Angel City FC hires Alexander Straus as new coach
Angel City Football Club is off to an unbeaten start through four games of the NWSL season.
Interim coach Sam Laity has led the team since preseason and, come June 1, will take on a new role as senior assistant coach, with the club announcing Friday that Alexander Straus, currently at FC Bayern Munich, will take over as the new Angel City coach.
“This is a significant and important step for us in 2025,” Angel City’s sporting director Mark Parsons said. “After a very thorough process, we will be welcoming Alex Straus to our club June 1st.
“This is huge. It’s a significant moment for us, showing that we are serious and elite in moving everything forward from off the field to on the field and now we believe we have a key piece in Alex joining us at such a crucial time in our club history.”
Straus, 49, has been in charge at Bayern Munich since 2022. He led the club to consecutive Bundesliga titles (2022-23 and 2023-24). He’s also led the club to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
“We’ve been very clear on the profile of person, the profile of leader, profile of coach from the very beginning of this process,” said Parsons, who was hired in January. “When you have clarity of who you’re trying to look for, it gets a little bit easier to be able to find the right person.
“Alex has an incredible clarity in his style of football, but most importantly his dominant and attacking, relentless, front-footed football is aligned with what we want and how we see this club moving forward for the long term. His leadership and collaborative style was another critical piece. We needed a head coach to come in and make sure that they’re able to fit this puzzle.”
Club president and co-founder Julie Uhrman, who teamed with owner Willow Bay in the search, described the process as “exhaustive.”
“There were over 118 days of interviewing a diverse pool of candidates, that we equally split between men and women,” Uhrman said. “Domestic, international coaches, nine different nationalities, six different leagues …When we were looking for a head coach, some of the things that stood out to me and Willow and our ownership group, was a proven winner. Someone that knew how to win and had won at the highest level. As part of that, someone that knew how to pick themselves up, someone that has experienced losses and wins and knows what type of culture and environment to build, to succeed in.
“Alex really stood out because of his winning culture and how he focuses on player development, how he cares about the culture that he’s building and he’s incredibly collaborative with staff and players and coaches to be successful.”
Angel City is off to a 2-0-2 start and looking for a third consecutive win, which would be the first three-game winning streak in the franchise’s brief history.
“As I’ve tried to share with the players and staff, while we’re very excited to be able to share and talk about this today, (Friday) Sam Laity is leading our team against Gotham and we have another important game after a fantastic start,” Parsons said. “We’ll be cheering on Alex in his quest for the domestic double in Germany and we look forward to June 1 and this special journey beginning.”
GOTHAM FC at ANGEL CITY FC
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: BMO Stadium
How to watch: NWSL+ (available through nwslsoccer.com)