Your ticket says 7:30 PM, but the drums have already been pounding since before noon. The thing is – it’s more than a drum. It’s the heartbeat of La Fortaleza, Angel City FC’s supporter section.

Each home game, in the north end of BMO Stadium in Exposition Park, flags wave, pink smoke blows through the air, and chants echo into nearby city blocks. The scent of greasy stadium food blends perfectly with the rhythm of the drum and the harmony of the crowd’s roar..

Scattered throughout the section, among the flags and smoke, many supporters remember the club’s grassroots beginnings.

“Our former president and her husband would take this banner that they painted that said ‘Bring NWSL to LA’ to games at BMO for the MLS team that was playing there.” Angel City superfan Jamie Calderon explained.

Calderon is a member of Rebellion 99 – the first of six independent supporter groups that work to fill La Fortaleza every matchday.

Somehow, that simple banner worked. The foundation of Angel City is often attributed to Lindsey and Mark Rojas’ grassroots campaign. In 2019, the pair founded Rebellion 99 and brought their sign to the Women’s World Cup in Paris and other local community events. After a few months of growing the campaign, the group gained momentum. When Julie Uhrman, Kara Nortman, and Natalie Portman first officially announced Angel City FC in 2020, Rebellion 99 was the first group to rally behind LA’s brand new National Women’s Soccer League team.

In late 2024, the club was sold for $250 million to Disney CEO Bob Iger, making Angel City the most valuable women’s sports franchise on the planet. Upon the sale, Uhrman told the Sports Business Journal, “We’re not done yet. We’re committed to getting it to a billion-dollar valuation.”

The women at the helm wanted the club to stand as a symbol for equity, representation and social impact.

The fans agreed.

Photo by Samuel Spitz

Angel City’s focus on equity and inclusion was not simply about attracting fans. The club’s founders saw that they had the foundation in place to build an entire community around their mission.

Austin Hilpert has been with the club since 2021 and currently serves as the Senior Manager of Supporter Relations. From his very first day with the team, Hilpert was pushed by his peers to work to fulfill their vision.

“They're not just there. They're not just fans of the game. They're not just fans of Angel City. They're the community,” Hilpert explained.

The clubs five other supporter groups – AC Pandemonium, Angel City Valkyries, Relentless Ladies, PodeRosas, and Mosaic 1781 – also all direct their work at one goal. All the groups have different backgrounds and demographic makeup. But ultimately, they all seek to accomplish the club’s goal for equity and inclusion.

Hilpert noted that while it seems like the supporter groups on the surface may seem quite different, their collective presence in La Fortaleza and beyond created a culture that mirrored Angel City’s larger goal of building a new type of community dedicated to building a culture rarely seen in sports.

“Each group is diverse in its own sense. How they show up, where they show up, and what matters to them are diverse across groups,” Hilpert said. “I can bring people in and showcase the supporters, but ultimately, you find the group you gravitate towards, the one that feels like home.

ACFC’s mission to strive for unity and inclusion served as the foundation upon with the supporter groups built their identities. Each group's is unique. Yet, they are all united by one common purpose — make the beautiful game more beautiful than ever before.

This reigns especially true for Ben Skolnik, Technical Director of ACFC supporter group Relentless Ladies.

“The great thing about Angel City is that they really concentrated on building a community that accepts literally anyone and everyone,” he said. “It does not matter your financial demographic, where you come from, your background, your orientation – anything. It’s super, super welcoming.”

For those who find going to spend your day at a stadium or an arena might be an extremely daunting task, the community Angel City has built ensures that need not be the case. The supporter groups are more than just basic fan clubs at this point, they are entry ways into joining soccer culture.

“I’d recommend showing up early to a game, hanging at the tailgate, talking to people, seeing who you vibe with,” Ben said. “Some groups focus on social issues, others on soccer. For us, we keep it about the game, so everyone feels welcome.”

Relentless Ladies stands out by promoting entirely family-friendly gatherings, promoting themselves as the main supporter groups for families. The goal was to create a space where even the youngest fan had a valuable place.

“When we have away game watch parties, we make sure the venue is always family-friendly. We even created a supporter group for the kids!” Skolnik explained.

