Matt Crocker is leaving his position as U.S. Soccer’s sporting director with immediate effect to take a similar role with Saudi Arabia, multiple sources told me on Monday.

Assistant sporting director Oguchi Onyewu, head of women’s development Tracey Kevins and Dan Helfrich, the organization’s COO, will assume Crocker’s duties in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer. 

Crocker arrived from then-English Premier League club Southampton in 2023. He successfully recruited U.S. women’s national team coach Emma Hayes and men’s coach Mauricio Pochettino during his almost three years as the U.S. Soccer Federation’s chief on-field executive. Hayes promptly led the women’s team to its fifth gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Crocker also landed Pochettino, considered one of the top managers in the global game following stints at Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, in September 2024. 

The U.S. men kick off their World Cup campaign on June 12 against Paraguay in Los Angeles.

“I anticipate zero impact on World Cup preparation as a result of Matt’s decision,” Helfrich said Monday in an exclusive interview. “Mauricio and his staff have full control of the preparations for this summer’s tournament, and we have full confidence in them. This transition in no way impacts those plans, which have been long-established.”

Helfrich added that U.S. Soccer has already embarked on “a thoughtful and comprehensive search for a successor” for Crocker. 

“I anticipate we will look both domestically and globally in that process,” he said. Former USA defender Onyewu, who represented the Stars and Stripes at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, was a candidate for the job that ultimately went to Crocker three years ago. 

In April 2023, Crocker was hired after Earnie Stewart, a three-time World Cup participant and National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee, left to take over Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.

Crocker, a native of Cardiff, Wales, then hit the ground running.

The U.S. men’s squad was without a coach at the time, with World Cup 2022 boss Gregg Berhalter in limbo following a soap opera-worthy drama involving the parents of young attacker Gio Reyna. Crocker eventually rehired Berhalter but fired him a year later, in July 2024, days after the Americans became the first Copa América host nation not to survive the first round.

Crocker landed Hayes the previous autumn, following the U.S. women’s premature exit from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. She put the Americans back at the top of the women’s game almost immediately, securing a victory over Brazil in the Olympic final in Paris in just her 10th match at the USWNT’s helm.

Crocker’s experience leading U.S. Soccer in the years before the 2026 World Cup no doubt made him attractive to suitors across planet fútbol. The deep-pocketed Saudis will host the men’s tournament for the first time in 2034. Crocker, whose résumé also includes a stint as head of development for England’s Football Association, was heavily involved in the planning and design of the new Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center near Atlanta. The sparkling $228 million facility opens next month and will be the home base for the U.S. men prior to their final two World Cup tuneups, against Senegal on May 31 and four-time champion Germany on June 6. 

Moroccan Nasser Larguet, who has served as Saudi Arabia’s technical director since 2002, is expected to leave his position this month, per multiple reports.

“If you’re going to compete at the highest levels in the sporting world, you expect that team members will have other opportunities,” said Helfrich. “Soccer in our country and the federation overall are in a better place than several years ago when Matt joined, and we’re grateful to him for those contributions.”

World Cup Tiers: Stacking All 48 Teams, From First-Timers to Favorites

Several different scenarios would see the USA and Saudi Arabia meet at this summer’s World Cup. If Pochettino’s team tops Group D and then advances to the round of 16, the Saudis could be its opponent in Seattle on July 6.

If both finish second in their respective groups and win knockout games in the new round of 32, they’d play each other on July 7 in Atlanta. If they both advance as third-place finishers in group play and then win their first elimination match, the countries will clash on July 4 in Philadelphia. And if both win their groups, they’d be on a collision course for the July 10 quarterfinal in Los Angeles. 

In theory, the 16th-ranked U.S. and No. 61 Saudi Arabia could also face off in the semis or in the July 19 final in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Green Falcons have reached the knockout rounds just once in six previous World Cup trips, when the United States last hosted the event in 1994.

2026 FIFA World Cup: How To Watch

The World Cup will run from June 11–July 19, 2026. Spread across three countries, the tournament will culminate with the final on July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. All 104 tournament matches will air live across FOX (70) and FS1 (34) with every match streaming live and on-demand within both the FOX One and the FOX Sports apps. A record 40 matches, more than one-third of the tournament, will air in prime time across FOX (21) and FS1 (19).