Mauricio Pochettino returns as USMNT coach on new deal through 2030 World Cup

Mauricio Pochettino will return as U.S. men’s national team head coach after agreeing to a new contract with U.S. Soccer, the federation announced Monday. The deal runs through the 2030 World Cup.

Pochettino, whose first contract with U.S. Soccer expired after the 2026 World Cup, had been engaged in discussions with the federation about a renewal, with both parties publicly keeping the door open for such an outcome. It officially became a reality on Monday.

And in addition to leading the USMNT into another World Cup cycle, Pochettino and his staff “will also advise and support U.S. Soccer on the broader development of the full national team pathway, youth soccer, coaching education, professional league collaboration and other technical facets across the soccer community,” the federation said in its release.

Pochettino, speaking to a small group of U.S. reporters on Monday, relished the new beginnings of the 2030 cycle and re-opened the door to all after whittling down his player pool to 26 for this summer’s World Cup. His next camp is a joint September-October international window that spans two weeks and includes four friendlies, whose details have yet to be announced.

“Now it’s a fresh start,” he said. “It’s a good moment to refresh that mindset, to refresh that culture and philosophy, and to start to create a new era of USA soccer, USA men’s national team … thinking that every player will have the possibility to join us if they perform.”

The news comes not long after Pochettino led the USMNT on a World Cup run that swept up the nation but ultimately ended in disappointment. It mirrored his 22 months at the helm, which were rocky and difficult to assess. He went 17-12-2 in 31 matches (one draw resulted in a penalty shootout win in the Concacaf Gold Cup), including a 3-2-0 mark at the World Cup and an 0-2-0 record against rival Mexico.

After taking charge in the fall of 2024 and engineering a rebuild throughout 2025, Pochettino seemingly had the USMNT on course for a special summer. He was offered a contract extension even before he led the U.S. to the top of its World Cup group with a game to spare, and before it made an assortment of program history.

But then, in the most consequential game, the round-of-16 showdown with Belgium, his team flopped. It suffered the USMNT’s worst World Cup defeat in 36 years, losing 4-1. Given the stakes, setting and context, it felt like the biggest letdown in American soccer history.

After the defeat, Pochettino said he would take time to ponder his future. U.S. Soccer said in a statement the following morning that it had “a great deal of respect and gratitude for Mauricio, his staff and everyone part of the program. We have shared excitement about our potential and also shared clarity about the amount of work at all levels still required to achieve our ambition.”

Nine days later, U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson seemed to confirm that he wanted Pochettino back. He said he was “excited about the discussions” with Pochettino. The coach, speaking that same day to Cadena Cope in Spain, sounded unsure. “We’re looking into it; we’re analyzing it,” Pochettino said in Spanish. “I received an offer to stay on, so we’ll see.”

Amid U.S. Soccer’s interest, and throughout the past two years, Pochettino remained open to multiple options. He frequently hinted publicly that he was interested in eventually returning to European club football, where he spent the first two decades of his coaching career.

The week before World Cup camp began, he met with representatives from Italian club AC Milan, multiple sources told The Athletic. Batson, at the time, said that Pochettino had been “transparent about club interest” since he first agreed to take charge of the USMNT in 2024. “There’s been a longer list of outreach than what has even been reported,” Batson noted.

Pochettino, though, did not have another job lined up. And over the past couple weeks, he chose to continue with the USMNT.

In a statement distributed by U.S. Soccer, Pochettino said: “The passion we experienced from the fans throughout the World Cup only strengthened our belief in what is possible here. We are excited by the opportunity to bring all our experience and knowledge to even more areas of U.S. Soccer while helping strengthen the pathways for players, coaches and teams across the federation. We want to try to have a lasting impact on the sport in the country that has welcomed us so warmly and for that impact to extend beyond results on the field.”

The terms of his agreement with U.S. Soccer — and specifically the language around buyouts or early termination if Pochettino wants to leave for a European club or another job — were not disclosed.

The assumption has been that retaining Pochettino would require a similar or more lucrative salary than the one U.S. Soccer paid him over the past 22 months. Pochettino made several million dollars per year, including a $2.5 million signing bonus, per U.S. Soccer tax filings.

It was a record outlay for the federation, and was “supported in significant part by a philanthropic leadership gift” from hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, the federation said. “Additional support,” it added, was provided by Scott Goodwin, the co-founder of Diameter Capital; and by “several commercial partners.”

In Monday’s release, U.S. Soccer used similar language. A source with knowledge of the funding arrangement confirmed to The Athletic that Griffin is once again the lead donor. In addition to him, Goodwin and commercial partners, U.S. Soccer named Adam Freede — the CEO of MadaLuxe Group and an investor whose portfolio includes MLS club LAFC — as a contributor.

Revenue from commercial sponsors is also greater than ever before. Batson, in an interview with The Athletic prior to the World Cup, indicated that the 2024 outlay for Pochettino would not be a one-off splash for the 2026 tournament. The 2030 and 2034 World Cups, he said, “should be bigger, because soccer’s going to be bigger, and our expectations should be higher.”

In the buildup to 2030, Pochettino will have at least two years until his next major tournament, which would be the 2028 Copa América if the U.S. is invited or hosts it. The rest of his competitive games will be within Concacaf. There will be two Gold Cups, two Nations Leagues and World Cup qualifying.

Pochettino will be the fifth USMNT coach of the 21st century to get a chance to lead the team through a second World Cup cycle. Three of the previous four — Bob Bradley, Jurgen Klinsmann and Gregg Berhalter — were ultimately fired midway through the second cycle. The fourth, Bruce Arena, made it to the 2006 World Cup, but his team was eliminated in the group stage without a win.

“I really believe that it’s an exciting situation for soccer in USA,” Pochettino said. “After 18, 19 months working in the objective that was only the World Cup, now to start in a fresh way, with different approach, trying to create a different philosophy, different idea of what we need to do. To have the possibility to start from zero. … The demand from the vision of the federation for the future, demand us to have different approach, and to set a different principle, with some similarities, but of course completely different. And our responsibility as a coaching staff is to provide the federation different things. That is why we were working in the last few weeks to try to reveal our way in all different areas, in to try to provide better quality, better capacity, better knowledge, in every single aspect add different quality to the organization that need to be fresh. And I think we need to start from zero … to the goal that is going to be the next World Cup.”