On a rare gloomy day in June, in the hills of Thousands Oaks, California, nestled next to Cal Lutheran University sits Angel City FC‘s newest multimillion dollar training facility. Inside, a small room, brimming with excitement as Angel City’s Sporting Director Mark Parsons and CEO and Co-Foudner Julie Uhrman walked into the room taking their respective seats at the podium set up. Alongside them, sitting front and center, wide-eyed and grinning with excitement himself, sat Angel City FC’s newest Head Coach, Alexander Straus. As the room waited to hear from the new man in charge, the Norwegian formerly of Bayern FC, seemed to be taking it all in. The lights, the cameras, the room filled with reporters, everyone hanging on his every single word, the beginning of a truly new era for the Los Angeles based NWSL side.
“We were after someone, who was going to bring a dominant style of play” said Angel City FC Sporting Director Mark Parsons when introducing the new head coach. “[Someone] who was going to build culture, develop this team, but also someone who’s a winner.” If those are the things this club was looking for, it’s hard to find a coach more fitting in the world of women’s soccer right now than Alexander Straus. The Norwegian coach was first tasked with Norway’s youth. Spending several years as the U23 and U19 manager for his home countries National teams, before making the jump to club football. After a successful stint at the helm for Brann, he made the big move to German powerhouse, Bayern Munich FC. At the time he arrived, the women’s side for Bayern was lacking as it was Wolfsburg that dominated the women’s soccer scene in Germany, that all changed with the arrival of Straus. In his four years at the club, Bayern won three-straight Frauen-Bundesliga titles as well as the 2024 DFB-Supercup. While they never secured a European trophy, Straus took Bayern from a team that merely showed up to the Champions League, into a team that now has expectations of winning that trophy a lot sooner than later, and had it not been for a series of key injuries, they would have had a great chance to do so this past season.
All that is to say, this is a winner in every sense of the word. A coach that stepped into the spotlight taking over an historic club when it was at its worst, and turned it into the powerhouse it is now. “I know what good looks like” said new Head Coach Alexander Straus when giving his opening remarks during the press conference. “I have been part of it, I had that experience, I know how it’s created, but you need to build a foundation on the pitch. You need to build an environment that wins, and wins again because the first time everybody can do.” As Straus spoke it became more and more clear exactly why the powers at be chose him as their next coach. This is a club that is entering into a very crucial time. It’s a club that has successfully built its brand off the pitch, has established and raised standards for all of women’s soccer, a club that has done the work to get community involved and fans into the seats. But this is also a club that, for the past couple of seasons has left far more to be desired on the pitch. Results have come few and far between at times, coaching decisions left plenty scratching their heads, and for a sports team in Los Angeles, to see a club not even really come close to competing for a title has left many wondering why this roster of superstars and incredibly talented youngsters, can’t do more. With this hire Angel City has made it clear, they intend to change that narrative, and do it a lot sooner than later, with Straus not only having a vision, but a plan to execute it.
“Create a dynasty, that’s what we want to do” said Straus. “You need to go not the short road, but the long road. That is why we come here and commit ourselves for a long, long time.” Dynasty. Something every LA sports fan loves to hear, and something that almost nobody has ever mentioned in regards to Angel City FC. to hear the new coach come in and embrace expectations in this way, not jus leaning into them, but setting them, is refreshing. Perhaps even more good to hear has nothing, on the surface, to do with results or wins, losses, or trophies. His philosophy on players. Not just about building chemistry with his new team, or what they can do on the pitch tactically, but his way of engaging with the players as people, first and foremost. “My philosophy is centered around people. I am here to facilitate for our players” said Straus when talking about what this team could look like under him. “I had a different view when I was younger. It was all about titles, trophies, whatever. In 2018 I changed my view. I started focusing on people instead, and that’s when I started winning.”
Surprise, surprise 😏#AngelCityFC pic.twitter.com/Jns70N8Xtu
— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) June 3, 2025
He continued “You need to create safe environments, you need to create a space where people can express themselves, this is what my coaching philosophy is based on. When it comes to that, we also want to be the main actor on the scene. We want to control the games, my vision is control the ball for 90 minutes. Opponents can have the ball when they take kickoffs, and we will get it back.” For anyone unfamiliar with Bayern FC, the most simple way I can put this, is under his management the running “joke” was that he turned FC Bayern women’s team, into the women’s equivalent of the men’s side. Meaning, most familiar with soccer know the men’s Bayern team is world renowned for its dominance not just in Germany, but globally, a team that has won a handful of Champions League trophies, a club that seems to easily attract the best young stars around the world and under Alexander Straus, the women’s side became a mirror of that success. A team that has taken the German crown from Wolfsburg in recent years, a team stacked with talent and only growing, a team that now has UEFA Women’s Champions League aspirations and expectations of their own. If anyone knows how to build a dynasty, if anyone can come into a league and outright take it over, it is Straus. That said, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
“First of all, you need to know people, not the players. The players I knew long before I came, I knew the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals because I watched hundreds of hours of Angel City games over the last couple of years” said Straus when talking about the first steps to his vision for the club. “I need to know what makes them tick. How can I get the best out of a Sarah Gorden or Christen Press. It’s not about the left or right foot or their heading ability. It’s about what gives them the confidence to be creative, to be open to development, to be coachable. I believe everyone is coachable, but it’s about finding the right pattern, it’s a different individual pattern with every player and every person you meet.”
With his first match, and introduction to the NWSL, this weekend, don’t expect a reinvention of the wheel. As it stands, the entirety of the roster wont even be back in Los Angeles until later this evening as players return from their respective National Teams having just completed International break. This will take time. Not just a week or month, but several. Taking control of the team in the middle of the season, isn’t easy, and with such grand plans for this club, they wont be completed rapidly. The goal for the second half of the season is simple, be exciting. Be fun to watch, play pretty football and slowly implement the vision. Yes, we all want wins, we all want trophies, we want to perhaps see the postseason this year but more importantly than all of that, Angel City FC want and need stability. Consistency. Identity on the pitch. Alexander Straus understands this, and given the space and time to cook, will not only provide that, but do so with flair worthy of several Michelin Stars, and in time, the proof will come with, hopefully, several NWSL trophies.
Thoughts on the new Head Coach Alexander Straus? Leave a comment below!