Today, Angel City announced the hiring of Sarah Smith as the club’s new Director of Medical and Performance ahead of the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season. Smith comes to ACFC from the Canadian Soccer Association, where she served for the last 10 years.
During her tenure in Canada, she served her first eight years as Head of Medical for the Women's National Programs before overseeing the Medical Department of the Men’s National Programs for the past two years.
“We are thrilled to have a professional of Sarah’s caliber in a very important leadership position for our organization,” said ACFC General Manager Angela Hucles Mangano. “Her experience will be a welcomed addition while we continue to push Angel City to ensure our players’ health and safety is the utmost priority.”
While with the senior programs, Smith was the first woman to lead a medical team in a FIFA Men’s World Cup. She also led the medical team when the women won Olympic bronze in 2016 and gold in 2020.
Smith has also been active in Canadian national initiatives around elevating standards for management of professional athletes as well as development of women in sports leadership initiatives. She is very passionate about elite rehabilitation and systematic alignment of a high performance department.