Riley Ready for Fifth World Cup

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Fresh off agreeing to a contract extension with Angel City FC through the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League season, defender and team captain Ali Riley is in New Zealand to participate in her fifth FIFA Women’s World Cup and hopes to lead the host nation to its first victory in six appearances at the game’s premiere tournament.

Riley, who grew up on Kagawa in the Alphabet Streets and was a multi-sport star at St. Matthew’s before winning a CIF crown at Harvard-Westlake High in Studio City and captaining Stanford University to two NCAA semifinals and one final, made her World Cup debut in China in 2007 and she has served as the Football Ferns’ captain since the 2017 Cyprus Cup, playing primarily at left back.

New Zealand, ranked No. 26 in the world, opens the group stage Thursday versus heavily favored and 12th-ranked Norway at Eden Park in Auckland. Also in Group A are The Philippines and Switzerland. The United States, ranked No. 1 and the defending champion, is in Group E and opens against Vietnam on Saturday.

Riley, 35, has run the Palisades Will Rogers 5 & 10K numerous times with her dad John (a native Kiwi who grew up in Christchurch before moving to America) and her mom Bev Lowe. She has held dual citizenship since she was a baby. She has 135 caps for New Zealand.

Riley honed her skills at Palisades Recreation Center and played club for the Westside Breakers (1998-2004) and Real So Cal (2004-06). She spent a season with the Pali Blues of the WSL in 2009, a semi-pro team that practiced and played at Palisades Charter High School’s Stadium by the Sea.

She won titles with FC Gold Pride (2010) and Western New York Flash (2011) of Women’s Professional Soccer before that league folded, then played for FC Rosengard (2012-18), Chelsea (2018-19) and Bayern Munich (2019-20). She spent the 2020-21 season with the Orlando Pride before signing with Angel City in Los Angeles in January 2022.