UP209: Eni Aluko, Angel City and the business of football

This is another episode in our series Talking To Women About The Sports Business, with my regular co-host Laura Weston, the global PR consultant and trustee of the Women’s Sport Trust. 

Earlier this year Eni Aluko was appointed sporting director of Angel City FC, the new expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) which begins playing in 2022. The Los Angeles based franchise has a majority female ownership group led by actor Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman and a host of other founder members including Serena Williams, Jennifer Garner and Mia Hamm. 

Before moving in to management, Aluko played professional football for Chelsea and Juventus among others and made 102 appearances for the England national team from 2004–2016, competed at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China, 2009 UEFA Women's Euro, 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany, 2013 UEFA Women's Euro, and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she represented Great Britain.

A qualified lawyer, Aluko built a career as a TV pundit immediately combined with representing players and advising on contracts. 

All of this makes her supremely well placed for a very wide ranging conversation about many aspects of football, from the boardroom to the playing field, the pressures and challenges of fame, the role of agents and the future of both Angel City and women’s football, in the UK, Europe and the US.

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