“Women’s football should be a business, not a charity”

Michele Kang (65) is more than a powerful voice in the world of women’s football. The billionaire Korean-American businesswoman who owns the Olympique Lyonnaisof Washington Spirit (NWSL) and London City Lionesseshas made a very clear commitment to putting women’s football at the forefront. And he achieves this through projects, some integrated (Lyon) and others in the making, as in the modest second English team where he signed two Swedish stars, former Real players Madrid’s Kosovare Asllani and Sofia Jakobsson.

In a seminar organized by the interest organization Elite Soccer Ladies a few days ago, Kang clarified that “women’s soccer should be a business, not a charity.” “When I started playing sport, I discovered that many people see what I do as a kind of charity or a social project. But I am a business person. I saw the gap between where women’s football is and where it can be. As a business, not as a charity.”

“Especially because I’m a woman, I don’t want to see our players treated like charity projects, whose sponsors can write a check for $50,000 just to ‘contribute.’ Women’s soccer as a business model is about not satisfied We only compete against men’s football, but also for the time and money of all consumers,” he emphasizes.

And she expanded her argument: “Why should we ask our fans to come 13 weekends a year and spend time and money with us? We can say ‘because we are women and we should support those women.’ twice, not 13”. “Everyone who knows me knows that I’m always fighting for more resources and investment.”

Kang, who admitted that not long ago “I didn’t know who Leo Messi was,” said that we need to invest more in female soccer players: “When I started here, I knew all the sports of teams are generally based on training manuals for men’s teams.” However, they have three times as many cruciate ligament injuries and many of those injuries occur in relation to menstruation. We are starting to learn more about this, but more than 90% of all research is done on men. . “The best players sell tickets. So, we shouldn’t let them get injured. If you believe in a product, you have to invest in it, then the return will come.”