DENVER — Colorado produces more female soccer talent than could fit on a single roster, yet until now, there's been no hint of a pro team in the Centennial State.
For Denver FC, as it calls itself at the moment, is a coalition to bring professional women's soccer to Denver.
"It is a monumentous approach to unite our incredible city of Denver for the love of sports, through the love of sports," cofounder Lizelle van Vuuren said. "Women's soccer brings people together more than any other sport I've ever seen on planet earth and Denver is ready. We've been ready."
Jordan Angeli is a former pro player from Lakewood. While her love of the game pushed her to spearhead this project, her desire to inspire the next generation of footballers is fueling her flame.
"I remember the first time I met a professional soccer player and I thought, 'Man this is just a person, this is just a human doing something they absolutely love to do, I can do that!' and I want all of these young athletes here in Denver and in Colorado and in the surrounding cities to have the opportunity to say, 'I can do that,'" she said.
As a player who's career was cut short by three ACL injuries, Angeli is also motivated to bring fellow Coloradans home to pursue a dream she never had the chance to fulfill.
"The talent in Colorado is incredible. Right now, there's about 20 players in the NWSL and playing professionally," she said. "There are so many players that come from Colorado and for me, my why, is to let them play here in front of their friends and their family, their high school coach, their club coach, their uncle that never got to see them play. I never got to do that. I want this so bad for them and it gives me chills because I can't wait for that first game when we have girls from Colorado on whatever team it is and it is packed to support them because this is a soccer city."
One of those professional players, who now plays overseas for Lyon, is United States Women's National Team co-captain Lindsey Horan. The Golden, Colorado Native recorded a video for the coalition expressing her hope for playing professionally in front of her home state.
"I'm amped, I want to get a women's professional team to Colorado," Horan said. "Growing up, obviously it would've been a really cool thing for me as a young player to watch a professional women's team in our great state of Colorado, but we didn't get the opportunity. I would also love to be playing on a Colorado professional team, obviously in front of my family, my friends, and the fans there in Colorado."
For Denver FC is actively seeking investors to put together a formal proposal to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for the fall. While the coalition would not reveal their current roster of investors, the founders said the interest was quite strong -- and it would have to be. The two most recent NWSL expansion teams, Bay Area and Boston, agreed to pay $50 million for expansion fees to start new clubs. The Bay Area group gathered a record total investment of $125 million.
"There's a lot of eyeballs on this and people want in because they know the value of women's soccer, not just from the personal standpoint, but from a business standpoint, that this is a good investment right now because some of these clubs are valuing at really big numbers and so can they get in early and that's what we're looking for," Angeli said.
For Denver FC is hosting a watch party for the USWNT World Cup kickoff against Vietnam on July 21 at 6pm at Number 38 in RiNo. RSVP now at http://ForDenverFC.com.