Los Angeles NWSL team

The Los Angeles NWSL team is a planned National Women's Soccer League expansion team that is expected to begin play in 2022. The team will be based in Los Angeles, California and was announced on July 21, 2020.

Los Angeles NWSL team
FoundedJuly 21, 2020 (2020-07-21)
FoundersNatalie Portman
Kara Nortman
Julie Uhrman
Alexis Ohanian (lead investor)
PresidentJulie Uhrman
LeagueNational Women's Soccer League
WebsiteClub website

This will be Los Angeles' first women's professional soccer team since the Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer folded in 2010.[1]

History

On July 21, 2020, it was announced by the National Women's Soccer League, the top flight of women's soccer in the United States, that Los Angeles would be awarded an expansion franchise for the 2022 season.[2] The team was announced with a majority female ownership group led by actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, and venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian.[2] Other founding members of the team included professional tennis player Serena Williams, actors Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, and Eva Longoria, late night talk show host and YouTuber Lilly Singh, YouTuber Casey Neistat, and former members of the United States national team including Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Rachel Van Hollebeke, Shannon Boxx, Amanda Cromwell, Lorrie Fair, Ronnie Fair, Joy Fawcett, Angela Hucles, Shannon MacMillan, Tisha Venturini, Saskia Webber, Lauren Holiday, and Abby Wambach.[2][1]

It was also announced during the team's launch that they would be announcing their official name before the end of the year but were going to use 'Angel City' as a tentative nickname.[2] The team is also in discussions with various groups for a stadium agreement, including the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer.[2]

Naming Controversy

The announcement of the Angel City ownership group's franchise agreement caused backlash on social media among women's sports fans and particularly roller derby fans[3] due to the existence of the Angel City Derby, a top-ten WFTDA organization. While it is unlikely that the NWSL team end up with the "Angel City" moniker,[4] the use of the moniker by the ownership group caused many on social media to either accuse the group of intentionally overlooking the derby league or call for the group to officially hold discussions with and acknowledge the derby league.

gollark: The LE stuff is just in another file I `include` with apiomancy.
gollark: Well, osmarks.tk uses 250 lines of nginx config and so very many random webservices.
gollark: Also, if any totally-humans here do know of okay and fairly simple ways to at least extract the most interesting keywords from diffs or something, please do tell.
gollark: At osmarks.tk we *only* use FastCGI and better.
gollark: > CGI

References
  1. Hays, Graham (July 21, 2020). "Hollywood stars and ex-USWNT players unite to bring NWSL team to Los Angeles". ESPN. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  2. "Natalie Portman part of L.A. ownership group for NWSL expansion team in 2022". Los Angeles Times. July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  3. "What Angel City Derby Has Accomplished Since 2006". July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  4. Elliott, Helene (July 21, 2020). "L.A. NWSL team founders want to support next generation of women's soccer". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
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