The 2024 Angel City FC season was the team's third season as a professional women's soccer team. Angel City FC plays in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.
Background
Coaching changes On October 30, 2023, at the conclusion of the 2023 season, Angel City announced that interim coach Becki Tweed would be staying on permanently as head coach. The club announced the departure of Head of Goalkeeping, Daniel Ball on November 8, 2023, after serving his two-year contract.
On January 9, 2024, Angel City announced the hiring of Lee Nguyen as an assistant coach, as well as the promotion of Eleri Earnshaw to first assistant coach. On January 23, 2024, Oliver Blitz was announced as the new Performance Analyst in the preseason roster announcement. On January 31, 2024, Angel City announced the finalized staff for the 2024 season, with Omar Zeenni announced as the new goalkeeper coach and Sarah Neal as the new director of rehabilitation.
On May 14, 2024, Angel City announced the hiring of Mark Wilson as the first Technical Director in club history.
Angel City announce they had parted ways with Assistant Coach Lee Nguyen on August 27, 2024.
On September 18, 2024, Angel City announced the hiring of Matt Wade as the clubs Assistant General Manager, to assist Angela Hucles Mangano in overseeing the club's football operations department and supporting the implementation of the club's sporting strategic plan. Wade previously served as the Head of Sporting Strategy with Feyenoord.
On December 5, 2024, Angel City announced that they had mutually agreed to part ways with General Manager Angela Hucles Mangano who had first joined the club as VP of Player Development in 2021. Assistant General Manager Matt Wade will assume the role of interim General Manager while the club conducts a comprehensive search for a new GM. Following the departure of Hucles, Angel City then announced the departure of Head Coach Becki Tweed on December 9, 2024. Assistant Coach Eleri Earnshaw will act as interim head coach while the search of a new coach begins.
Summary
Preseason On January 23, 2024, Angel City announced their preseason roster with the first day of training beginning the following day. On February 14, 2024, Angel City announced that forward Jun Endo had suffered an ACL injury to her left-knee during a preseason training camp in Melbourne, Florida and would be placed on the season-ending injury list. Angel City competed in a friendly against NWSL expansion club Bay FC in the inaugural Coachella Valley Invitational in Indio, California on February 20, 2024, which finished 0–0. After the friendly, Angel City announced a revised 31-player preseason roster on February 26, 2024.
Two new kits for the 2024 season were unveiled on February 27, 2024, the black primary jersey named 'Moonlight', and a pink secondary jersey named 'Sol'.
March On March 6, 2024, Angel City announced they had signed USYNT U-17 midfielder Kennedy Fuller on a three-year deal through 2026 with an option for 2027 through the NWSL's U-18 Entry Mechanism. Angel City announced the following week on March 12, that they had signed draft pick Madison Curry to a one-year contract. The following day Angel City announced their final 26-player roster for the 2024 season, with Christen Press and Jun Endo listed with SEI's and Canadian international Vanessa Gilles remaining on loan at Lyon to round out the roster.
Ahead of the start of the 2024 season, it was reported that the four primary owners of the club had voted to have investment firm Moelis & Co. seek an investor and new owner that would assume control of Angel City's board for a reported valuation of $180 million.
Angel City officially kicked off their third NWSL season with a third consecutive sold-out home opener at BMO Stadium against expansion team Bay FC on March 17, 2024. The game saw five players make their debut for Angel City and two of those five, Kennedy Fuller and Gisele Thompson both making their professional debuts in the NWSL. Despite having more shots and possession than their opponents, Angel City ultimately were defeated 1–0 in their first game, failing to comeback after Asisat Oshoala was able to capitalize on a defensive error.
The 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup was announced on March 20, 2024, with Angel City set to take on the two other California-based teams San Diego Wave FC and Bay FC, as well as Liga MX team Club América in three group stage matches taking place over the Olympic break in the summer with a possibility to advance to the knockout stage.
Angel City earned their first point of the season during their first away game at Orlando Pride on March 22. Former Pride player Meggie Dougherty Howard was able to draw a penalty early in the second half which was converted by Claire Emslie but Angel City ultimately lost their lead when Marta was able to score off a corner kick in the eighty-eighth minute and the game finished as a 1–1 draw. Draft pick Madison Curry also made her professional debut with Angel City, coming on as a substitute. Angel City played their second consecutive away game against Kansas City Current for the first time at the newly opened CPKC Stadium and were ultimately defeated 2–4 after goals from Sydney Leroux and Madison Curry were not able to make up the deficit.
April At the conclusion of the international break which saw five ACFC players get call ups to their respective national teams, Angel City played a third final consecutive away game against Chicago Red Stars. After making some changes to the starting lineup, Angel City were able to earn their first win of the season and also hand the Red Stars their first defeat of the season in a 1–0 victory off an own goal. The team also recorded their first clean sheet as defenders Megan Reid and Jasmyne Spencer, and veteran goalkeeper returned to the starting XI. This game was also Jasmyne Spencer's 175th career NWSL appearance.
