Around June of last year, Angel City FC’s Head of Community Catherine Dávila called up Lily Barrett-O’Keefe, executive director of Common Goal.

The two had worked together when Angel City helped launch the Anti-Racist Project in February, and Dávila had an idea to build off of that initiative.

“LGBTQ+ issues and inclusion are at the center of everything the NWSL does and is,” she said to Barrett-O’Keefe. “We should do a project like the Anti-Racist Project but with LGBTQ+ issues.”

Homophobia has been a prevalent issue in men’s and women’s soccer around the globe, while anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-trans legislation sweeps across the United States. The Major League Soccer-Liga MX All-Star Game last August was halted due to homophobic chants from the crowd. Recently in the NWSL, the Orlando Pride apologized in a joint statement with the Black Swans supporters’ group for asking the group to take down a banner that read “GAY” in accordance with signage policies. The North Carolina Courage faced backlash from fans in December after signing Jaelene Daniels, a formerly retired U.S. women’s national team player who has spoken out against gay marriage and refused to wear the USWNT’s Pride jersey.

Coming out of her conversation with Dávila, Barrett-O’Keefe was all in. She proceeded to bring the idea to life with the help of Common Goal, a global social impact collective.

Dávila called the San Diego Wave FC, who were also eager to get involved, and the Wave then recruited clubs from the other major professional soccer leagues in the U.S., Canada and Mexico: Tigres UANL, Chicago Fire FC, Oakland Roots, Pacific FC, Philadelphia Union and San Diego Loyal SC.

Ahead of hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the clubs came together to launch a 12-month program for stakeholders that includes over 100 hours of LGBTQ+ inclusion training led by the Common Goal project, Play Proud and its partners — Inside Inclusion, Impact International and Stonewall UK. Included in each club’s delegation are a leader of their supporters’ group and a community-based coach from their city.

Angel City hosted the first five-day residential event in Los Angeles last week.

“We went into it saying Pride, LGBTQ+ inclusion and issues and conversations and voices are not just June, and especially when we’re Angel City and especially when we’re in women’s soccer,” Dávila said. “This is year-round for us.”

Angel City plans to develop club policies for the season based on what they learn in the workshops, which will then translate into a long-term strategy of inclusivity. Until the second residential event in December, hosted by Tigres, the clubs that attended the event in L.A. have an accountability system in place. They also have the opportunity to schedule ongoing meetings with Play Proud’s experts, which Dávila hopes Angel City holds on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Thank you @CommonGoalOrg @stonewalluk @IMPACTIntl and @weareangelcity for the Play Proud residency program for this incredible group of people who will end homophobia in North American soccer. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 pic.twitter.com/KaB2uvUDzp

— Nichole Peterson (@nicholepeterson) April 14, 2022

Angel City players could sit in on the Play Proud workshops last week if they wished. Defender Paige Nielsen only planned to be there for the morning, but when noon hit, she asked if she could stay for the rest of the day.

Nielsen didn’t know anyone in the room except teammate Madison Hammond, but she felt like she did because of the way everyone empowered each other with their personal stories and moments of vulnerability.

“We don’t have that many safe spaces anymore,” she said. “People call you out all the time, whether that’s online, in school. There’s Don’t Say Gay bills. You can’t talk about things. And this is a safe room.”

Nielsen recalled the instructor using a saying about calling people “in” instead of “out,” emphasizing how to react to issues in a way that’s educational and positive.

A quote that Nielsen and Dávila reflected on was: “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”

“That really hit home for me because I’m such a hippie and I’m like, ‘No words or anything will bother me. I know my worth.’ But that comes from a place of privilege,” Nielsen said. “The more conferences and the more things we learn about how much you are privileged versus a lot of people, it makes me want to do a lot more and help others.”

In one of the many ways privilege was demonstrated throughout the week, the instructor set up four different rows of chairs with four people in each row. The leader of the session put a trash bin in front of the first row. Everyone had 10 seconds to get their crumpled piece of paper into the bin.

