With less than three months remaining in the Washington Spirit’s season, owner Michele Kang focuses on the club’s future, including where it will train and who it could face in friendly competition.
As the United States won its first Olympic gold medal in women’s soccer since 2012, a familiar face was in the stands. Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang cheered on as three of her club’s players — Trinity Rodman, Croix Bethune and Casey Krueger — won the gold.
When the final concluded, Kang wandered onto the field and was immediately surrounded by her players. The businesswoman told WTOP she didn’t say a word as they hugged her. Instead, she let them enjoy the moment and tagged along for the celebration.
“I was there for them for their moment,” Kang said. “I was thrilled to be a part of that moment.”
It was the culmination of a whirlwind summer for Kang, who’s been making frequent trips between the United States and Europe as part of her new dealings as the owner of three women’s soccer clubs. Meanwhile, back in D.C., the Spirit are preparing for the final stretch of its 2024 season in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Following the Olympics, Kang spoke to WTOP about the Spirit’s success in Paris, her plans as a multi-club owner and Washington’s future of playing more international friendlies.
Returning from the Olympics
Kang joined other NWSL owners and commissioner Jessica Berman in Paris for the Olympic final, where the United States defeated Brazil to become gold medal winners. She told WTOP she was “very proud” of their accomplishment and its message about the sport’s growth in the United States.
Washington sent six players to Paris. Along with the American trio of Rodman, Bethune and Krueger, rookie midfielder Hal Hershfelt was an alternate for the U.S. Defender Gabby Carle and played four matches for Canada, while new signing Leicy Santos scored twice to lead Colombia to the quarterfinals.
Washington general manager Mark Kirkorian said there will be no timetable for the Olympic players to return to the field, but the hope is to get most, if not all, ready for the restart of NWSL season.
“The physical fatigue is certainly a big part of it, but the emotional fatigue is another part, and getting yourself prepared to play in a medal game, if you’re fortunate enough, is a wonderful opportunity,” he said. “But the other side of that is it’s emotionally challenging as well.”
One player who may see the field earlier than expected is Santos, as Kirkorian told WTOP, she could see some playing time during Washington’s friendly match against London side Arsenal on Sunday. Signed on a precontract in April, the attacker headed stateside after Colombia’s Olympic elimination and has been in training with the rest of the squad.
The Sprit remained busy during the Olympics, signing Ivorian forward Rosemonde Kouassi and acquiring English defender Esme Morgan from Manchester City. Along with Santos’ arrival, Kirkorian said Washington is “very comfortable” with its roster following the summer moves, but doesn’t rule out one more additional signing.
Meanwhile, Washington released plans on how it will honor its Olympians, featuring special recognitions before its next three matches at Audi Field. Before taking on the Portland Thorns on Sept. 25, the Spirit will hold a “gold medal celebration ceremony” with U.S. players from both teams along with special giveaways for fans.
New ownership model
Kang entered the sport as a minority owner of the Spirit in 2021 before taking full ownership a year later. She told WTOP she didn’t grow up playing soccer or knowing much about the support and admitting to not knowing who Argentina superstar Lionel Messi years ago.
Now, she owns three clubs, including Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (Lyon) of France and English side London City Lionesses.
“I’m more passionate now than ever before,” she said.
Kang named her international multi-team women’s soccer organization Kynisca Sports International, with a goal to raise $100 million to support women’s sports. In the announcement, Kang said only 6% of sports science data is focused exclusively on female athletes, so Kynisca will also look to prioritize developing training methods and education for coaches and athletes.
She told WTOP, with the ownership of multiple teams, will come the pulling together of resources to help all three clubs at an accelerated pace.
“It’s very hard to do that at a one team,” she said. “I’m just talking about not having enough revenue. You need to build some scale, and that means that if you have multiple teams, you can pull some of the resources together and make the investment once, and then make it available to all the teams that are in the in the group.”
The trend of an multi-club ownership is not new in the men’s side of soccer, as some groups use their smaller teams as part of a feeder system for the larger club. However, Kang said she does not plan to send her Spirit players to help her European teams. Instead, she wants all three to succeed.
“I want every team to be the championship team in the country that they play in, in the league that they play in,” Kang said. “We’re not going to sacrifice one team to make another team successful, so we will not be trading players.”
Future friendlies
As part of the Spirit’s new international friendlies series, London-based clubs Arsenal and Chelsea are visiting the D.C. region during their preseason. Arsenal will play two exhibition matches, one against the Spirit on Sunday and on Aug. 24 against their English rivals.
Kang said the purpose of these friendlies is to provide fans an opportunity to see other international women’s soccer teams in the U.S. and that more exhibitions could be planned in the future.
“Soccer is a global game, and I want our fans and the players to appreciate that there are other great teams, good teams in other countries, and let’s see how we can actually learn from each other and showcase for our fans,” she said.
She added that Washington plans to keep an “open mind” on scheduling friendlies, including a possible worldwide preseason tour.
Kang also said a possible matchup between two teams she owns, Lyon and the Spirit, is a matter of when it will take place, not if.
However, when asked who she would root for, Kang didn’t pick favorites.
“Let the best team win, and I’m not going to cheer one for the other,” she said. “This is about the sport, so let the best team win.”
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