knows the question is coming before it is even asked.
No, she never imagined she’d own one women’s soccer team, let alone three. But Kang knows a good investment when she sees it.
鈥淚 really fell in love with the game and the potential. I saw the potential where it was and where it could be,鈥� she said. “I am just grateful for this opportunity to be a catalyst and sort of a match that could light a fire.鈥�
Kang owns the Washington Spirit in the , the London City Lionesses in England’s Women’s Super League and OL Lyonnes in the French Premier League. All three are accomplished teams, with the Lionesses promoted last year from the Women’s Championship, the Spirit raising the NWSL championship trophy in 2021, and Lyon winning a record eight Women’s Champions League titles and 18 league titles.
Multi-club owners are not unusual on the men’s side of the game: There’s City Group, which owns Manchester City in the English Premier League and a number of other teams, and Austria’s Red Bull, which owns several teams including RB Leipzig in the German Bundesliga.
But on the women’s side, it’s more of a rarity, and it is certainly unusual to own three teams in three top-tier leagues. Kang also took over as on the men鈥檚 side last year.
“My model is, because of where women鈥檚 soccer is in terms of its development relative to men鈥檚, my multi-club model is very different than the men鈥檚 multi-club. My model is really respecting each club鈥檚 legacy,” she said. “So it is to really give them what they need, the basic and the important things, and see how far they go.鈥�
Kang’s influence extends beyond team ownership: She’s a globe-trotting pied piper for women’s soccer. She upped the ante for big-name player signings by luring Swedish international Kosovare Asllani to London City before the team was promoted, and more recently helped to make sure U.S. star Trinity Rodman re-signed with the Spirit. She’s also a philanthropist who has funded projects with U.S. Soccer that include dedicated research on female athletes to develop best training practices and prevent injuries.
Kang enters the sports world
Kang, who was born in South Korea, founded medical technology company Cognosante, which she sold in 2024. Forbes has estimated her worth at $1.2 billion.
She joined the soccer world when she bought a minority stake in the Spirit in late 2020, then acquired the team outright in 2022. She acquired Lyon and London City the next year, and in 2024 put all three teams under the umbrella of her Kynisca Sports International, a women-led global sports organization.
“I’m obviously excited that we were a part of her origin story,鈥� NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said. 鈥淥bviously, her first major investment was through the Washington Spirit, and I think it’s fair to say she fell in love with women’s soccer through the NWSL, and now she’s spreading that love all around the world.鈥�
Kang’s influence was highlighted recently when the Spirit with Rodman.
鈥淚 am incredibly grateful, and I鈥檓 very glad it鈥檚 over that she鈥檚 staying with a positive outcome,鈥� Kang said. 鈥淭his is one of the most important contracts ever, not just for the Spirit, but for the league as well. So I was very involved and in terms from strategy to every turn, every little challenge we had.鈥�
Rodman, who has been with the Spirit since 2021, became a free agent at the end of last season. The team was eager to re-sign her, but the league’s salary cap was hindering the process.
One agreement between the two sides was scuttled by the league before the creation of a 鈥淗igh Impact Player鈥� rule that allows teams to go $1 million over the cap to sign players who meet certain criteria.
Using the rule, the Spirit were able to eventually re-sign Rodman, though the rule is now by the players’ union.
鈥淪he believes in women鈥檚 sports so much, especially soccer,鈥� Rodman said. 鈥淛ust how much she鈥檚 committed to us and having an owner that commits that much, you kind of are forced to like work 10 times harder, so having that support has been amazing.鈥�
More than just an owner
Kang is also dedicated to the science and technology behind women’s sports, recognizing the need for innovation in areas like training, performance and recovery. Relying on the practices used by men’s soccer is untenable, she said, because 鈥渨omen are not small men.鈥�
In 2024, she to U.S. Soccer, the single-largest investment for women’s programs in the federation’s history. More recently, her Kynisca Innovation Hub was merged with the federation’s Soccer Forward Program to further research and innovation in women’s sports. The Kang Women’s Institute was announced in December.
“(We’re) really kind of flipping this on its head and essentially saying, 鈥極K, how we always used to do things for women and girls soccer? Actually, that was a transfer from the men鈥檚 game.鈥� What does this look like if we鈥檙e just starting with a completely blank sheet of paper of what鈥檚 best for a female player,鈥� said Lex Chalat, head of the Soccer Forward Foundation.
Kang’s vision is practical: Athletes and their performance are at the core of her business.
鈥淥ne of the problems with women鈥檚 football is that there are a lot of anecdotal little projects here and there, but nothing is done at scale. And unless you can do these types of things at scale, it鈥檚 just a thousand flowers bloom and they all die and nothing happens,” Kang said. “So I wanted to make sure that this is done properly at scale once. There鈥檚 no reason why multiple organizations need to do this. We can combine.鈥�
Kang’s philosophy aligns with U.S. national team coach Emma Hayes, who said she’s never met anyone quite like Kang.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to look at the dollars that are being put in by her, but actually, if you meet her and you get to know her, she鈥檚 so passionate about women鈥檚 football globally, and she鈥檚 so determined to play a significant part,” Hayes said, “not just in shaping the next direction for the women鈥檚 game and leading the way with that investment, but her commitment to research, to education, to developing the insights that go back to the equity piece that is going to have a bigger impact on the broader game.鈥�
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