{"id":584726,"date":"2026-04-15T01:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T01:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/584726\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T01:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T01:14:12","slug":"matt-crocker-quits-as-us-soccer-federation-sporting-director-ahead-of-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/584726\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Crocker quits as US Soccer Federation sporting director ahead of World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Matt Crocker quit as sporting director of the U.S. Soccer Federation on Tuesday, just two months ahead of the World Cup<\/a>, to take a new job in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The USSF said Crocker was leaving to pursue an unidentified international soccer opportunity, and a person familiar with the decision, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Crocker\u2019s new job was not announced, said he will work in Saudi Arabia. His hiring by Saudis was first reported by Fox.<\/p>\n

Crocker\u2019s departure was a surprise, given the U.S. is co-host of the World Cup starting June 11 and the contract of men\u2019s coach Mauricio Pochettino<\/a> ends after the tournament. The USSF next month will open its 200-acre, 17-field training center and office complex in Fayetteville, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. defender Alexi Lalas, now Fox\u2019s lead soccer analyst, called Crocker\u2019s departure \u201can own goal\u201d for the USSF.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a strange and negative message to be sending out to America and the soccer community 59 days or whatever it is before we play,\u201d Lalas said. \u201cObviously Matt Crocker is not going to kick a soccer ball this summer for the United States or for Saudi Arabia, but he is the architect of what we are going to see this summer, and at a time where there is I think fair criticism and concern relative to this team, it\u2019s just an unnecessary message to be sending out. A sporting director is kind of like a general manager. For a general manager to leave right before the most important moment would be strange in any sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one that makes zero sense. Why now?\u201d said former American goalkeeper Kasey Keller, now an ESPN analyst. \u201cSaudi Arabia isn\u2019t changing anything that a sport director is going to do for the World Cup. You could bring somebody in and say: OK, we want this long plan now for the next four, six, eight years, but that can wait \u2018till July. It truly is really, really strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Helfrich, hired as the U.S. federation\u2019s chief operating officer in November, \u201cwill provide executive oversight and support across the federation\u2019s sporting operations,\u201d the USSF said in a statement. Helfrich will work with assistant sporting director Oguchi Onyewu \u2014 a former national team defender \u2014 and Tracey Kevins, head of development for the women\u2019s youth national team.<\/p>\n

Crocker, a 51-year-old Welshman, was hired by the USSF in April 2023<\/a> after serving as Southampton\u2019s director of football since February 2020.<\/p>\n

Crocker oversaw the decisions to rehire Gregg Berhalter<\/a> as men\u2019s coach in June 2023, to fire Berhalter<\/a> in July 2024 after first-round elimination at the Copa America and to hire Pochettino that September.<\/a><\/p>\n

He also made the recommendation to hire Emma Hayes<\/a> as women\u2019s national team coach starting in the spring of 2024. Hayes led the women\u2019s team to the Olympic gold medal.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Matt Crocker quit as sporting director of the U.S. Soccer Federation on Tuesday, just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[255975,255973,255977,9092,681,5630,5629,255976,255972,12553,131,403,99,255974],"class_list":{"0":"post-584726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cindy-parlow-cone","9":"tag-dan-helfrich","10":"tag-emma-hayes","11":"tag-ga-state-wire","12":"tag-georgia","13":"tag-il-state-wire","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-kasey-keller","16":"tag-matt-crocker","17":"tag-mauricio-pochettino","18":"tag-saudi-arabia","19":"tag-soccer","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-tracey-kevins"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}