Photo by Samuel Spitz

Mosaic 1781, on the other hand, has a much different driving factor. While LA fans can only rally around one NWSL franchise, since 2014, LA fans have been divided as to who to support in the MLS — LA Galaxy or Los Angeles Football Club. To mitigate worries about going into the LAFC’s stadium for ACFC games, Galaxy fans sought to stay together. Mosaic was built by Galaxy supporters, for Galaxy supporters to also have their own group at Angel City games.

Eli Lesser, a popular soccer podcaster and content creator, has been a Galaxy fan since 2007. The team is everything to him. Over the past few years, he’s fallen in love with Angel City. He was first invited to join Mosaic by a friend in his Galaxy supporter group. In ACFC’s last home game, Lesser was even able to join the drummers.

“There's this amazing woman, Carlissa, who’s also one of the original supporters for the LA Galaxy. She’s been with them since day one.” he explained. “I met her throughout the years, and she invited me to come drum with her. It was a cool thing to do because I also come from a rock background, playing music. It was cool to get back into that and combine two passions into one.”

Los Angeles is a city that has long been defined by its sports legends. There is seemingly no more space in the market. The Lakers, Shohei Ohtani Dodgers, and the Rose Bowl have a chokehold on LA area fans. Angel City knew they could not just jump right into the environment, so they needed to be built on purpose, not just results.

That purpose had been made crystal clear — include everyone.

“The first match I went to was actually Pride Night a couple of years ago,” Lesser explained. “At that match, it was crazy how much love I saw from different types of people, couples just walking down the street. It was really cool to see everyone together, celebrating themselves… we see that more in women's soccer supporters than in any other sport.”

Hilpert sees it in first hand from the team’s end.

“I think collaboration also matters. It’s a big point in what we do.” Hilpert explained. “If we don’t work together, then we don’t have a great gameday experience. They’re just as much of a gameday experience as any concert or event.”

The atmosphere of inclusion stands out from the second the first whistle is blown at kickoff. Women lead the capo stands, same-sex couples wave pride flags in stands, grandfathers ordering their granddaughters popcorn from a vendor in the aisle. It’s also a large part of the reason why La Fortaleza exists in peace, despite many fans holding decade-old grudges because of their men’s teams.

“Angel City isn’t an LAFC or a Galaxy club,” Lesser said. “A women's team isn’t determined by a men’s game. It’s their own identity and bring everyone together to support something bigger than that.”

La Fortaleza’s reach stretches way beyond the north end of BMO Stadium. Throughout the year, even in the offseason, the groups often uniformly put their drumsticks and Tifos down in favor of direct service.

“We’ve run drives for school supplies – backpacks, pens, pencils.” Skolnik explained. “Another is a plane pull in Long Beach to raise funds for the Special Olympics. For two or three years in a row, we put together a team of all the different supporters’ groups to help pull a plane.”

More specifically, Relentless Ladies uses food to bring supporters together. Each gameday, Skolnik is in the parking lot of BMO Stadium at 10 AM getting the grills fired up and ready to feed anyone who crosses his path. The food comes at no cost, but at most tailgates, he’s cooking to raise money for a cause.

“Tacos for Tots” runs annually, combining the tradition of a pre-match barbeque into a toy-drive. Skolnik said that last year they were able to fill five industrial sized bins for toys. While Relentless Ladies and other supporter groups organize their own events, everyone is welcome.

The same is true during each summer’s “Prideraiser.” The groups form a coalition through June and July, united in supporting the TransLatin@ Coalition and their mission of empowering transgender, gender nonconforming and intersex individuals worldwide. Individuals are encouraged to make a pledge amount for each goal scored. In three years of participating in the fundraiser, La Fortaleza has pledged an average of $307 per goal, leading to a total of more than $4,000 for the TransLatin@ Coalition.

While Angel City is already extremely proud of the work done so far, they know there is far much more that needs to be done to truly accomplish their mission.

“The thing we have been looking at is we have the World Cup coming up, we have the Olympics coming up,” Hilpert said. “It’s a great time to get focused energy on the game and what our supporters are doing and really being able to showcase it.”

In 2024, the NWSL topped 2 million fans for the very first time, implying that popularity and interest is only increasing. Angel City was a huge factor as to why. The club had the second highest average attendance, raking in more than 19,000 fans a game, larger than the average NBA crowd.

Angel City began with a banner. Now, in just its fourth season the stadium is always full and the squad is continuously making national headlines. Most importantly, the supporter section is stronger than ever and gaining momentum. The work is not finished, but La Fortaleza is clearly ready for Los Angeles. Is everyone else?