U.S. Soccer Adds Kang Women’s Institute: Empower Opportunities For Female Athletes

By Barry Janoff

Photo: US SoccerDecember 2, 2025: Describing it as a “first-of-its-kind platform designed to accelerate advancements in the women’s game through science, innovation and elevated best practices,” U.S. Soccer has launched the Kang Women’s Institute.

U.S. Soccer said the Kang Women’s Institute would “establish research-backed best practices to inform the training and wellbeing of women and girls at every level of the sport.”

The initiative is being driven “through a transformative investment” from Michele Kang, businesswoman, investor, philanthropist and major proponent of women’s soccer and sports.

In November 2024, she pledged $30 million — called one of the largest philanthropic commitments in the history of U.S. Soccer — to “scale competitive opportunities for youth players, expand talent identification, and fuel professional development for female players, coaches, and referees.”

This past April, Kynisca, a London-passed global organization under the auspices of founder and CEO Kang, which focuses on women’s sports, integrated the Kynisca Innovation Hub — Kynisca’s platform dedicated to revolutionizing how female athletes train — into U.S. Soccer’s Soccer Forward Foundation.

It came with an initial investment of $25 million from Kang.

“For too long, women have trained, played and recovered using models built for men. That ends now,” said  Kang via U.S. Soccer. “This Institute will put female athletes at the center of U.S. Soccer’s scientific research and build the evidence, systems and standards that will allow women and girls to reach their full potential.

“This is not just about closing a research gap; it’s about creating a future where every player has the knowledge, care and opportunity to thrive.” 

According to U.S. Soccer and Kang, “Currently, only a small fraction of global sports research is dedicated to women.”

They said a recent analysis shows that only 6% of published research in sports and exercise journals is focused exclusively on women, a “disparity that has left generations of female soccer players training under models built for male physiology.”

U.S. Soccer and Kang stressed that this gap “has contributed to disproportionate injury rates, limited health guidance, and systems that do not reflect the realities of the women’s game.”

Among her efforts to elevate women’s sports, with an emphasis on soccer, Kang in 2022 became the first woman of color to own a NWSL club, the Washington Spirit.

In December 2023, she acquired the Women's Super League London City Lionesses; and in June 2025, became chairwoman and CEO of Eagle Football Group and CEO of Olympique Lyonnais, both top-tier soccer teams based in Lyon, France.

“Michele’s belief in the women’s game is extraordinary, and I’m incredibly grateful for her leadership and generosity,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said via the organization.

“For far too long, women and girls have trained under systems and standards built for men, and the Kang Women’s Institute is an essential first step in changing that. By grounding our work in real research and evidence, we can finally give female players the support, care, and understanding they deserve.”

U.S. Soccer said the Kang Institute would “evolve directly from the Soccer Forward Foundation's Research & Innovation Group, U.S. Soccer's wider platform for sports science, health, and performance research, and work in collaboration with the National Women's Soccer League's Foundation.”

The Kang Women’s Institute has begun work on several key projects, according to U.S. Soccer.

They include conducting the” first comprehensive national study to assess the current and emerging needs of female players at every level, including injury prevention, mental health, workload management, menstrual health, and the transition from youth to elite competition”. 
    
In addition, the Kang Women’s Institute is co-creating a framework with collaboration from the NWSL and United Soccer League “that defines best practices in player health, safety, training, and holistic development; and is “developing new tools to support female athletes’ physical and mental wellbeing, address key dropout points, and ensure coaches, parents, and clubs can provide evidence-based support systems for girls and women. 

These projects “build on Soccer Forward Foundation’s mission to deliver cutting-edge research, training, and guidelines demonstrating soccer’s impact on physical and mental health outcomes.”

U.S. Soccer said the research generated by the Kang Women’s Institute would be “disseminated across the global soccer ecosystem, ensuring clubs, leagues, coaches and federations around the world can benefit from the latest scientific insights”. 

According to Parlow Cone, “This is the beginning of a much larger effort, and Michele has helped us take a huge leap forward in reshaping the future of the women’s game for generations to come.” 

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