San Diego FC named Tyler Heaps Thursday as the expansion club’s first sporting director and general manager.
Heaps, 33, becomes the youngest sporting director in Major League Soccer.
He will oversee the club’s player recruitment and roster building, as well as manage scouting, player acquisitions, personnel management and salary cap and budget issues.
Heaps previously worked with AS Monaco Football Club as the team’s head of analysis and insights and was the U.S. Soccer Federation’s director of sporting analytics and head of analysis.
San Diego FC also credited Heaps with being a part of the scouting and analytics staff for the U.S. women’s national soccer team that won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Most recently, he worked with Right to Dream, a youth football academy, as its group head of recruitment and insights.
“I am tremendously proud and honored to be named the first sporting director at San Diego FC,” Heaps said. “In my time spent with Right to Dream across their group, there is no doubt that this project and the group of people involved fits with my background and values and (I) am excited to continue to lead our sporting efforts here in San Diego.”
San Diego FC’s inaugural training camp begins in January. Currently, the club has five players signed to deals for the team’s first roster, including decorated Mexican star Hirving “Chucky” Lozano.
The club says Heaps was involved in those signings and the search for the team’s first head coach.
San Diego FC owner and Chairman Mohamed Mansour said in a statement, “Tyler has demonstrated during his time with Right to Dream that he is one of the brightest people working in world soccer today. He understands intimately the values of Right to Dream, which we will implement in San Diego, based around investing in youth while building a winning team that plays an attractive brand of football.”
– City News Service
