Less than two months after the club hired Armando Carneiro as their Chief Soccer Officer, Orlando City SC announced Monday morning that he was stepping down from the position due to “personal reasons.”
“We fully understand Armando’s personal reasons for stepping down from his role and respect his wishes. We thank him for his help and wish him luck with his future career,” said Phil Rawlins, Orlando City’s founder and president, in a statement from the club.
Carneiro came to Orlando City from Portuguese club SL Benfica, where he directed their academy from 2010 to 2015. In Orlando, he was meant to oversee all of the operations and staff for the club’s three teams—Orlando City SC, the new Orlando Pride NWSL team, and the USL’s Orlando City B.
Instead, Rawlins himself will now temporarily assume the role, managing the club’s soccer-related activities for the next several months, while they recruit a new permanent leader of soccer operations.
“Our focus in the next few weeks will be on the upcoming drafts, finalizing our rosters and putting together a successful preseason that will properly prepare all three teams to kick off their 2016 campaigns,” Rawlins said in the statement. “Our goal for the coming year is nothing less than reaching playoffs with both the Lions and Pride, and we are keenly focused on achieving that goal for our fans and our Club.”
