Claudio Reyna 'energized' by jump to Austin FC
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Nov 21, 2019
Claudio Reyna has already built one MLS club from scratch, starting
out as the first employee at New York City FC in charge of soccer operations in 2013.
His work as sporting director included overseeing the NYCFC first team, which has made the MLS
playoffs in four of five seasons and won the Eastern Conference regular-season title in 2019, clinching its first berth in the Concacaf Champions League.
Reyna also built the NYCFC
academy program that has won back-to-back Development Academy U-18/19 titles in 2018 and 2019 and produced four players -- including his son, Gio, now at Borussia Dortmund -- on the 2019 U.S.
U-17 World Cup.
He'll get a chance to build a second MLS team. On Thursday, he was confirmed as Austin FC's sporting director for its 2021 launch.
Reyna, who will report
directly to Austin FC majority owner and CEO Anthony Precourt, will begin work immediately.
“It’s a challenge," he said on a conference call with media on Thursday. "It
energizes me. I feel that the opportunity there to do something special is very clear. I can’t wait to get started. My head has been spinning, and there are so many things to do."
Reyna, the former U.S. national team
captain, will have a lot to work with. Austin FC has already hired a coach, Josh Wolff, the current U.S. national team assistant coach who played with Reyna on the 2002 and 2006 U.S. World Cup
teams and will begin work in January.
Austin FC has begun construction on a $250 million stadium and announced plans for a $45 million training facility -- St. David’s
Performance Center -- in northeast Austin, about a 10-minute drive from the stadium site. And it launched its first academy team -- the U-14s -- in August and will launch two more teams in
2020.
“Obviously, the stadium and training facility are incredible infrastructure investments that make it special," said Reyna. "There’s going to be no shortage of interest
from staff and players wanting to come play for Austin FC.”
Reyna said he was attracted to Austin by the ambitions of his new club.
“The expectation that they have for this club, and the standards
that they want to want to create among MLS really fits my ambition,” Reyna said. “It’s obvious that they have an ownership group that’s committed to doing things right. And,
you know, it goes without saying that Austin is an amazing city. There’s a thriving soccer community, a large Hispanic fan base as well that is passionate about the sport. And, of course, being
able to work with people like Josh will make it much easier for me to make this jump.”
Photo: Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon Sportswire
Very happy for Claudio Reyna. In Austin he will be able to build a very competitive club. It must have have been very difficult in New York with no soccer field. Yankee stadium is not a good stadium for soccer. After David Villa left the owners were not able to bring in a top player and that probably made his decision to leave a lot easier.
On the other hand, they won the Eastern Conference and had the second best record in MLS.
Would somebody explain to me Garber's rationale, other than perpetuating his pyramid scheme built on franchise fees, on adding a third club to a state such as Texas, where the already existing two clubs have miserable and shameful attendance figures?
Money. Lots and lots of Money. Have you been to Austin???
Please check the definition of pyramid scheme.
And population. Austin is the 11th largest city in the US and growing relatively fast. Of those largest 11 cities in the US, 4 are in Texas.