“I Get Chills Every Time” – ‘Godmother’ Natalie Portman Details How She Brought Together Investors Such as Serena Williams and Eva Longoria to Angel City FC

Soccer has grown a lot with popularity in America. The two primary soccer leagues in the U.S. are Major League Soccer and the National Women’s soccer league. Earlier this year, the U.S. Soccer Federation took a drastic and bold step in the world of soccer. The U.S. Soccer Federation announced that men and women’s soccer players would get paid equally. This was clearly an example to the rest of the world.

One particular point that comes to notice is that Americans lead by example. Famous American personalities like Natalie Portman, Serena Williams, and many more have made major contributions to sports in the US.

What did Portman do along with Serena Williams and other stars?

Natalie Portman is acknowledged for her tremendous contributions to American women’s soccer. In 2020, Portman, along with several other major personalities in the U.S. founded ‘Angel City F.C.’ Portman had a clear vision that she wanted to change the way people look at soccer in America.

Angel City F.C. was based in Los Angeles. The core team for bringing the pieces together includes several popular movie stars, athletes, and USWNT legends.

In 2020, Natalie had done several interviews in which she explained her entire thought process while planning to start a new soccer club. Portman discussed how she felt about involving big-name stars in an interview with ESPN.

She replied, “I get chills every time we talk about it and I’m so grateful for this very unexpected but so meaningful kind of new part of my life”. Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian were among the notable personalities involved, along with Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner, Becky G, Mia Hamm, and many more.

Portman went on to explain that at first, it was very hard to get investors and even partners on board to help out the business in the beginning. However, Portman did mention that she had all the admiration and respect in the world for Eva Longoria.

She quoted, “There were certain people who surprised me in the most beautiful way. Of just being like I’m in like Eva Longoria. She was like I’m in. What do you need? I want to be there”.

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Portman continued, “She’s just like a boss, but then I would say more on the side of the institutional people like they were really hesitant and reluctant. It just seemed so clear that it’s so undervalued that from a business perspective…maybe or maybe it’s just purely prejudice”.

Why did Natalie Portman set up Angel City F.C.?

America, as a soccer-playing country, is definitely not far behind the rest. Good players always existed in the U.S. It’s just these players had to showcase their skills abroad because there was no local club or platform where such players could play and make a living out of it.

That’s where Natalie Portman came in and seized the opportunity. Portman realized that the next big thing in America could definitely be soccer. Portman once called the American soccer market an ‘underutilized resource’.

She spotted that there was a fantastic business opportunity right there. The potential for growth in the American soccer market was huge. Promoting local talent was necessary. All this needed was a little bit of a cultural shift. A few years from now, the MLS and the NWSL could become prime-time television in the U.S.

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Do you think soccer will blow up in America as it has in the rest of the world? Let us know in the comments below.