A new women’s soccer team is coming to Los Angeles, owned by a group of famous women, including Natalie Portman and Serena Williams.
On Tuesday, the National Women’s Soccer League announced the group was awarded the rights to form a soccer franchise in the city.
Along with Portman, who spearheaded the campaign, the group of founders – who are majority women – include Serena Williams, actresses Uzo Aduba, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and soccer players Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach.
“We started going to games, and we quickly became really passionate fans of the sport,” Portman tells PEOPLE. “But we slowly started seeing that it wasn’t getting the celebration it deserved.”
“We just started thinking about what if there was a team in L.A.? We’re the center of entertainment in this country for media,” Portman said. “What can we do to change the way people are paying attention to this sport? Obviously, the players themselves have been incredible and have brought so much attention, but everything hasn’t always followed their success and their popularity.”
Serena’s husband, Alexis Ohanian, is the lead investor of the group of owners who have yet to announce the new team’s name.
“We started gathering a group of incredible people, majority women, to be in our ownership group. Now we’re going, and it’s really, really exciting,” Portman said.
The team name is expected to be announced later this year, but it is currently referred to as WFC LA/Angel City.
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