On Friday, Michele Kang announced she acquired London City Lionesses FC, an independent club that competes in the FA Women’s Championship. The English club is another “foundation block” in her vision to grow her global multi-club organisation, following her agreement earlier this year to take over OL Feminine and ownership of the Washington Spirit.
“As you can imagine, if you’re trying to build a premier women’s soccer organization, you have to be where the center of gravity is,” Kang said The Athletics before Friday’s announcement. “England is definitely one of them. I was looking for an opportunity to land, and London City Lionesses were the only independent team, it was a no-brainer.”
Rather than having to convince a men’s club to allow Kang to split their women’s team apart from the club structure, Kang can immediately jump to the second tier of women’s soccer in England, with an eye on the WSL.
“Obviously our goal is to get promoted,” Kang said with a smile.
That independent structure only happened because LCL founder Diane Culligan stepped in a few years ago to help Millwall FC as they struggled to complete the season on the women’s side of operations. Culligan has already established herself independently in the youth game.
While a stand-alone women’s team model is the norm in the US and other countries, this is not the case in England, with many teams affiliated with top men’s clubs.
“I think it’s fair to say that my ideas and the people running the club at the time were not compatible and that’s when we decided to part ways,” Culligan said. “So London City Lionesses was born, and we went from there. The only truly independent professional women’s football club in the UK, if we’re talking about a professional game.”
LCL play at Princes Park in Dartford (James Fearn – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
The Lionesses are currently ninth on the Championship standings, although they finished second and third in the previous two seasons. Their head coach is Carolina Morace and home games are played at Princes Park in Dartford, 18 miles south-east of central London.
“It’s the middle of the season, we’re going to do everything we can to finish the season as successfully as possible,” Kang said. “We’re going to figure out where we can surgically add help here, in terms of resources, without disrupting what they’re doing.”
As has always been her plan, the Lionesses will maintain their brand and identity even with the acquisition — similar to how Lyon and the Spirit operate. Adding another team also means another point of justification for greater centralized resources across the multi-club organisation. “I can do the kind of investment at scale that men’s teams can afford to do,” Kang said.
In May, Kang said The Athletics that her purpose was to add three to five additional teams by the end of 2023. While the Lionesses are the only team she has added this year, talks are ongoing around the world about prospective teams.
“We have some discussions going on in Asia; it’s definitely going to be the first part of next year,” Kang said. “We will try to continue where we left off.” She is still targeting other European countries, South America, as well as Mexico – which she noted on Friday. Kang also said that they have already started discussions in Africa.
In the case of London City, Kang wants to balance the conclusion of the 2023-2024 season with a long-term strategy, not just of promotion, but of becoming a top team in the WSL, and then winning it. The timing is promising from a business perspective, with the top divisions moving to an independent structure outside the Football Association and under NewCo. in November. The Lionesses must first earn promotion to earn this reward, but Kang has shown in the past that she is willing to invest for such a result.
“The NewCo model for BWSL and BWC is a great example of how women’s sport will be lifted in England and globally,” Kang said. “We need more investment focused solely on the women’s game so that the resources are not compromised.”
There is also one big example for Kang to consider regarding the potential to get into a lower division: Wrexham. There is already in-depth storytelling surrounding a Championship club promoted to the WSL, with Liverpool a 90-minute documentary about their move to the WSL. But it’s hard to ignore how “Welcome to Wrexham” has driven eyeballs and engagement in the lower divisions of English soccer here in the US, and also benefited the team’s new ownership tremendously.
Asked if that was on her mind, she couldn’t help but laugh before replying: “Absolutely. That’s what we’re here for, and we’re absolutely going to write another chapter.”
(Photo: Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