On April 20, 2024, Angel City announced they had made two strategic player trades before the closing of the NWSL transfer window. Defender Paige Nielsen would be traded to the Houston Dash in exchange for $50,000 in allocation money and $50,000 in intra-league transfer funds and French international midfielder Amandine Henry would be traded to the Utah Royals in exchange for $75,000 in allocation money.
After three consecutive away games, Angel City returned to BMO Stadium on April 21, 2024, to play the North Carolina Courage in front of a second consecutive sold-out crowd of the season. Claire Emslie scored her first brace in the NWSL for Angel City, the first goal scored off a free kick to help secure a 2–1 victory in Angel City's first home win of the season. Sarah Gorden who captained the match, also made her 100th career NWSL appearance. The win saw Angel City enter 7th place in the overall standings, in playoffs contention for the first time the season.
Later in the week, Angel City concluded the month with hosting Kansas City Current on April 26, 2024. Despite leading at half after a goal from Emslie assisted by Alyssa Thompson, Angel City would go to concede three goals and finish the match as a 1–3 defeat to fall back down to 9th place.
May Angel City traveled to face Utah Royals for the first time on May 3, 2024, at America First Field in Sandy, Utah. A goal from Leroux assisted by A. Thompson and a penalty kick converted by Emslie was enough to secure a 2–1 victory in the first match up between the two teams. Angel City returned to home to face Houston Dash on May 12, 2024. The game was held scoreless until former Angel City player Paige Nielsen scored on a set piece in the 99th minute. On May 14, 2024, Angel City announced the hiring of Mark Wilson as the first Technical Director in club history
On May 18, 2024, Angel City faced Washington Spirit away and despite a brief stretch where Angel City was leading 2–1 after forcing an own goal and a goal from Leroux, Angel City conceded three goals and were defeated 2–4. Leroux's goal was her 44th career goal, ranking her 10th all-time. Sisters Gisele and Alyssa Thompson were both named to the starting lineup for the first time, marking the first time in NWSL history that two sisters started for the same team.
On May 23, 2024, Angel City returned home to host Southern California rivals San Diego Wave which ultimately ended as a 0–0 draw. Five Angel City players ended their months on International Duty, including rookie Casey Phair who would play with South Korea in a set of friendlies against the United States.
June After the International Break, Angel City traveled to New Jersey to face 2023 NWSL Champions, NJ/NY Gotham FC on June 6, 2024. Despite an equalizer from Clarisse Le Bihan, Angel City were ultimately defeated 1–2. After a winless streak, Angel City announced on June 11, 2024, that forward Christen Press would be returning to training after being sidelined for 730 days due to the ACL injury she sustained in the 2022 season.
Angel City then played Houston Dash away on June 15, 2024, and picked up a point in a scoreless 0–0 draw. On Junetheenth, Angel City hosted Racing Louisville FC. Rookie Kennedy Fuller opened the scoring by scoring her first professional goal assisted by fellow rookie, Madison Curry. Rocky Rodríguez scored her first goal with Angel City to add to Angel City's lead. After conceding two goals, Sydney Leroux scored the game winner in the 85th minute, assisted by Alyssa Thompson to secure a 3–2 win and ending a 5-game winless steak.
Angel City played Bay FC at PayPal Park for the first time and were ultimately defeated in a 0–1 loss. Angel City ended the month with hosting eventual 2024 NWSL Shield and Championship winners Orlando Pride and were defeated in a 0–3 loss due to goals from Adriana and Barbra Banda.
July In the final match before the break before the Olympics, Angel City hosted NJ/NY Gotham FC in a match that ended as a 1–2 defeat on July 6, 2024. Angel City went into the Olympic break in 11th place.
At the 2024 ESPY Awards on July 11, 2024, Angel City received the award for Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year, president of the club Julie Uhrman noted, the club in the past year had done 5,400 hours of community service with 1,700 volunteers.
On July 15, 2024, Angel City announced they had mutually agreed to part ways with Clarisse Le Bihan who had been with the team since the inaugural season. Le Bihan finished her time with Angel City with 47 NWSL appearances and 2 goals and would go on to sign with Lazio in Serie A Femminile.
After rumors and unofficial reports, it was formally announced on July 17, 2024, that Willow Bay, Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Company, would be investing $50 million into Angel City to become the majority shareholders. The deal would value the club at $250 million, making it the most value women's sports team in the world. Bay will serve on and have full control of the Angel City Board of Directors, will serve as the Controlling Owner and will represent Angel City on the NWSL's Board of Governors. Angel City's board will continue to include Natalie Portman, Julie Uhrman, Alexis Ohanian and Gillian Berry.
Angel City returned to Fullerton, California to Titan Stadium on July 20, 2024, for the inaugural NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup and hosted Liga MX Femenil team Club América and secured three-points with goals from Fuller and Leroux in a 2–1 victory. Angel City played their second match of the Summer Cup traveling to San Jose, California to face Bay FC on July 26, 2024, and secured another three-points in a 2–0 victory. 17-year old rookie Casey Phair made her professional debut in the match subbing on for Messiah Bright in the 66th minute.
August