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New York Times
17-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Alexander Straus to become Angel City head coach at end of May
Bayern Munich's Alexander Straus will become the next head coach of the National Women's Soccer League side (NWSL) Angel City, sources with knowledge of the deal have told The Athletic. Straus' Bayern exit was confirmed by the German team on Thursday morning, with the Norwegian to remain in charge until the end of May. A Bayern statement said the decision to part ways 11 months into the two-year extension Straus signed last year was at his request 'to pursue a new challenge.' Bayern players were told on Wednesday and the squad was moved by his departure. Advertisement Angel City fired previous head coach Becki Tweed in December and subsequently conducted an extensive search for her replacement. Sam Laity has been serving as interim head coach since Tweed's departure. The club's sporting director Mark Parsons said on The Athletic's Full Time with Meg Linehan podcast in February that the search had been narrowed down to four candidates in what had been a 'very detailed and thorough process.' Angel City declined to comment when approached. Straus was hired as Bayern head coach in 2022 and led the team to back-to-back Frauen-Bundesliga titles in 2022-23 and 23-24. Before joining Bayern, the 49-year-old coached SK Brann in the top flight of his native Norway, winning the league twice. Bayern are currently on course to win a third straight league title and are eight points clear of second-placed Wolfsburg. They have three league games remaining this season and can win the title if they beat Freiburg at home on Sunday. Angel City have enjoyed an undefeated start to the 2025 NWSL season and are fourth in the standings after two wins and two draws. The club played its inaugural season in 2022 and made the playoffs the following year, before finishing 12th and missing the postseason in 2024, which saw Tweed leave her role. Parsons has overseen the coaching hiring process since he joined Angel City in December as the club's sporting director following the departure of general manager Angela Hucles. Hucles parted ways with the club in December, two months after the NWSL sanctioned the organization for salary cap violations earlier last season. That included a $200,000 fine and a three-point deduction from its 2024 standings for violations of league rules in the 2023 season that resulted in Angel City exceeding the salary cap in 2024. Hucles, along with club president Julie Uhrman, were suspended from all player transaction duties through the end of 2024. (for DFB)
New York Times
24-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
USWNT to face Republic of Ireland in set of summer friendlies, returning to Colorado
Meg Linehan is a senior writer for The Athletic who covers the U.S. women's national team, the National Women's Soccer League and more. She also hosts the weekly podcast "Full Time with Meg Linehan." Follow Meg on Twitter @itsmeglinehan
New York Times
20-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Angel City narrows coaching search to 4 candidates, sporting director says
Angel City FC has narrowed its coaching search to four candidates, sporting director Mark Parsons tells The Athletic. 'There are two options at this point — we'll have someone on March 1 or we'll have someone in June or July,' Parsons said in an interview that will air in its entirety on the 'Full Time with Meg Linehan' podcast on Feb. 27. Advertisement 'We're down to four candidates. It's been a very detailed and thorough process, one that I'm loving and enjoying being on the other side of — getting to hear great, top-talent coaches share their vision and thoughts,' said Parsons, who previously coached the Portland Thorns and Washington Spirit in NWSL and the Netherlands' women's national team. Angel City parted ways with previous head coach Becki Tweed in December after the team missed the 2024 playoffs, finishing 12th of 14 in the NWSL standings. The club changed interim head coaches following Parsons' arrival, with the experienced Sam Laity stepping in on Jan. 22 in place of Eleri Earnshaw, who remains with the club in an assistant capacity. Laity previously served as the head coach of the Houston Dash but is mostly known for his time with the Seattle Reign as an assistant coach under Laura Harvey. Parsons said he expects the club to provide an update by the first of the month. 'The team is in a good place, where we are happy with the progression of the team. Of course, we're only approaching (the) halfway (mark) of preseason. There's a lot of work to do,' Parsons said, citing the performance and structure of the technical staff already in place. 'It gives us calmness to get the right person and not to rush the process.' Parsons has overseen the coaching hiring process since he joined Angel City last month as the club's sporting director following the departure of general manager Angela Hucles. Hucles parted ways with the club in December, two months after the NWSL fined the organization for salary cap violations earlier last season, including a $200,000 fine and a three-point deduction from its 2024 standings for violations of league rules in the 2023 season that resulted in the club exceeding the salary cap in 2024. Hucles, along with club president Julie Uhrman, were suspended from all player transaction duties. Last month, Parsons told The Athletic he was reluctant to put a timeline on the head coach search, especially as he was stressing leadership and culture qualities to candidates as much as the soccer and data parts of the process. While Parsons has confidence in the current staff, the start of the season is less than a month away. Angel City's preference is for the club to have clarity heading into the 2025 season. Advertisement 'Out of the four, I think one is available now and three available in June (or) July, so the odds are looking towards that,' Parsons said. This could mean that three candidates are on the fall-spring schedule for their respective clubs as opposed to the NWSL's current calendar. If Angel City is forced to wait, they wouldn't be the first NWSL club to make the coaching swap following the conclusion of another league's season — it worked to great effect last year with the Washington Spirit and former Barcelona head coach Jonatan Giráldez. 'We're just excited to be able to do this properly and get this right,' he said, 'and make sure we bring in someone who's going to complement the qualities of our players and staff — and most importantly, take us to a place that we've never been.'
