The Red Bulls Friday named Jochen Schneider their head of sport.
He will have oversight on all aspects of the sporting side of the club. Sporting director Denis Hamlett will remain in charge of day-to-day soccer operations and report to Schneider.
Schneider, 51, replaced Kevin Thelwell who returned to the English Premier League in February to take over as the director of football for Everton Football Club. He will join the Red Bulls and assume his duties pending receipt of his U.S. work visa.
“I am very pleased to join the New York Red Bulls as their new Head of Sport and am absolutely honored to be able to return to the Red Bull family,” Schneider said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely together with Marc de Grandpré along with Denis Hamlett, Gerhard Struber and all the members of the sporting department to lead this club. I am really excited to work in MLS – the fastest growing soccer league worldwide.”
Most recently, Schneider held the position of head of sport and communication at Schalke 04 FC. His soccer career began in 1999 at VfB Stuttgart as an assistant to former head of sport Rolf Rüssmann. In 2004, he was promoted to sporting director, winning the Bundesliga in 2007, working with Horst Heldt, and Fredi Bobic.
In 2015, he joined the Red Bull family, where he took on the role of coordinator sport global soccer. In June 2017, he was promoted to head of sport and internationalization for RB Leipzig, working closely with Ralf Rangnick.
Schneider has worked with many players over his career including German national team players Timo Werner, Antonio Rudiger and Sami Khedira. He also brought in young talents to RB Leipzig such as Ibrahima Konaté and U.S. men’s national team standout and former Red Bulls midfielder Tyler Adams.
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