Claudio Reyna
Claudio Reyna joined Austin FC as Sporting Director on November 21, 2019, to build and oversee soccer operations. Under Reyna’s leadership, the Club’s First Team reached the MLS Cup Playoffs in its second season and saw one of the biggest points improvements for a second-year expansion franchise in league history. Its Academy already competes well across multiple age groups – including national quarterfinal appearances at the 2022 MLS NEXT Cup for both the Austin FC U-17 and U-15 teams - and produced several players called up to United States Men’s Youth National Teams in its short history.
In his previous executive position at New York City FC (NYCFC), Reyna was the first employee and architect of the launch of NYCFC’s soccer operations, where he helped establish a successful first team and academy. Reyna managed both the first team and academy operations from NYCFC’s formation in 2013 to the recently completed 2019 season in which NYCFC finished first in the Eastern Conference’s regular season standings and qualified for the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League in 2020. NYCFC consistently qualified for MLS playoffs during Reyna’s tenure as Sporting Director, and from 2016 - 2019 NYCFC accumulated an MLS leading number of regular season points (231) as compared to any other team during the same four (4) year period.
In addition to Reyna’s achievements as an MLS expansion club executive, Reyna holds the distinction of being one of the most accomplished American-born soccer players of all time. Reyna, who speaks fluent Spanish and conversational German, is the son an Argentine father and Portuguese American mother. He enjoyed a remarkable playing career while competing professionally from 1994 to 2008, as well as representing the United States from 1994 to 2006. Reyna’s club career as a standout midfielder spanned 282 games and 23 goals and included the honor of being voted by his teammates at Wolfsburg as the club’s youngest ever Captain, the first American-born player to captain a major European team. On the international stage he achieved significant accolades and honors, including his tenure as captain of the USMNT at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He is one of only three (3) American players ever to be named to a FIFA World Cup All-Star team (2002 Korea / Japan) and was named to four (4) USMNT FIFA World Cup squads (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006), finishing his international career with 112 caps and eight (8) goals. Reyna also represented the United States as an Olympian having been named to the U.S. Olympic Team for both the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.
Personal:
Reyna has been married to Danielle Egan Reyna since 1997, and the Reyna’s have raised their family in the United States and abroad. Egan, who made six (6) appearances for the U.S. Women’s National Team, is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a college teammate of Angela Kelly, University of Texas at Austin’s Women’s Soccer Head Coach. Claudio and Danielle have three children: sons Giovanni (who plays professionally in Germany for Borussia Dortmund and the United States Men’s National Team) and Joah (who plays for the Austin FC Academy U-17 team), and daughter Carolina (who plays for Lonestar SC).
