US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker leaves for role with Saudi Arabia

US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker is leaving his post with less than two months to go until the 2026 World Cup, US Soccer announced on Tuesday. The Guardian can also confirm Fox Sports’ earlier reporting that Crocker is taking up a similar role with the Saudi Arabia football federation.

US Soccer said Crocker’s duties will be shared by chief operating officer Dan Helfrich, assistant sporting director Oguchi Onyewu, women’s youth national team head of development Tracey Kevins, and “the broader sporting leadership team.”

“Matt helped guide important steps across our sporting organization, and we’re grateful for his contributions,” US Soccer CEO JT Batson said in a statement. “We will continue building the right structure for the future, and we’re well positioned to make the decisions needed in the short, medium, and long term.”

Crocker was hired in 2023 after US Soccer’s previous sporting director, Earnie Stewart, left to take up a similar role at PSV Eindhoven. Crocker arrived after a lengthy period in English football, where he won praise for his work in player development in his roles as technical director at Southampton and then with England from 2013-2020, where he was tasked with modernizing the Three Lions’ playing style.

His position with US Soccer gave Crocker wide-ranging control over the operations of all US national teams, including the youth setups for the men’s and women’s programs. His most public-facing responsibility, through, was the hiring of managers for the men’s and women’s senior sides.

Crocker made two men’s hires during his tenure. Among his first decisions was to rehire Gregg Berhalter as USMNT manager after the federation allowed his contract to lapse and then placed him under investigation due to a convoluted drama involving Gio Reyna and his family, and decades-old domestic violence allegations involving Berhalter and his now-wife.

The federation said it conducted a worldwide search for Berhalter’s replacement and settled on rehiring him using “advanced data analytics, sophisticated metrics, and cutting-edge hiring methods.” Berhalter’s second USMNT tenure ended in failure, as the team was eliminated at the group stage of the 2024 Copa América.

Crocker’s splashiest hire came in landing Berhalter’s replacement: Mauricio Pochettino joined the team at the end of 2024 with the aim of leading the US to their best-ever World Cup finish at the tournament the country is co-hosting later this year. In 16 games under Pochettino, the US have won 10, drawn once, and lost seven. The most recent of those came in March friendlies against Belgium and Portugal, both losses for the US.

On the women’s side, Crocker hired Emma Hayes away from Chelsea at the end of 2023, with Vlatko Andonovski having left after an unsuccessful showing at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Hayes went on to lead the USWNT to Olympic gold in 2024 and has the team looking strong ahead of the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

“It has been a privilege to be part of US Soccer during such an important period for the sport in this country,” said Crocker. “I’m grateful for the people I’ve had the opportunity to work with across the federation, from our coaches and players to our technical and administrative staff.”

Saudi Arabia’s national soccer setup is in the midst of upheaval ahead of their appearance in this summer’s World Cup, with various reports saying head coach Hervé Renard will no longer coach the team while technical director Nasser Larguet is expected to step down as technical director, a role he has held since 2022.