2022.
The club’s owners include athletes such as Serena Williams and women’s soccer legends such as Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm. There are other movie stars like Jennifer Garner or Jessica Chastain, or even amazing YouTubers like Casey Neistat and Lilly Singh .
It was founded in 2020 after several expansions and new teams in the league. Since then, a major marketing campaign has begun involving the Los Angeles community as it is the only professional women’s soccer team in the city. Additionally, they’ve made great signings that appeal to fans, such as two-time world champion Christen Press.
But it didn’t get off to an easy start. They had trouble finding a stadium to play in as MSL team Los Angeles FC didn’t want to share their stadium as it might not be filled with Angel City and would give the club a bad image. However, they were able to convince them and Banc of California Stadium became one of the stadiums that attracted the largest number of NWSL fans last season.
Although the club has also had to deal with other non-sporting issues, such as two fines they received from the league for negotiating with players who broke the rules of the game. They also encountered sporting obstacles as they suffered several major losses, such as the loss of their star player Christen Press, or the loss of Sydney Leroux, who later The player came in to make up for Press’ loss and was injured two games later.
Despite this, the marketing campaign launched by the club worked as they gained almost 16,000 subscribers in their first season (22/23).
Perhaps the media success and popularity of its owners are part of what led HBO to make a documentary about this particular football club.
From a sporting perspective, they did not achieve the goal they set out for in their first season, which was the playoffs. Angel City finished ninth out of twelve teams in their first year in the NWSL and were therefore excluded from the top six to qualify for the playoffs. They haven’t had huge success yet, but they are one of the most supported teams in the league.
They currently sit eighth in the standings and still have a chance of finishing in the top six and playing in the first game of the championship. Athletic success may be what the club needs to beat other experienced clubs such as the OL Reign or North Carolina Courage in popularity.
Image via: Twitter @weareangelcity