After weeks of waiting, Mauricio Pochettino is finally officially the new coach of the United States men’s national team.
US Soccer announced the appointment Tuesday night, shortly after the association’s board of directors formally approved Pochettino’s contract, which runs through the 2026 World Cup.
Pochettino will not coach the USMNT in Tuesday’s friendly against New Zealand. But he will fly to the U.S. this week and attend an introductory press conference in New York on Friday, when he will take charge of the team for the first time in October.
Why the Pochettino it took so long for the deal to be completed
The announcement had been stalled for nearly a month, since Pochettino reportedly decided to take the job on Aug. 14. U.S. Soccer executives had been involved that month, waiting for negotiations between Pochettino’s team, lawyers and officials at Chelsea, the English Premier League club that parted ways with Pochettino in May after just one season.
Chelsea still owed him millions of dollars for what would have been the second guaranteed year of his contract. The exact terms of his release and the exact nature of this summer’s negotiations were unclear. But all parties eventually reached a deal, one that likely releases Chelsea from some of its remaining financial obligations while also potentially allowing US Soccer to pay a less-than-full price for Pochettino until his Chelsea checks stop coming in.
The messy nature of the situation ultimately prevented Pochettino from making his USMNT coaching debut in September, but it reportedly never jeopardized his eventual tenure.
Pochettino will instead make his debut next month, when the U.S. plays friendlies against Panama (in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 12) and Mexico (in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Oct. 15).
Billionaire helps US Soccer Federation pay for Pochettino
US Soccer did not release details about Pochettino’s contract. But the league did say in its press release that “Pochettino’s appointment is supported in significant part by a philanthropic leadership gift” from Ken Griffin, a billionaire hedge fund manager and one of the world’s 100 richest people.
The press release also revealed that Scott Goodwin, another hedge fund manager, and several commercial partners provided “additional support.”
Those financial contributions will likely help U.S. Soccer make Pochettino the highest-paid USMNT coach ever. He reportedly earned more than $10 million per year at his last two clubs, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. His USMNT predecessor, Gregg Berhalter, earned about $1.6 million per year.
Pochettino’s resume
Pochettino will also be the most successful coach to ever lead the USMNT, succeeding Berhalter, whose only two previous head coaching stints were at the helm of Swedish club Hammarby and Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew.
The 52-year-old Argentine will be compared to Jürgen Klinsmann, previously the biggest name to ever take the American job. But Klinsmann was best known as a player; his only previous coaching stints were with the German national team and Bayern Munich. He was no tactician. “He specialized in nonsense and philosophical rhetoric,” former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard recently wrote. “But there was zero soccer.”
Pochettino, on the other hand, is a tactician at heart. As a player, he spent most of his 17-year career in central defence for Spanish club Espanyol, where he began his coaching career in 2009. However, he made his name in England, first with Southampton in 2013, then with Tottenham Hotspur, with whom he reached the Champions League final and the upper echelons of the Premier League.
His five years at Tottenham remain the highlight of his coaching career. Since his sacking a few months into the 2019-20 season, he has been in charge of two more prestigious clubs, PSG and Chelsea; but he has failed to exceed expectations as he did at Spurs. He guided PSG to the semi-finals of the Champions League and to one French title, but left after exits in the round of 16 in both the Champions League and the Coupe de France in 2021-22.
Before taking the Chelsea job last summer and after he left in May, he was linked with other top jobs, including Real Madrid and Manchester United. But neither became available, with other top clubs, such as Bayern Munich, looking elsewhere.
So Pochettino was available when the U.S. national team flopped at the Copa América, Berhalter was fired and U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker went looking for a suitable player.
“Mauricio is a serial winner with a deep passion for player development and a proven ability to build cohesive and competitive teams,” Crocker said in a statement released by U.S. Soccer. “His track record speaks for itself and I am confident he is the right choice to unlock the immense potential within our talented roster.”
Pochettino’s USMNT Staff
Pochettino is likely to bring a core of assistant coaches with him: Jesús Perez, his right-hand man; Miguel D’Agostino, another assistant and also a former team-mate; and Toni Jimenez, a goalkeeping coach. All three have followed Pochettino from Espanyol to Southampton, Tottenham, PSG and Chelsea. Sebastiano Pochettino, Mauricio’s eldest son, also worked under him at Spurs, PSG and Chelsea as a fitness coach.
What those arrivals mean for the USMNT’s current staff is unclear. Berhalter’s top assistant, B.J. Callaghan, left shortly after the Copa América to take a head coaching job at Nashville SC. Mikey Varas, the interim coach, is reportedly in talks to become the first head coach of MLS expansion club San Diego FC. But entire departments of analysts and performance coaches will remain in place for now.
Pochettino’s USMNT work begins
Pochettino, meanwhile, will reportedly stay out of training camps in Europe. In recent years, many of US Soccer’s coaches have had to relocate to Chicago, the location of the federation’s headquarters; but that requirement has been relaxed. Pochettino is apparently allowed to spend most of his time abroad, partly because of his status and partly because a large portion of the USMNT’s players are now based in Europe as well.
He could meet a few of them individually between now and his first training camp. And his work outside of camp could be crucial. All told, they’ll be together as a group for a maximum of 120 days between now and the USMNT’s 2026 World Cup opener — the equivalent of less than four months. They’ll have a few dozen legitimate, non-game-specific training sessions and 20-25 games, mostly friendlies, to prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a World Cup on home soil.
“The decision to join US Soccer for me wasn’t just about soccer; it’s about the journey this team and this country are on,” Pochettino said in a statement in Tuesday’s press release. “The energy, the passion and the hunger to achieve something truly historic here — those are the things that inspired me.”
