Angel City: The New Team of the NWSL

First National Women's Soccer League Team coming to Los Angeles in 2022. 

By Mark Molz
Sports Reporter

There is no shortage of professional sports in the city of Los Angeles.

The home of two professional football franchises, two NBA teams, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, one WNBA team, two MLB teams, a pair of MLS squads, and a NHL franchise, there is a team for almost everyone. I say almost because out of ten current teams and the myriad of organizations to come in and out of Los Angeles, a professional women’s soccer team has yet to call LA their home, until now. 

Entering in 2022, the National Women’s Soccer league (NWSL) will be adding a brand new expansion team to the city of angels. With no official name or venue announced yet, the announcement of the team is as far as they have come currently. For now the team is formally known as “Angel City.” The eight year old league of the NWSL will be adding its tenth team in its history.

Women’s soccer has been rapidly rising in the U.S and there is no better place for the NWSL to add their new team. Founders Natalie Portman, an academy award winning actress, Kara Nortman, and Julie Uhrman, founder and president, have teamed up with many investors to make this dream become a reality. Investors include Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian , former USWNT players  Abby Wambach, Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm and more. Other investors in the team include actresses  Eva Longoria and Julie Gardner. With the help of these individuals and many more LA is finally leaving its mark on professional women’s soccer. 

President Julie Uhrman made this statement in her written letter addressed to the new founded organization, “Our growing collective of activists, actors, athletes, and entrepreneurs truly believe in LA's incredible sports culture, and the power of soccer, the most popular sport on Earth.” She continued to state, “with nine professional teams and NCAA powerhouses USC and UCLA, isn't it high time that we also have a women's soccer team to rally behind?”

And high time it is. With women’s soccer rapidly growing and the USWNT being a powerhouse on the world stage, winning back-to-back FIFA Women’s World Cup, California and the Los Angeles community has been needing a team like Angel City to come in and take the stage.

LA has long been a hub for the professional sports world and it was only right that the NWSL is joining the rich history of winning that comes with the city. Although Angel City won’t make its mark until 2022 it only feels right to be excited for their debut and the bright future of the NWSL.