The NWSL deducted three points from Angel City FC’s 2024 standings, fined the club $200,000 and suspended two key team officials for the remainder of the year from all player transaction duties for violating the league’s rules around the salary cap, the NWSL announced Thursday.
Following an investigation, the NWSL said it found violations of league rules, including what it called “side letters” (an agreement outside the standard contract) between the team and five players during 2023 that were not disclosed to the league. These “side letters” included additional benefits outside the NWSL’s standard player agreement.
The league found Angel City “exceeded the salary cap by approximately $50,000 for four weeks during the 2024 season.”
The base salary cap for the 2024 season is set at $2.75 million for each team. All players sign a standard contract (the SPA) directly with the NWSL.
Angel City president and CEO Julie Uhrman and general manager Angela Hucles Mangano have been suspended immediately from all duties related to player transactions for the rest of the year.
Angel City declined to comment at this time when contacted by The Athletic.
With the three-point dedication, the Los Angeles-based club falls even further from the playoff line. Previously, ACFC was in 11th place with 22 points, six points back from Bay FC who holds the final playoff spot. With this, Angel City drops to 19 points and 12th place.
The severity of the punishment sends a strong message from the NWSL. The league also promised in Thursday’s release to conduct annual investigations and audits into player spending across the league.
In 2021, the NWSL front office sanctioned Angel City for violating roster rules after the league found the team violated its tampering policy over midfielder Allie Long. In that instance, the NWSL only fined Angel City $20,000 in cash and $20,000 in unfunded allocation money.
Thursday’s disciplinary actions should also catch the eye of new owners, Willow Bay and Bob Iger, who stepped in this summer to take over the team and made Angel City “the most valuable women’s sports team in the world” at a total valuation of $250 million.
Can Angel City still make the playoffs?
With four games left in its season and eighth-place Bay FC on 28 points, Angel City would need to win at least three remaining games and rely on Bay losing all of its remaining four games. ACFC would also need to improve its goal differential to beat Bay as a tiebreaker, or win at least three games and tie one with Bay losing all four.
Angel City could also make the playoffs if the seventh-place Thorns, also on 28 points but ahead on goal differential, lost all of their remaining games while ACFC won at least three games and tied the fourth, or won three games and improved its goal differential enough to break a points tie.
Angel City will play the Seattle Reign (12th), North Carolina Courage (fifth), Utah Royals (13th) and Portland Thorns (seventh) to end the regular season. — Steph Yang, women’s soccer staff writer
What this means for the club off the pitch
For all the good press around Angel City’s sale and valuation figures and the ongoing strength of its brand narrative, this is the most massive blow yet to the club’s actual functioning as a soccer organization in the league. The team already carries a bit of reputation, not just because of that 2021 tampering fine over Long, but also how it hired Gotham FC head coach Freya Coombe midway through the season — resulting in her departing Gotham early.
For those more familiar with the internal politics of the NWSL, this will seem like Angel City is a high-profile target to show the league’s might in enforcing the rules, especially as it is an open secret that most teams try to test the limits of the rules on the books. And it’s not just Angel City. In an anonymous survey conducted by ESPN, 11 of 14 NWSL general managers said they did not think every NWSL team’s front office follows the league’s rules.
From a political standpoint, it could be interesting to see if there’s any backlash or pushback over this decision from other teams and if there is any resulting friction between Uhrman and NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman. — Meg Linehan, women’s soccer senior writer
(Photo: Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)
