Toronto FC announced Wednesday that they have retained the consulting services of former football player and manager Jürgen Klinsmann and his company, SoccerSolutions as advisors to Toronto FC as the club reorganizes its soccer infrastructure.
“We’re honoured to work with a football icon like Jürgen and to have access to his wealth of experience and expertise to evaluate our current operations and support our team’s development,” said Tom Anselmi, executive vice-president and chief operating officer for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
Anselmi added that Klinsmann will work closely with Interim Director of Soccer Earl Cochrane and Assistant General Manager Jim Brennan.
“Jürgen’s knowledge of the game and track record of international success, combined with Earl and Jim’s experience will allow us to objectively look at everything from players to people to processes and conduct a comprehensive search for new leadership.”
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Klinsmann, a native of Goeppingen, Germany, was one of the game’s premier strikers who played for several prominent European football clubs including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, Sampdoria and Bayern Munich. He began his professional career as a player with Stuttgart and capped it in 1998 at White Hart Lane with Tottenham Hotspur. For his career Klinsmann netted 227 goals in 506 professional club matches and 47 goals in 108 international appearances for Germany.
He was part of the West German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the German team that won the 1996 UEFA European Championship. Klinsmann was recognized as German Footballer of the Year in 1988 and 1994 and English Footballer of the Year in 1995.
Since retiring as a player, Klinsmann has been a partner in SoccerSolutions and has provided advice to numerous football-related organizations, in addition to giving technical guidance to the adidas Elite Soccer Program, a premier player development program in the United States, and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. In addition, as head coach, Klinsmann turned the German National team around, compiling a 20-8-6 record between 2004 and 2006, including third place in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and was named Coach of the Year 2006 in Germany. He was also the head coach of FC Bayern Munich in 2008-2009, leading the team to a 25-9-9 record during that time.
SoccerSolutions is a US-based consultancy group providing football related consulting services (on and off-the-pitch) based on the international experience of its partners.
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