Sporting Director and Head Coach
Bruce Arena at a Glance:
- Named the Revolution’s sporting director and the club’s eighth head coach on May 14, 2019.
- In 2021, led the Revolution to a league-record 73 points, 22 wins, and the club’s first Supporters’ Shield title.
- Most decorated coach in league history holds a record five MLS Cup titles (1996, 1997, 2011, 2012, 2014), four MLS Coach of the Year honors, and four MLS Supporters’ Shields.
- All-time winningest MLS head coach became the first to reach 250 career wins in 2022.
- Reached the MLS Cup final seven times, winning five, and won a record 35 MLS Cup Playoff games.
- Owns the most wins in U.S. Men’s National Team history, having managed the USMNT in two FIFA Men’s World Cups (2002 and 2006) and to three Concacaf Gold Cup titles.
- Built a collegiate dynasty over 18 seasons at the University of Virginia, winning five NCAA Division I National Championships and six ACC titles.
Bruce Arena is entering his fifth season as Sporting Director and Head Coach of the New England Revolution after his appointment to the position on May 14, 2019. The five-time MLS Cup winner is the eighth head coach in club history and oversees all soccer operations for the New England Revolution, including head coaching duties, roster management, scouting, and oversight of the club’s development system including Revolution II and the Revolution Academy.
In his first four seasons at the helm in New England, Arena has led the side to three MLS Cup Playoff appearances. His .601 winning percentage with New England, from 2019-22, is the best of any manager in the club’s history. In 2021, Arena won his record fourth Supporters’ Shield, the first in Revolution history, after guiding the team to 73 points and 2.15 points per game – both MLS records. - with 22 wins. Arena was awarded with his league-record fourth Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year honor.
Already the winningest playoff coachin league annals, 2022 saw Arena become the all-time winningest head coach in MLS regular season history, surpassing the late Sigi Schmid. New England’s victory on March 5, 2022 gave Arena his record 241st career victory in MLS league play, surpassing the late Sigi Schmid for top mark. Arena became the first MLS coach to reach 250 career wins on Oct. 1, 2022.
In 2020, his first full season in New England, Arena led the Revolution to the Eastern Conference Final. Arena’s impact in New England was immediatley evident upon his arrival in Foxborough. Arena made his return to the MLS postseason in 2019 by leading one of the most remarkable turnarounds in league history. After a 2-8-2 start had the Revolution sitting in last place in MLS, Arena went unbeaten in his first eight games at the helm and helped New England reach the postseason, ending a three-year drought for the club. The team’s historic renaissance came despite Arena only making one in-season addition to the roster, bringing in future MLS Best XI striker Gustavo Bou, who won the 2022 Revolution Golden Boot.
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Arena joined the Revolution with one of the most decorated coaching resumes in American soccer history that has spanned more than four decades at the collegiate, professional, and international levels. Arena’s MLS resume includes a record five MLS Cup titles, four Supporters’ Shields, seven conference championships, one U.S. Open Cup title, and one Concacaf Champions’ Cup. He has reached the MLS Cup final in seven of his 16 seasons coaching in the league. Arena has earned four MLS Coach of the Year selections, most recently after the Revolution’s record-setting 2021 campaign. He first won the award in 1997 with D.C. United before being recognized in 2009 and 2011 with the LA Galaxy.
With 285 combined regular season (250) and postseason (35) wins in MLS entering the 2022 season, and a regular season record of 250-147-124 (.598), Arena is the league’s all-time winningest head coach and owns the best winning percentage in MLS history (min. 100 games coached). Arena is the league’s all-time leader in MLS Cup Playoff games coached with 55 (35-13-7), while his 35 playoff wins are also the most in league history.
On the international stage, Arena, 71, coached the U.S. Men’s National Team over two separate stints from 1998-2006 and 2016-17, amassing the most wins in the program’s history with a record of 81-35-32. He led the Stars and Stripes to a Quarterfinal finish in the 2002 FIFA Men’s World Cup – the country’s best showing since 1930 – as well an appearance in the 2006 FIFA Men’s World Cup. Arena also guided the U.S. Men’s National Team to more Gold Cup titles than any other coach, capturing the continental trophy three times in 2002, 2005, and 2017.
Before his time in the professional ranks, Arena began his head coaching career with one season at the University of Puget Sound (1976), before being named the head coach at the University of Virginia in 1978. During his decorated 18-year tenure at Virginia, he led the Cavaliers to five NCAA Division-1 National Championships, including four in a row from 1991-94, as well as six ACC Men’s Soccer titles (1988, 1991-95). While at Virginia, Arena coached a number of American soccer legends, including Claudio Reyna, John Harkes, and current D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen.
In 1996, Arena received an offer to lead the United States Under-23 Men’s National Team in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Shortly after the Olympics, he assumed the head role with D.C. United, where he led the Black-and-Red to a 61-35 record, including the first two MLS Cup titles in 1996 and 1997, and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title in 1996.
Following the 1998 FIFA Men’s World Cup in France, the United States Soccer Federation turned to Arena, who helped the team qualify for the 2002 FIFA Men’s World Cup. In the tournament, Arena’s team recorded an impressive win over powerhouse Portugal and topped Mexico, 2-0, in the Round of 16 en route to the
nation’s first appearance in the Quarterfinals in a 72-year span. That same year, Arena led the USMNT to the Concacaf Gold Cup title, one of his three triumphs in the competition.
In 2005, Arena won his second Concacaf Gold Cup ahead of the 2006 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Germany. In the 2006 tournament, the United States earned a 1-1 draw against Italy, but a 2-1 defeat to Ghana sent the USMNT home early.
The next season, Arena took charge of the New York Red Bulls, where he spent the end of the 2006 season and all of the 2007 campaign. In 2008, Arena joined the LA Galaxy for what would be an incredible nine-year tenure that included three MLS Cups in a four-year span and two Supporters’ Shields in 2010 and 2011.
Following his decorated career with the Galaxy, Arena rejoined the U.S. Men’s National Team in November 2016. In his second run as head coach, he lost only two out of 18 games at the helm, though the United States fell short of qualification for the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup. A 2010 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee, Arena was named the 2015 Werner Fricker Builder Award recipient, earning U.S. Soccer’s highest honor for his more than 40 years of service to the game.
A talented lacrosse player, Arena grew up on Long Island and would go on to attend Nassau Community College, where he played both lacrosse and soccer. Arena then transferred to Cornell University in 1971, where as a goalkeeper, he led his team to the 1972 NCAA College Cup Final Four and earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Defensive Player award. During the 1973 season, Arena contributed as an assistant coach with Cornell, before then accepting a head coaching position at the University of Puget Sound.
Off the field, Arena has authored a number of books and is a member of the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame, after receiving induction in 2008. He and his wife, Phyllis, live in Boston. Arena’s son, Kenny, was an assistant coach under his father with the LA Galaxy from 2014-16 and is now an assistant coach with FC Cincinnati.
Bruce Arena’s Coaching Background
New England Revolution (Sporting Director and Head Coach): 2019-Present
U.S. Men’s National Team: 2016-17
LA Galaxy: 2008-16
New York Red Bulls: 2006-07
U.S. Men’s National Team: 1998-2006
D.C. United: 1996-98
United States U-23 Men’s National Team: 1996
University of Virginia: 1978-95
University of Puget Sound: 1976
Cornell University (Assistant): 1973