Ten months after her heart stopped during a game, Angel City's Savy King returns to the pitch

LOS ANGELES (AP) — That Savy King not only survived a life-threatening on-field cardiac event but is now poised to return this season for Angel City is nothing short of miraculous, and she knows it.

During the second half of Angel City's home match against the Utah Royals last May 9, King sat on the field in the 74th minute, appearing dazed. Then everything went black.

The 20-year-old's heart had stopped.

Trainers rushed to King’s side and she was given CPR. Fans and fellow players were shaken as she was treated on the field for some 11 minutes before she was rushed away. Once at the hospital, King underwent surgery to repair an anomalous left coronary artery, a rare congenital defect that had previously gone undetected.

Ten months later, King is preparing for the National Women's Soccer League season.

"I for sure have gone through ups and downs, but for the most part, I just am grateful that I’m able to play again," she said. “I feel like that comes from my perspective of life just completely changing. I feel like sometimes when you do something over and over again, you get comfortable and not necessarily complacent, but you take things for granted of being able to just go out there and do what you love every day. And for a second I thought that that was taken from me.”

While King was hospitalized, there was a controversy brewing. The NWSL Players Association was among those that said Angel City's match should have been suspended after King’s collapse. Instead, the game was continued with some 12 minutes of stoppage time.

The league said later the match should have been suspended.

Another player, Racing Louisville's Savannah DeMelo, collapsed during a game later in the season against the Reign in Seattle and the remainder of that match was postponed. NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said the league learned from those experiences and new procedures were put in place to determine the best course of action when such incidents arise.

King spent the summer at home watching her teammates on television and relearning to do the things that had once come naturally to her.

She had six weeks of physical therapy to get back on her feet, then went into a cardiac rehabilitation process. Three days a week for three months she exercised while doctors closely monitored her heart. By September she was able to do limited training with her team.

As she worked her way back, she was also hatching a plan.

Through King's leadership, all 16 NWSL teams gave their players, coaches and staff training this year on hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED). The NWSL is the only professional sports league in the nation to implement CPR training at that scale.

Through her foundation, Savy King of Hearts, King wants to amplify the message that “you can be a hero with just two hands.” Her partner in the initiative, the American Heart Association, says hands-only CPR can double and even triple survival chances.

"All credit goes to Savy. She's remarkable,” Berman said. “She sent me a note shortly after she had gone through the main parts of her recovery and came to us with this idea. And it was clearly a no-brainer for us to support it. What an amazing opportunity for her to turn something that was really scary for her, for her teammates, for the league, and turn it into a positive.”

Her foundation is also bringing AEDs to communities that don’t have them and she’s putting on soccer camps that include CPR training for the kids and their parents.

A Southern California native, King's mother, Karrie King, was a professional biathlete. King herself ran track in high school before playing at North Carolina under coach Anson Dorrance for a season.

She was the second-overall pick in the 2024 NWSL draft by expansion Bay FC and played 18 games for the club. She was traded to Angel City in February 2025 and had started in all eight games for the team before she collapsed.

She also featured on several U.S. soccer youth national teams, and was invited to senior team coach Emma Hayes' Futures Camp in January 2025.

This Valentine's Day, she was removed from Angel City's season-ending injury list and appeared in two of the Los Angeles-based team's preseason matches. Angel City opens the regular season on Sunday at home against the Chicago Stars.

King said there are no restrictions on her and she does not need special monitoring or tests. She has no fear about continuing her playing career.

"You don’t always have to let what happens to you define you and how you decide to go about your life in the future. Because I can very easily just stop playing and be like, 'Yeah, this is scary. I’m going to stop.' But I have so much that I want to accomplish in my life, and I didn’t want that to be the reason that I just stopped altogether, especially if there’s a chance that I could keep going and continue to inspire young girls that go through the same thing.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Angel City FC defender Savy King hold her team's new Jersey practices with her National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) at the Angel City Performance Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Angel City FC Head Coach Alexander Straus, left talks to defender Savy King practices with her National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) at the Angel City Performance Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Angel City FC defender Savy King practices with her National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) at the Angel City Performance Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Angel City FC defender Savy King practices with her National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) at the Angel City Performance Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Angel City FC defender Savy King practices with her National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) at the Angel City Performance Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and Austria said Wednesday they are releasing parts of their oil reserves following an International Energy Agency request for members to release a record 400 million barrels to help temper energy price spikes due to the Iran war.

Japan also said it will release some of its reserves starting Monday.

Group of Seven energy ministers met Tuesday at IEA headquarters in Paris to look at ways to bring down prices that have risen because of the Iran war. IEA executive director Fatih Birol said afterward that they discussed all available options, including making IEA emergency oil stocks available to the market.

The largest-ever previous collective release of emergency stocks by IEA member countries was 182.7 million barrels, in the wake of the energy shock prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The reserves were established in 1974 following the Arab oil embargo.

IEA members currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.

It was not immediately clear how much Germany and Austria were releasing.

The Group of Seven is comprised of the leading industrialized nations of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. Austria is not a member. Leaders of the G7 were set to hold a meeting via videoconference later Wednesday to discuss energy issues.

Germany’s economy minister Katherina Reiche said the country would release parts of its oil reserves following the IEA request “to release oil reserves amounting to 400 million barrels, which is a good 54 million tons.”

She said it would take a couple of days before the delivery of the first quantities.

“Germany stands behind the IEA’s most important principle of mutual solidarity," Reiche said.

In response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mount. Iran has effectively stopped cargo traffic in the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean.

Iran has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes. Reports of sea mines allegedly laid by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz have also fueled concerns about the security of international energy supplies.

G7 energy ministers on Tuesday announced they supported in principle “the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves.”

According to the IEA, export volumes of crude and refined products are currently at less than 10% of prewar levels.

Austrian Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer said his country was releasing part of the emergency oil reserve and extending the national strategic gas reserve, adding: “One thing is clear: in a crisis, there must be no crisis winners at the expense of commuters and businesses.”

The German government also said it will introduce a measure to allow gas stations in Germany to raise fuel prices no more than once a day. The federal government wants to introduce this as quickly as possible, Reiche said.

In Austria, starting Monday, price increases at gas stations will be allowed only three times a week, the country’s economy minister said.

Oil reserves have been tapped when the market has faced major disruption in the past, including wars in Iraq, Libya and, most recently, Ukraine.

Petrequin reported from Paris.

FILE - Fishermen work in front of oil tankers south of the Strait of Hormuz Jan. 19, 2012, offshore the town of Ras Al Khaimah in United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Signs show the gas prices at a gas station, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)