Austin FC promoted Khaled El-Ahmad to chief soccer officer and sporting director on Tuesday, handing the 20-year MLS veteran control of soccer operations three years after his arrival. El-Ahmad joined the club in 2022 as vice president of soccer operations under previous sporting director Claudio Reyna, who departed in December 2023. The promotion consolidates authority in a single executive for the first time since the franchise entered the league in 2021.
El-Ahmad inherits a roster that missed the playoffs in 2024 after consecutive postseason appearances in 2022 and 2023. The club finished ninth in the Western Conference with 42 points across 34 matches, five points below the playoff line. Head coach Josh Wolff enters the final year of his contract in 2025 with no extension announced. The technical staff remains unchanged; assistant coaches Davy Arnaud and Nico Estévez are under contract through 2026.
The internal promotion signals ownership's commitment to organizational continuity over external talent acquisition. Austin FC spent $8.2 million on designated players in 2024, league-average spending for a Western Conference club. El-Ahmad's prior roles include stints at D.C. United, the New York Red Bulls, and the Philadelphia Union, where he worked under Ernst Tanner during the club's 2020 Supporters' Shield season. His network spans MLS academies and Latin American scouting channels; 11 of Austin's 28 rostered players in 2024 came from MLS homegrown or Generation adidas pipelines.
The appointment arrives three months before the summer transfer window opens June 1. Austin FC holds $1.2 million in general allocation money and two open international roster slots. El-Ahmad's first major decision will be whether to re-sign midfielder Sebastián Driussi, whose designated player contract expires in December 2025. Driussi accounted for 9 goals and 6 assists in 2024, down from 22 goals in 2022. His current salary of $3.5 million represents the club's largest individual investment.
Sponsor contracts reflect the franchise's growth trajectory independent of on-field results. Austin FC signed a five-year, $37 million jersey sponsorship extension with Yeti in November 2024, a 28% increase over the original deal. The club's average attendance of 20,738 in 2024 ranked seventh in MLS, supported by 14,200 season-ticket holders. Corporate hospitality revenue grew 19% year-over-year despite the playoff miss, according to club filings reviewed by the league office.
El-Ahmad's title — chief soccer officer — mirrors structures at Atlanta United and LAFC, where a single executive reports directly to the club president rather than splitting authority between a general manager and technical director. Austin FC president Andy Loughnane will oversee El-Ahmad's performance; Loughnane joined from the San Antonio Spurs in 2023 and previously ran business operations for two NBA franchises. The reporting structure eliminates the ambiguity that slowed roster decisions during Reyna's tenure, when technical disagreements between the sporting director and Wolff delayed three academy promotions in 2023.
Watch for assistant coaching announcements by March, when MLS preseason camps open. El-Ahmad will need to address the goalkeeper depth chart after Brad Stuver's 1.42 goals-against average in 2024, the highest of his four-year Austin tenure. The club has held exploratory talks with Liga MX clubs about loan agreements for young keepers, according to two executives familiar with the discussions. Driussi's contract status should clarify by June, when clubs typically finalize summer rosters before the secondary window closes August 14.
The league's $500 million Apple TV broadcast deal enters year three in 2025, raising baseline franchise values regardless of individual performance. Austin FC's enterprise value sits near $680 million by comparable-sales analysis, double its $325 million expansion fee paid in 2018. El-Ahmad's success will be measured less by playoff appearances than by academy production and tradeable asset development. The club generated $4.8 million in transfer fees from homegrown sales between 2022 and 2024, fifth-highest in MLS. That pipeline matters more than designated player signings for ownership evaluating long-term equity creation.
The takeaway
Internal promotion consolidates soccer ops under one executive; DP contract decisions and academy pipeline drive 2025 value creation.
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