Businesswoman and CEO Michele Kang made a historic gesture toward women’s soccer, hoping to inspire others to follow suit.
Kang donated $30 million to the girls’ and women’s programs of U.S. Soccer, making it the largest donation ever made to the soccer body by a woman.
“Women’s sports have been undervalued and overlooked for far too long,” Kang said in a news release obtained by NBC News Asian America.
NBC News reports the money will go toward expanding the digital identification platform, increasing the number of young players recruited. It will also help add upward of 70,000 female coaches and referees.
“Michele Kang’s gift will transform soccer for women and girls in the United States,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said. “It will impact generations of women and girls in our game, including players, coaches, and referees.”
Kang, who owns the Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, and London City Lionesses, launched Kynisca Sports International Ltd, a global organization dedicated to women’s soccer. Part of Kang’s vision is the formation of Kynisca Innovation Hub, a nonprofit dedicated to athletic performance.
She once said that she wants to stop training women “as if they were small men” so they can unlock their true potential.
“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.'”
[NBC News]
