Matt Crocker is leaving his role as U.S. Soccer sporting director with immediate effect, and the federation said Tuesday he is headed to a new job with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. The move comes less than two months before the 2026 World Cup, removing one of the central architects of the American game’s recent overhaul.
Crocker, 51, joined U.S. Soccer in the summer of 2023 and replaced Earnie Stewart. He was already involved in the re-hiring of Gregg Berhalter as U.S. men's national team coach before he officially started full-time, then recruited Emma Hayes to lead the U.S. women's national team in the fall of 2023. A year later, after Berhalter was fired, he led the coaching search that ended with Mauricio Pochettino getting the job.
He also became the public face of U.S. Soccer's “U.S. Way” strategy, a broad push centered on player development and pathways. In an interview with The Athletic last month, Crocker said he was frustrated by the pace of change in youth soccer, calling the system “a bigger beast than I ever expected.” He said it was “so complex” and “so political,” and added that it had taken time for decision-makers around the game to trust U.S. Soccer’s plan.
That frustration came against a backdrop of heavy responsibility and heavy pay. In the tax year ending March 31, 2025, U.S. Soccer paid Crocker $658,787 in base compensation, $179,100 in bonuses and incentives, and a $152,905 relocation payment. He was one of the federation’s highest-paid employees and received more than any other non-coach staff member in that period.
Crocker had presented the role as a long-term one, but his tenure proved far shorter than the scale of the task he described. He moved from the United Kingdom to Georgia during his second year in the job, and his family moved with him. He was also around the U.S. men's team during their recent training camp in Atlanta and helped lead a tour of U.S. Soccer's new national training center a few weeks ago.
U.S. Soccer said its new chief operating officer, Dan Helfrich, will provide executive oversight and support after Crocker’s departure. The federation now has to carry on a key leadership transition while its men’s program prepares for a World Cup on home soil and the women’s side continues under Hayes, two appointments that Crocker helped shape.
