London City Lionesses Owner Plans Training Ground to Rival Top Men's Clubs

Michele Kang, owner of London City Lionesses, has announced plans for a new purpose-built training center that she believes will set a new standard for women's football and surpass the facilities of most Premier League men's teams.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Kang revealed that the state-of-the-art facility is expected to open within the next year. She stated that the architect designing the center, who has worked on several Premier League training grounds, indicated that it would be superior to the majority of men's top-flight clubs upon completion.

Kang views this investment in infrastructure as a crucial step in ensuring female athletes are treated equally to their male counterparts. "How could you possibly accept the notion that your girls, your daughters, granddaughters, sisters are treated as second-class citizens where in the same sport the boys go to play as if it's their birthright?" she asked, emphasizing her belief that women have been underserved in sports for too long.

Kang, who also owns Washington Spirit in the United States and teams in France, is a proponent of independent women's clubs. She was drawn to London City Lionesses, one of the few women-only teams, to demonstrate what is possible when dedicated attention and resources are directed towards a women's team.

Her passion for empowering female athletes stems from her upbringing in South Korea, a traditional society where her father encouraged her and her sisters to pursue their ambitions without gender limitations. Kang aims to provide young female athletes with the resources they need to focus on their performance, free from the distractions of inadequate facilities.

The new training center is also slated to support research into female athlete health, an area Kang highlighted as historically overlooked. She pointed to the significantly higher rates of injuries like ACL tears among female players compared to males, attributing this in part to the disproportionately small amount of medical research dedicated to the female body.

Kang's ambitions are global. Through her multi-club ownership model, she hopes to see similar high standards replicated across her teams in England, France, and the United States, and aims to expand this model to Asia, Africa, and South America. Her ultimate goal is to close the gap in opportunities between male and female athletes worldwide.

When asked for her message to the rest of the Women's Super League, Kang's response was direct: "Invest."