For young soccer players everywhere, Europe holds a unique appeal. Clubs with hundred-year histories face off in storied stadiums where the game’s legends once played. Fans measure their support in generations, not years. A trophy in the UEFA Champions League—the most prestigious club tournament in the world, contested between the top teams from each European league—is, to many, an achievement second only to a World Cup.
And if those things were, for decades, the domain of the men’s game, the prominence of the women’s sides of these clubs has grown massively in the last 20 years.
But for Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, none of that compared to what their hometown club had to offer.
“Being able to play with Gisele in our hometown is the best feeling,” said Alyssa. “And having the new training facility, seeing how much the club is investing in everything, it shows how much they care about the players.”
That sets the Thompsons apart from other young Americans who made the move across the pond this offseason, most notably former San Diego defender Naomi Girma and former Gotham defender Jenna Nighswonger, who signed for Chelsea and Arsenal, respectively. Girma, one of the top defenders in the world, is now club teammates with another young American star: Catarina Macario, who has never played in the NWSL.
Top American players going to Europe for parts of their careers isn’t a new phenomenon: Lindsey Heaps (née Horan) signed with Paris Saint-Germain out of high school in 2012, and USWNT legends like Alex Morgan, Tobin Heath, Christen Press, and Megan Rapinoe have spent time in Europe. The Thompsons’ choice to re-sign with Angel City at this moment, however, is significant, as this point in the international calendar—midway between World Cups—is generally seen as the best time to make the leap to another league.
And the appeal goes both ways: the gap between the USWNT and the rest of the field has narrowed significantly, but the US still produces more of the top players in the world than any other single country.
“We had a number of clubs reach out about Alyssa and Gisele,” said Technical Director Mark Wilson. “We had multiple concrete offers where we were told, ‘if we can't get them permanently, can we get them on loan?’ That was confirmation of what we already knew. Then the question became, how could we get to work and make sure that they felt this is a place that was going to help them become the very best versions of themselves?”
That the Thompson sisters chose to re-sign with Angel City is a testament to the club’s success on that front.
ACFC’s new state-of-the-art performance center was a big part of that, as was the staff’s focus on player development. Individual development is a major focus for Sporting Director Mark Parsons, who started at Angel City in January.
“I've been very focused on my meetings with players to understand who they are and what their goals are to make sure the technical stuff and the player are aligned,” Parsons says. “It starts with the player, in my opinion, having the first say on ‘this is who I am and this is where I want to go,’ and sometimes clubs can get that wrong.”
That commitment to individual development is present throughout the organization. “This year the coaches have been really helpful with, before training or after training, if we want to work on something, they're always there,” said Gisele. “They have IDPs and drills set up for us, and I know that’s going to continue throughout the year.”
As Wilson points out, despite the mystique of Europe, the NWSL as a whole is a top destination for players hoping to maximize their development. “There's lots of different factors as to why people perceive Europe as a footballing Mecca,” he said. “But when you really put your boots on the ground over here and you see the ecosystem, from the youth soccer landscape and how organized it is, into the college space, and then coming into the NWSL—there's so much appeal for development, for high performance, for playing in the most competitive league in the world"
The high level of competition in the NWSL contrasts sharply with any of the European leagues, where a handful of teams dominate every year. That means that those top few clubs only face real competition in a few games each season; even the continent-wide Champions League includes a lot of lopsided matchups in the early rounds.
Both Thompson sisters said that level of competition is a major draw. “We get to compete every weekend against top teams,” said Alyssa. “Every game is hard. So I think continuing here is what we need to keep developing.”
Alyssa and Gisele aren’t the only young players on the team, or even the first to commit to multi-year extensions this offseason; 20-year-old defender Savy King, acquired via trade with Bay FC in February, signed on for two more years earlier this month.
And there’s another young player, forward Julie Dufour, whose decision to sign with ACFC highlights what the club has to offer from a different angle. The 23-year-old is far from the first French player in the NWSL—forward Clarisse Le Bihan and midfielder Amandine Henry both played for Angel City before her—but her youth makes her unique. Most of the French players who have spent time in the US were already well-established in their professional careers before coming stateside. That Dufour is at the beginning of her senior international career, having earned her first cap in October, 2023, makes that move even more significant.
“It doesn't happen very often,” said Wilson. “It highlights the quality of our league when young international players are choosing to come to the NWSL and more specifically choosing to come to LA."
For the Thompsons, of course, there’s another factor: being able to play in front of family at every home game, in their hometown, with its legendary sports history.
“When you give young, local people an opportunity, they will fight for your team and club like no one else,” said Parsons. “Alyssa and Gisele, they've witnessed this club being born, and different to most or all clubs, how Angel City really cares about the community and is fighting for things that are way more important than soccer. Now they’re in a club that is committing to perform and win and bring trophies to this incredible city. I really believe that this club's in their blood.”