Owner of Women's Soccer Team Makes History, Again

Michele Kang made history in 2022 as the first woman of color to own a team in the US National Women's Soccer League. On Tuesday, the Washington Spirit owner made history again with a $30 million donation to US Soccer, aimed solely at girls and women's programs. Here's what that means:

• US Soccer's largest donation by a woman and largest ever aimed at women's and girls soccer "will impact generations of women and girls in our game," says US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone, per ESPN. It can "change the trajectory of the sport," adds US Women's National Team (USWNT) head coach Emma Hayes.

• The donation over five years will help to "increase twelvefold the number of players recruited into the youth national team, creating 100,000 openings for female players," and create another 70,000 openings for female coaches and referees, "doubling the number of those female professionals today," per NBC News. It will also double the number of national team camps, to six per age group.
• "Women's sports have been undervalued and overlooked for far too long," Kang says, per ESPN, noting changes to the youth system are needed if the US is to maintain its dominance in women's soccer. "I am committed to raising the standard of excellence in women's soccer, both on and off the pitch, by delivering the resources female athletes need to reach their full potential."

• The 65-year-old South Korea native previously founded and led the health information technology company Cognosante. She only became interested in soccer in 2019 after attending a reception to celebrate the USWNT's World Cup win, per the Sporting News. Kang joined the Washington Spirit ownership group in 2020 and became majority owner in March 2022.
• She acquired England's London City Lionesses last December and another women's soccer team, France's Olympique Lyonnais Feminin, months later. She also launched Kynisca, a global organization dedicated to women's sports, this year.
• This isn't her first big donation to women's sports in the US. In July, after the US women's rugby sevens team won its first Olympic medal in Paris, Kang donated $4 million to USA Rugby to encourage the growth of women's rugby stateside, per Sports Illustrated.

(More US Soccer stories.)