Matt Crocker Departs U.S. Soccer Federation for Saudi Position

The U.S. Soccer Federation has announced that Sporting Director Matt Crocker has left the organization to join the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, less than two months before the United States hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada.

In a statement, the Federation said that Chief Operating Officer Dan Helfrich would provide executive oversight and support across the Federation’s sporting operations in interim period. Helfrich will work closely with Assistant Sporting Director Oguchi Onyewu and Head of Development for the Women’s Youth National Team Tracey Kevins and the broader sporting leadership team to ensure a smooth transition for the appointment of a new Sporting Director.

“Over the past several years, U.S. Soccer has grown significantly across every part of our sporting organization, and we thank Matt for the role he played in that progress,” said JT Batson, U.S. Soccer CEO and secretary general. “Matt helped guide important steps across our sporting organization, and we’re grateful for his contributions. We’re confident in our strategy, leadership team, coaches, and technical staff. 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.”

“It has been a privilege to be part of U.S. 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. I’m proud of what’s been built together and confident the team in place will continue to move the game forward and drive success on and off the field.”

U.S. Soccer Tenure

Previously Director of Football at Southampton FC in England since February 2020, Crocker joined the USSF in April 2023 as technical sporting director, succeeding Earnie Stewart in the position. During the Welshman’s tenure, he was responsible for overseeing the appointments of the current Head Coaches of both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Soccer Teams — Emma Hayes (USWNT) in November 2023 (who has since led the women’s team to an Olympic gold medal in Paris in 2024) and Mauricio Pochettino (USMNT) in August 2024 — as well as the hiring and firing of Gregg Berhalter as men’s coach prior to Pochettino’s appointment.

U.S. Soccer said that plans for the Men’s World Cup this summer had been long established and would not see any adjustments as a result of the transition. Preparations for the USWNT’s participation in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil will also continue at pace, according to the Federation.

The Federation says that it is continuing to reinvest additional resources into supporting its national teams and expanding access through its legacy initiative Soccer Forward. Next month, it will also open the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center, a 200-acre, 17-field training center and office complex, in Fayetteville, Georgia.

It follows a successful financial year for U.S. Soccer, when it reported a record $263.7 million in revenue for the 2025 financial year (a 37 percent increase from 2024), and it expects to grow that further in 2026 when the United States hosts 75 percent of the Men’s FIFA World Cup matches.

Saudi Arabian Federation Role

The U.S. Soccer Federation only referred to Crocker’s next position as “another opportunity in international soccer” but he is set to take up a similar role in Saudi Arabia, as first reported by Fox Sports. It is likely that he will succeed Moroccan Nasser Larguet as technical director when he departs the role at the end of this month.

Ranked 16th in the Men’s FIFA World Rankings, the USMNT will play in Group D at this summer’s FIFA World Cup alongside Australia, Paraguay and Türkiye. Meanwhile, the Saudi national team is ranked 61st in the world and will compete in Group H with Spain, Uruguay and debutants Cabo Verde.

Should the USMNT team win its group, they could face the Saudis as a possible opponent in Seattle on July 6. Otherwise, there are scenarios where they could meet in the new Round-of-32 in Atlanta on July 7 or in Philadelphia on July 4, or even in a quarterfinal in Los Angeles on July 10.

Reaction

Both the timing and the choice of Crocker’s next destination have provoked strong reactions from the U.S. soccer community, especially with the 2026 FIFA World Cup taking place in just eight weeks’ time.
“My initial thought is if he doesn’t want to be here, we don’t want him here,” said Landon Donovan, the joint record goal-scorer for the USMNT (with 57 goals), in a social media video.  “And I always got the sense that he wasn’t fully committed here and didn’t really care about soccer in this country.

“If he doesn’t want to be here, then we should be happy that he’s gone,” he added. “I’m actually happy to get someone in that position who genuinely cares about the growth of soccer and is not just interested in making their next paycheck. So good riddance to him.”

Former USMNT center-back and current pundit, Alexi Lalas, said that Crocker’s move was “an own goal and a bad look for him, the team and U.S. Soccer.”

Furthermore, Tab Ramos, a former USMNT assistant coach, posted on X that there had been “ZERO progress” for the team under Crocker’s leadership.

The departure itself may have little impact on the USMNT’s overall performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, however it is a distraction that they would have understandably wanted to avoid. The team will be expected to progress at least beyond the group stage and ideally towards the latter stages of the tournament, and any failure to do so would inevitably be traced back to the upheaval behind the scenes at U.S. Soccer too.