Angel City FC faces major shakeup as GM Angela Hucles Mangano steps down

Angel City FC, founded with the ambition to raise the bar in women's soccer, has parted ways with general manager Angela Hucles Mangano. Described as a mutual decision, the departure comes at the most difficult time for the club, which now needs to balance high ambition with on- and off-field challenges.

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With a big legacy, Hucles Mangano brought to Los Angeles a vision of building something that extended far beyond the pitch. Among her key contributions were structural advances, bold market moves, and fostering a culture that valued athletes not just as players but as people. Yet, like any major project, not everything went as planned.

A leadership of impact and bold decisions

Hucles Mangano joined Angel City FC as the vice president of player development in 2021 and moved into the general manager role in 2022. Her charge was to set the foundation for a growing club-and in many ways, she did.

The main ones that come to my memory were increasing the technical and medical staff, adding some top professionals to the back of the house for player support; overseeing construction on a 50,000-square-foot performance center that ranked as one of the most state-of-the-art facilities across the NWSL, period; and strategic recruiting decisions-including wagering on up-and-coming Alyssa and Gisele Thompson and landing international Katie Zelem from Manchester United.

Hucles Mangano showed confidence in internal talent, too. When she made the bold call-and some would say highly controversial-to fire head coach Freya Coombe in 2023, she promoted assistant coach Becki Tweed to the top spot. The result? Angel City surged up the standings, punching their first playoff ticket ever and restoring hope to the fanbase.

But the success was short-lived. In 2024, Tweed — now as permanent head coach — could not repeat those results. The team plummeted to 12th place, finishing eight points outside the NWSL playoff race.

Off-field issues take their toll

Adding to the technical and roster woes, the tenure of Angela Hucles Mangano took a serious blow in October 2024 when Angel City FC was fined by the NWSL on grounds of violating salary cap rules through parallel agreements with the players.

These agreements included remuneration and benefits which were not officially declared to the league, making Angel City fly well over the salary cap by $50,000 over four weeks. These consequences were severe: a three-point deduction in the standings; a hefty $200,000 fine.

These penalties hit hard for a club still in formative years, both on morale and reputation. The temporary suspension of Hucles Mangano and co-founder Julie Uhrman showed the cracks in management and called into question decisions made behind the scenes.

Injuries, lack of depth, and what went wrong

While the salary cap controversy stirred things up off the field, Angel City faced an old foe on it: injuries. The 2024 season was riddled with major absences, from key players Jun Endo and Ali Riley to Merritt Mathias and veteran Christen Press. Without sufficient replacements, the team lacked both quality and experience when it mattered most.

While promising development from players like Mary Alice Vignola, who emerged as one of the league's best fullbacks, the lack of depth within the squad ultimately proved costly for the club.