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A Battle of the SEXYS?

Soccer Team Owners Natalie Portman And Ryan Reynolds Might Plan 'Friendly Matches'

Natalie Portman and Ryan Reynolds might star opposite each other — on a soccer pitch, that is.

Portman, who co-founded the professional women’s team Angel City FC in 2020, suggested a “friendly” match against Wrexham AFC — a Welsh club that Reynolds and Rob McElhenney acquired that same year — at Thursday’s premiere of her related docuseries “Angel City.”

“I’ve been lucky enough to talk to [Reynolds] about his journey, and he’s so inspirational for what he’s done with Wrexham, and they have a women’s team also,” Portman told “Entertainment Tonight” on the red carpet. “So, we have talked about kind of having some friendly matches at some point.”

Portman founded Angel City with actor Eva Longoria, soccer star Mia Hamm and tennis legend Serena Williams, among others.

“It was incredible to get the support from all of those friends and it was ... really moving when people came on board, because it wasn’t obvious, and we got a lot of no’s before we got a yes,” Portman told “ET.” “And I feel like I didn’t realize what a big deal it was.”

Portman added that if she’d had that perspective, it “might have stopped me from doing it.” But she’s been an impassioned soccer fan for years — and she told The Guardian in 2020 that it was her young son’s obsession with America’s female players that inspired her to start a club.

“Watching my son idolize players like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan the same way he did Lionel Messi or Karim Benzema, I realized that amplifying female athletes could rapidly shift culture,” the Academy Award winner told the newspaper then.

While Portman founded her team months before Reynolds bought Wrexham in late 2020, the “Black Swan” actor is following in his footsteps by chronicling that journey with her series — as Reynolds produced one of his own for Disney about Wrexham.

“I feel lucky that I had that kind of ignorance or optimism that, of course, this will all work out,” Portman told “ET.” “I believed in it so much. I believed in it because these players are the best players in the world, and it’s the most popular sport in the world.”

“I thought, ‘There’s no way that you don’t provide greater accessibility, and this isn’t the biggest hit,’” she continued.

After two quiet years due to coronavirus-related guidelines, Angel City held its inaugural season in 2022 and placed eighth in the Nation Women’s Soccer League. Meanwhile, Wrexham triumphantly moved up to the fourth tier last month for the first time in 15 years.

Portman told “ET” it was “the most exciting thing” to inspire women to level the male-dominated playing field. She previously told The Guardian her goal is “to make women’s soccer as valued as male soccer is throughout the world.”

“The best is seeing all the kids of all genders being rabid fans of these women,” she told “ET” on Thursday. “I think that’s the dream ... Female athletes are so important for girls to see, but it’s also important for all kids ... As a girl growing up, I idolized male athletes.”

She added: “We shouldn’t only be able to identify with people who look like us.”

“Angel City” premieres May 16 on HBO Max.
 
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