Angel City FC defender Savy King is on the verge of a remarkable comeback, cleared to return to National Women’s Soccer League action less than a year after surviving a life-threatening cardiac event and undergoing open-heart surgery.

King collapsed during a match in May 2025, later learning she had a rare congenital heart condition that had gone undetected throughout her youth and early professional career. Surgeons repaired the defect, and King began a painstaking rehabilitation that initially focused on basic mobility before progressing to light exercise and, eventually, sport-specific work.

Removed from the league’s season-ending injury list, King is now available for Angel City’s preseason fixtures at the Coachella Valley Invitational and is targeting a place in the squad for the club’s regular-season opener at BMO Stadium.

She described her return as the culmination of months of physical and psychological work. King has emphasized that the mental side of recovery was as demanding as the physical, as she learned to trust her body again after a traumatic on-field collapse. She insists she feels fully prepared and does not want fans or teammates to worry about her health as she resumes competition.

King’s journey back to the pitch ran through Cedars-Sinai, where she completed a structured cardiac rehabilitation program during the summer of 2025. Only after graduating from rehab was she allowed to rejoin Angel City for non-contact training. This preseason, medical staff finally cleared her for full contact, allowing her to integrate completely with the squad.

Being back in the training environment, she has said, was a powerful emotional milestone after months spent working largely away from the team. Even limited early sessions felt significant, reinforcing her belief that she would play again at the highest level.

King has also turned her ordeal into advocacy. She founded the Savy King of Hearts nonprofit to promote CPR education, preventive screenings and broader heart health awareness. In partnership with the NWSL and the American Heart Association, her organization is providing free CPR training to all 16 league clubs, making the NWSL the first American professional sports league in which every team’s players, coaches and staff receive standardized CPR instruction.

Drafted second overall in 2024 by Bay FC, King quickly established herself as one of the league’s most promising defenders before a trade to Angel City in 2025. Now, with a long-term contract in Los Angeles and a clean bill of health, she is poised to resume a career that nearly ended on the pitch.