New NWSL club Angel City has announced Freya Coombe as its first head coach and will also confirm USWNT superstar and two-time World Cup winner Christen Press as its first player.
Angel City was founded in 2020 by a leading management team that includes Natalie Portman, with Serena Williams and Mia Hamm among other owners, and is expected to debut in the NWSL during the 2022 season. They are the first professional women’s soccer team in Los Angeles since 2010.
Coombe is the first hiring of Angel City Sports Director Eniola Aluko and will move to California after the end of the NWSL 2021 season as she is currently the head coach of NJ / NY Gotham.
“I think everyone has seen the history of Angel City evolve and I have been very impressed with the club’s direction and the core values on which it is based,” Coombe told AngelCity.com.
“When the opportunity to get in touch with Eni and the team, I knew I had to explore it. Leaving NJ / NY Gotham was not an easy decision, but the chance to join ACFC as head coach of a new team was something I could not miss. ”
Press will soon join after her departure from Manchester United after a season in England.
The 32-year-old, who won the FIFA World Cup for women both in 2015 and 2019, has played professionally in the USA, Sweden and England, but this is the first time she has a contract at a professional club in her hometown after a short time at Pali Blues for more than 10 years ago.
Press left Man Utd at the end of the latest WSL season in England / Visionhaus / Getty Images
“The dream of being a professional player in LA was always difficult for me,” Press told the LA Times.
“Every team I’ve played for has always been like, ‘You know, when LA gets a team, we promise we’ll send you there. “And it has always felt that everyone has been able to say it because no one knew when it happened.”
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