Natalie Portman wanted to shift football culture. So she founded Angel City FC

There are few better places to hold a preseason training camp than at Malibu’s Pepperdine University, whose football pitch seems to hover over the shimmering Pacific Ocean. It makes a memorable opening scene for Angel City FC.

A typical American expansion team’s start is often rocky: Fighting for decent players, for fans, for attention, for a shred of dignity following lopsided defeats. But Angel City FC, who debut in the National Women’s Soccer League this year, are far from typical. Although they don’t play their first match until Saturday in the NWSL Challenge Cup, things already look quite different around here.

The team’s female-led ownership group includes a mind-boggling roll call of A-list movie stars, legendary athletes and retired USWNT greats. The group raised capital like a startup tech company, with funding rounds that attracted more stars along the way. The team will play in the luxurious Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. From the get-go, the club has been strongly vocal about its values of community and female empowerment. And the buzz is palpable: Angel City FC has sold more than 14,000 season tickets so far and boasts seven supporters groups. The operation seems to have “blockbuster” written all over it.

But the founders say all that glamour exists solely to advance the club’s goals and values. In fact, it’s the reason Angel City FC was created.

In April 2019, Natalie Portman attended a USWNT match with her friends Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria, Uzo Aduba and Jessica Chastain. Portman, a founding member of Time’s Up, sought to bring attention to the fight for equal pay by the US women’s team. Later, as Portman watched the Women’s World Cup that summer, she was enthralled by the way the American