June 27,2022

There is a new star in Hollywood. About to turn 33 and after winning three LaLiga Santander titles, five Champions League titles and 16 trophies with Real Madrid, Gareth Bale is crossing the Atlantic to join Los Angeles FC.

He is moving to MLS to stay fit ahead of the 2022 World Cup, which Wales have qualified for.

In Los Angeles, Bale will play in a league that is competitive but far from Europe’s elite, with the regular season ending on October 9. The playoff final is on November 5, 16 days before he makes his World Cup debut in Qatar against the United States

LAFC’s celebrity owners

Sporting rivalries are good fun in Los Angeles, with the Lakers and Clippers in the NBA, the Angels and Dodgers in Major League Baseball, the Rams and the Chargers in the NFL and, in MLS, since 2018 LA Galaxy have had LAFC as their rival.

The dissolution of Chivas USA in 2014 gave Los Angeles the option of having another MLS club and so LAFC was born.

It was promoted by entrepreneurs Henry Nguyen, Peter Guber and Tom Penn, with a group of 29 co-owners, including five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson, actor Will Ferrell, the creator of the video game ‘League of Legends’ Brandon Beck and former US player and two-time Olympic and World Cup champion Mia Hamm

The LAFC fanbase

Although they have only competed in the MLS for five seasons, in 2019 they won the Supporters’ Shield by completing the best regular season on record points and in 2020 they were finalists in the Concachampions.

LAFC has a loyal fanbase. The owners consulted fans of the new team about the colours, the crest and the design of the Banc of California Stadium. They even travelled to Germany to learn from Borussia Dortmund fans and their background.

Our opportunity is to tell the story differently,” Rich Orosco, director of marketing, told the LA Times.

They wanted to reach out to millennials and they did. YouTube, their first sponsor, streamed their games as early as 2018.

Former player John Thorrington runs a club that has had two coaches – Steve Cherundolo and incumbent Bob Bradley – since 2018

Carlos Vela has been the star player and goalscorer at LAFC, which this summer broke its modus operandi of signing young South American talent, such as Brian Rodriguez, Jose Cifuentes, Diego Palacios and Cristian Arango.

First they signed the veteran Giorgio Chiellini and then Bale to strengthen a squad in which the Spaniard Ilie Sanchez shines