FOXBOROUGH, MA– The New England Revolution have named current Technical Director / interim Sporting Director Curt Onalfo as the team’s full-time Sporting Director.
Revolution Sporting Director / Technical Director Curt Onalfo. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution.
Following a statement released by the New England Revolution, they have named Technical Director and current interim Sporting Director Curt Onalfo as the team’s full-time Sporting Director on a permanent basis.
At a career glance, Onalfo, 54, played professional soccer first beginning for La Ciotat (1991-1992) in the French fifth division. His career was disrupted in 1993 when he was diagnosed with Hodkin’s Disease, which almost ended his life. After recovering, Onalfo moved to the United States and played 2 seasons in the USISL (USL) for the Connecticut Wolves (1994-95) and a brief stint for Tampico FC of Mexico. He then moved onto MLS and played with the LA Galaxy (1995-96) under Lothar Osiander, San Jose Clash (1997) under Brian Quinn, and D.C. United (1998-1999) under Bruce Arena.
In an international standpoint, Onalfo made over 100 appearances for the United States Men’s National Team across various levels, but only made 1 senior cap, in a 1-0 victory over Costa Rica in 1988.
Curt Onalfo stands in a photo above with Bruce Arena. Image Courtesy of Major League Soccer.
After retiring with D.C. United, Onalfo immediately began his managerial career and started as an assistant with D.C. United (2000-2002). He was the interim Head Coach for the club during the 2001 season. Following his departure from D.C. United, Onalfo left to become a U-23 Assistant for the United States Men’s National Team (2002) and then then moved onto be the assistant of the United States Men’s National Team (2003-2007) for Head Coach Bruce Arena. After the national team, Onalfo returned to MLS to become the Head Coach of the Kansas City Wizards (2007-2009) where he held a 27W-29L-22D record. After the Wizards, He then returned to D.C. United (2010) for one season where he held a 3W-12L-3D record. After a failure at D.C. United, Onalfo returned to coach for the LA Galaxy (2011-2017) under Head Coach Bruce Arena. He held an assistant coaching position, and second team Head Coach role. Onalfo in 2017 was named Head Coach of the first team after Arena joined the United States Men’s National team once again. Onalfo was dismissed from the club after a 6W-10L-4D start to the season.
Sporting Director Curt Onalfo poses with Revolution Academy Coach Brad Knighton after Knighton led the U19 Academy team to an MLS NEXT Cup Championship in 2023. Image Courtesy of MLS NEXT.
In June of 2019, Onalfo was hired by Bruce Arena as a Technical Director for the New England Revolution. With his time in New England, Onalfo has been heavily involved in the pro player pathway and was involved in spearheading the launch of the New England Revolution II in MLS NEXT Pro.
Following an MLS investigation involving Revolution Head Coach Bruce Arena where he was alleged on saying insensitive and inappropriate remarks, Arena was indefinitely suspended. The Revolution named assistant coach Richie Williams was named interim Head Coach and Technical Director Curt Onalfo was named interim Sporting Director of the club on August 1st, 2023, until further notice.
Following Arena’s resignation in September of 2023, the team announced that Onalfo would continue to serve as interim Sporting Director as the team prepared to close out the 2023 season, however Richie Williams would take time away from the club after being involved in the investigation, and Revolution II head coach Clint Peay would be elevated to coach the first team.
Sporting Director Curt Onalfo is above with Revolution President Brian Bilello. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution.
After Bruce Arena’s resignation, Curt Onalfo joined New England Revolution President Brian Bilello in discussing the club’s changes in a 25-minute press conference which is available on YouTube (here). During the press conference, Onalfo and Bilello answered questions from local and national media that discussed short versus long term changes, the investigation, and how the team is looking to move forward from this situation that everyone remains in the dark on.
During the press conference, Onalfo was asked, “When this all passes, would you like to tell your side of the story?”. This question is directly adhering to the Bruce Arena situation, Richie Williams involvement, and his reported involvement in the investigation.
This was met with a response from Onalfo, where he stated, ” I didn’t ask to be put in this position, I was put in this position, and I embrace it. The Kraft’s and Brian have asked me to lead this organization through a very difficult time and I have enormous experience I’m extremely confident. I love the people in this building. I love the owners. I love the staff, and my side of the story is to make a very difficult situation into a great one and we have that opportunity. So that’s what we’re thriving on. Can we through all this noise… where none of us asked for this to drive forward and make something out of it. Thats the message we’re telling our players, and they are an incredible group of human beings. They are united as we are as a staff in an organization and from ownership and all the way through. It’s time to get out there and play and stop talking about all the baloney. It’s noise and we are going to focus on winning.”.
This response particularly angered some Revolution fans, who took to social media and commented on the response from the interim Sporting Director, and those opinions seem to have not dwindled.
I’m told that Curt Onalfo will soon be announced as the next sporting director for the New England Revolution.#NERevs pic.twitter.com/20nILJdC4o
— Seth (@SethMan31) November 23, 2023
On November 22nd, Journalist Seth Macomber & Sam Minton of The Blazing Musket reported that Curt Onalfo was to be named Sporting Director. The team confirmed this report 8 days later.
According to Journalist Tommy Quinlan of WPRO, he reported that his sources stated that interviews included former QPR manager Les Ferdinand and Ricardo Moreira, who is the current Technical Director and Assistant General Manager of Orlando City SC.
With Onalfo as the Sporting Director, the first steps of the New England Revolution’s rebuild have begun. They now have to hire a Head Coach to begin to have their sights set on acquiring their coveted MLS Cup in the upcoming 2024 MLS campaign. For all MLS content, you can find it on the MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.
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