FC Dallas hired Nico Estevez as its head manager on Thursday. Estevez has been an assistant coach on the U.S. men’s national team since 2019.
The 41-year-old Valencia, Spain native, is expected to remain on the U.S. national team’s staff through this month’s training camp. The camp culminates on December 18 with an international friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Nico is a seasoned coach with experience at the highest levels of our game, both in the United States and in Europe,” FC Dallas chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said in the team’s news release. “He has the drive, the knowledge, and the vision to succeed, and he has a proven track record as a great teacher and communicator.”
Estevez has managed at various levels for more than 22 years, including in Spain’s La Liga and the MLS. In 2004 he joined his hometown club, Valencia, in La Liga, and spent years coaching and developing players for the team’s youth academy. In 2013, he served as interim head manager at the senior level club for two games, posting a 1-1 record before being sent back to coach the team’s youth academy.
He was dismissed from his position at Valencia in 2014 and moved to the U.S. to join the MLS’s Columbus Crew’s youth academy as a Director of Methodology. In 2017, he was promoted to the senior level, where he worked under current U.S. soccer manager Gregg Berhalter as an assistant coach.
When Berhalter was hired to be the U.S. team’s head manager in January 2019, Estevez followed and joined the coaching staff as an assistant.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity to lead FC Dallas,” Estévez said in the news release. “The club is globally recognized for developing talent, and I’m looking forward to working with these players. I’d like to thank the Hunt family for their trust and commitment. I expect my team to work hard and play an attractive style of soccer that will make FC Dallas fans proud.”
Estévez replaces former manager Luchi Gonzalez, who was fired in September after FC Dallas won only six out of its first 26 games. Marco Ferruzzi, the team’s director of soccer operations, served as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.