As papers flew overhead, the people in front of the bin simply reached out and placed theirs in. One person in the back row made their shot. The woman next to him gave up because she couldn’t even see the bin; she just believed it existed. Meant to reflect privileged people in society, the participants in the front row of seats had the advantage over people in the back, who could only take a chance with their throw and hope for the best.

Check out @CommonGoalOrg’s new Play Proud merch! It’s Augment Reality (AR)-activated merchandise that links fans to inspiring, bilingual storytelling about the topic of LGBTQIA+ inclusion in soccer 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️⚽️⬇️ https://t.co/M3pxjPVqw4 pic.twitter.com/fOVeXlAIBE

— Kai (@hiyakaiya) April 12, 2022

Every conversation Angel City has this season will have been touched by Play Proud. The goal is to make the learnings feel so routine that they won’t need to be reactive when new issues arise, internally or externally.

“If we’re going to take a stand on inclusivity, on diversity, on the importance of these things, not just morally but to our businesses, we have to be OK talking about them,” Dávila said. “We have to be excited talking about them.”

Since the beginning of preseason in February, Angel City players have been vocal about how much they appreciate playing for a club that aligns with their values of inclusivity, equality and empowerment. ACFC’s efforts to put the LGBTQ+ community front and center is just another step in that direction.

“It gets me excited because I’m around amazing people, amazing staff who want to do something bigger than just play a sport,” Nielsen said. “They want to use the sport as an avenue to help kids, inspire others.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The 2025 Wimbledon Championships wrapped its second round on Thursday, with the grass court Grand Slam seeing just 15 of the tournament's 32 seeded players advance to the Friday and Saturday's third round.

A full half of the WTA's Top 10 players did not survive the week, with 2024 Wimbledon finalist and world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini joining four first-round star exits by falling to unseeded Kamilla Rakhimova in a three-set, second-round battle on Wednesday.

At the same time, unseeded fan favorites like Japan's No. 53 Naomi Osaka and England's own No. 40 Emma Raducanu secured third-round spots at the London Slam, joining top surviving contenders like No. 4 Iga Świątek and defending Wimbledon champion No. 16 Barbora Krejčíková.

Notably, a full five US players managed to move ahead, tied for the largest national contingent still standing at the tournament.

Led by 2025 Australian Open champion No. 8 Madison Keys, the US group also includes No. 10 Emma Navarro and No. 12 Amanda Anisimova, as well as unseeded players No. 54 Danielle Collins and No. 55 Hailey Baptiste.

With matches against Świątek and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, respectively, Collins and Baptiste have a tough third round ahead — though Navarro's battle against the 2024 champ Krejčíková arguably headlines Saturday's slate.

How to watch Wimbledon this weekend

While world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is still holding strong in the dwindling field, this year's Wimbledon play is proving that the London Slam is anyone's to take, as the grass court humbles even the sport's top stars.

Expect the twists and turns to continue as tennis's best battle for spots in Sunday's Round of 16.

Round-of-32 Wimbledon play kicks off at 6 AM ET on Friday, with live continuous coverage of the tournament airing on ESPN.

The 2025 European Championship is officially underway, as Euro action kicked off with a group-stage upset on Wednesday.

Though the 2025 UEFA tournament's opener was a sweltering affair amid a European heat wave, world No. 26 Finland prevailed, earning a 1-0 upset win over No. 14 Iceland in Group A.

Finnish winger Katariina Kosola played hero, curling in the winning goal in the match's 70th minute — just 12 minutes after Iceland midfielder Hildur Antonsdóttir picked up the competition's first red card.

"The result is important for our confidence," Kosola said after Finland's first major tournament win since the 2009 Euro. "It was the kind of goal I have been practicing a lot."

"It's terrible to lose and we feel frustrated," said Iceland head coach Thorsteinn Halldórsson. "It is an even group and we knew Finland were good, but our first half wasn't good enough."

