Change of leadership in New York
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Jochen Schneider and Sandro Schwarz have left the New York Red Bulls. The MLS club announced this on Monday. Sports director Schneider wants to return to Europe for family reasons, as he explained in a statement. According to the team, the New Yorkers had already been grooming the former Hanover player Julian de Guzmán as his successor to the role of sporting director since last year for his departure. He will take over the position at the tenth-place team in the Eastern Conference, which missed the playoffs this year, from January 2026.
“We are deeply grateful for everything that Jochen brought to our organization during his time here,” said Marc de Grandpré, President of the New York Red Bulls, in a club statement about Schneider, who during his time in office had guided Leipzig icon Emil Forsberg and former Bayer striker Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting to the east coast metropolis. “Jochen’s expertise and leadership were crucial in building a team that performed at the highest level.” (to all transfers from the New York Red Bulls since Schneider joined in 2022)
The club boss also thanked Coach Schwarz “for his commitment to leading our team on the field over the last two seasons. His professionalism and commitment have had a lasting impact on the organization, and we will always remember him because he secured us our first championship in the Eastern Conference (2024, editor).” The former Mainz and Hertha coach Schwarz coached the Red Bulls in 81 competitive games, achieving 31 wins and 21 draws. New York lost the 2024 final 1:2 (1:2) against Los Angeles Galaxy with Marco Reus and former Frankfurt player Dejan Joveljić as the winning goalscorers.
Manager Schneider, who hired coach Schwarz at the end of 2023, said when saying goodbye to New York: “Over the last few years, I have put my heart and soul into this club and am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together. Looking after Julian was one of the most rewarding aspects of my time here, and I am convinced that he is the perfect person to take the helm and lead the Red Bulls into their next chapter. Although I “I will miss the club very much, my family comes first and I have to be with them.”
Addressing Schwarz, Schneider said: “I would like to thank Sandro for the last two seasons, especially for coaching this team during a memorable playoff run in 2024. His commitment was outstanding and I wish him only the best in his future coaching responsibilities.” Also going with Schwarz is his assistant coach Volkan Bulut, with whom the head coach had previously worked at Hertha BSC in Berlin. As a player, Schneider’s successor de Guzmán had short stints with Hannover as well as 1. FC Saarbrücken and Jahn Regensburg, and played most of the games for Deportivo La Coruña and Toronto FC. He took his first steps in management before New York at Ottawa Fury.