The former leader of the U.S. national team has been hired to take over as coach and sporting director.
SAN JOSE — Former U.S. men’s national team coach Bruce Arena has been hired to take over as coach and sporting director of the San Jose Earthquakes for the 2025 Major League Soccer season.
The team announced the move Thursday to hire one of the most accomplished coaches in U.S. soccer history. Arena has won five MLS championships and is the winningest coach ever in both MLS and for the U.S. men’s team.
“With an unsurpassed track record at all levels of soccer in our country that includes numerous MLS Cups and Supporters’ Shields, he’s the ideal choice to lead the Earthquakes,” Earthquakes managing partner John Fisher said. “We know he will help get the club back to the level that San Jose and the Bay Area deserve, winning games and competing for championships.”
Arena won two MLS championships with D.C. United and three more with the LA Galaxy in 2011, 2012 and 2014. His 262 regular-season wins and 35 postseason wins are the most in MLS history.
Arena also led the national team to two World Cups, including a run to the quarterfinals in 2002 that was the first time the country made it that far since 1930. The U.S. failed to make it out of the group stage in the 2006 Cup.
Arena also won the CONCACAF Gold Cup three times and his 81 wins are the most in men’s national team history.
“I am extremely excited for the opportunity to come to San Jose,” Arena said. “I coached my first-ever professional game at Spartan Stadium in 1996 — the first game in MLS history — and my first international game with the U.S. in 1998 was in San Jose as well. The Earthquakes and Northern California have a proud soccer tradition. There’s a lot of potential with the club, and I am looking forward to working with everyone here to unlock that potential and get back to winning ways.”
In his new dual role, Arena will report to ownership, with general manager Chris Leitch reporting to Arena.
San Jose finished this season with a 6-25-3 record and came in last place in the Western Conference. Luchi Gonzalez was fired early in the season and assistant coach Ian Russell took over on an interim basis for the rest of the campaign.