Elsewhere, No. 16 Norway closed out Wednesday's slate on top of Group A, taking three points by defeating host No. 23 Switzerland in day's second match.

Led by captain and 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg — who pulled the match even with a second-half strike — Norway battled to a 2-1 comeback win, despite the Swiss side outshooting and out-possessing the Norwegians.

How to watch this week's 2025 Euro action

Group B steals the 2025 Euro spotlight on Thursday.

While No. 13 Italy snagged a 1-0 opening win over No. 20 Belgium to kick off the day, 2023 World Cup champions and tournament favorite No. 2 Spain will face No. 22 Portugal at 3 PM ET.

Friday's Group C slate will pit No. 12 Denmark against No. 6 Sweden at 12 PM ET, before No. 3 Germany contends with No. 27 Poland at 3 PM ET.

Closing out the first group-stage matches will be arguably the toughest draw of the 2025 Euro pool.

Saturday's Group D slate features major tournament debutants No. 30 Wales against the No. 11 Netherlands at 12 PM ET, with No. 10 France taking on defending champions No. 5 England to cap the day at 3 PM ET.

Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches will air across Fox Sports platforms.

The world No. 1 USWNT ruled the pitch on Wednesday night, shutting out North American rivals No. 8 Canada 3-0 to finish the international window on a high note.

Catching the Canada backline sleeping, US midfielder Sam Coffey opened the scoring at the 17-minute mark before 19-year-old Claire Hutton claimed her first-ever USWNT goal by heading in a Rose Lavelle corner kick in the game's 36th minute.

Houston Dash forward Yazmeen Ryan then padded the US tally in the waning minutes of the match, finding the back of the net just eight minutes after subbing onto the field.

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Despite fielding a young roster, the US overpowered a veteran-heavy Canada side in almost every category, topping their Northern neighbors in shots, shots on target, possession, and — most notably — set pieces.

Canada ultimately couldn't match the game's mental pace or physical battle, as the USWNT scored all three goals off dead ball situations — a free kick, a corner kick, and a throw-in.

"It's not about the opponent," US head coach Emma Hayes said after the match. "It's about what we do, and I felt that was extremely dominant."

With Wednesday's contributions, the USWNT finishes the summer window with 11 goals scored across the three friendlies — and zero goals conceded.

The US now enters an extended break before reconvening for another as-yet-unannounced friendly series in October — but players will be expected to perform in the meantime.

"I said to the players in the end in the huddle, if you want to compete to win the biggest things, it's not what you do here that matters," said Hayes. "It's what you do when you go back to your club."

The 2025 WNBA regular season returns on Thursday night, with teams at the top of the league standings looking to prove their mettle against close competition across the long holiday weekend.

The No. 5 Seattle Storm have arguably the toughest weekend assignments, taking on the No. 4 Atlanta Dream on Friday before tackling the No. 3 New York Liberty on Sunday.

Four middle-of-the-pack teams will look to close in on a double-digit season win tally while the league's frontrunners strive to maintain their advantage in this weekend's slate:

• No. 7 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 8 Indiana Fever, Thursday at 7 PM ET (Prime): Though still without star Caitlin Clark, the Fever hope to harness their 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup victory momentum against an Aces side tied with Indiana with an 8-8 season record.

• No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 4 Atlanta Dream, Thursday at 7:30 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): Seattle will look to make strides against a strong Atlanta side while putting last Sunday's stinging 84-57 loss to up-and-comer Golden State in their rearview.

• No. 6 Golden State Valkyries vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, Saturday at 8 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The rising Valkyries must face a Lynx side hunting redemption, as the league-leaders look to bounce back from their stifling Tuesday Commissioner's Cup upset loss.

• No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 3 New York Liberty, Sunday at 1 PM ET (CBS): With injured Liberty center Jonquel Jones still sidelined, the Seattle Storm will have a chance to steal a weekend game against the reigning champs, as New York struggles to re-find their footing.

With the 2025 WNBA All-Star break looming, early top performers must keep standards high if they want to hold the line when the season crosses the midway point.