Businesswoman and philanthropist Michele Kang just made a historic donation to women’s soccer.
Kang, owner of the professional soccer team Washington Spirit, has pledged $30 million to the girls and women’s programs of U.S. Soccer, the organization announced on Tuesday. It’s the largest donation ever made to the soccer body by a woman, as well as to girls and women’s soccer.
In a news release, Kang said she hopes the donation prompts other donors to invest in women’s sports.
“Women’s sports have been undervalued and overlooked for far too long,” Kang said.
Kang’s donation will help the organization double the number of camps it currently runs to six per age group, specifically funding those for women and girls, according to the press release said.
The funds will also help expand U.S. Soccer’s digital talent identification platform, seeking to increase twelvefold the number of players recruited into the youth national team, creating 100,000 openings for female players. Additionally, the release said, the donation will be used to add 70,000 female coaches and referees, doubling the number of those female professionals today.
“Michele Kang’s gift will transform soccer for women and girls in the United States,” said Cindy Parlow Cone, president of the U.S. Soccer. “It will impact generations of women and girls in our game, including players, coaches, and referees.”
Kang, also founder and CEO of Kynisca, a global organization dedicated to women’s soccer, made history in 2022 when she became the first woman of color to own a team in the U.S. National Women’s Soccer League. She also owns Olympique Lyonnais, a women soccer team that plays in France, and London City Lionesses, in England.
When Kang first got involved in the sport two years ago, she told CNBC that it was immediately clear to her that there was “enormous potential” in the field.
“I was actually flabbergasted that not many people have seen that,” Kang told CNBC.
She told the outlet that she hopes to continue investing in teams globally and inspire girls across many countries.
“This is also about making sure that all the young girls around the world know that this is not just a U.S., English, French phenomenon,” Kang said. “When I get a team in those countries, I’m going to bring the same infrastructure, technology and capabilities to those countries so that they can feel that ‘if I can put my best into it, I can be the next Alex Morgan.’”