Ali Riley from Angel City Football Club takes part in the Olympic Games

PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA – Ali Riley, captain of the Angel City Football Club who was born and raised in Pacific Palisades, is heading to the Olympics.

Riley, 36, will play for New Zealand, her father’s home country. This will be Riley’s fifth Olympic Games appearance for the soccer team. She has also competed in five FIFA Women’s World Cups and has captained the Ferns since 2017.

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The defender has also played for Angel City since the inaugural season in 2022.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Riley recalled her childhood in the Palisades and going to the 1999 Women’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl and dreaming of one day playing in the tournament.

After graduating from Harvard-Westlake School and Stanford University, she wanted to play for the LA Sol, but that team disbanded and she had to wait 13 years before she could return to her hometown to play soccer.

Riley played for Stanford from 2006 to 2009, for FC Gold Pride in 2010 and for Western New York Flash in the defunct Women’s Professional Soccer in 2011, for Swedish Premier League club Rosengard from 2012 to 2018 and 2020 (before December 2013 the club was called LdB FC Malmo), for Chelsea in the English FA Women’s Super League in the 2018/19 season and for German club Bayern Munich in the 2019/20 season.

Angel City hosted an Olympic farewell party for Riley at BMO Stadium on July 6 following their 2-1 loss to NJ/NY Gotham FC, which also featured three Māori dancers.

New Zealand will face Canada in their first Olympic group match on July 25 in Saint-Etienne.