FRISCO, Texas – It’s been a busy offseason of player departures and acquisitions for FC Dallas. The club said goodbye to five players while also bringing in seven more, including club-record signing Petar Musa from Benfica.
So, it’s no surprise the re-signing of veteran goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer has gone under the radar. Maurer agreed a new one-year contract to stay in Dallas for a seventh season. There’s an extra wrinkle to his new deal though. Maurer will be part of MLS’s Player Professional Development Role roster designation, which allows him to assist the front office in a variety of roles in addition to his on-field playing responsibilities.
“The club brought the idea to me in terms of an additional role, to look for other ways I can help out other than just on the field,” Maurer explained. “Originally, we talked more about coaching but with some of the things that I'm interested in, and with some of my educational background, I really wanted to look more into the strategic development side of the club. So, it'll be more working on the player development pathway.”
Essentially, the Player Professional Development roster designation allows a veteran player (who wants to stay in the game beyond his playing days) to gain real-world experience with their club while continuing their playing career. For Maurer, it means he’ll work with FC Dallas’ technical staff – namely Technical Director André Zanotta and Director of Scouting Leo Baldo.
“Since I’ve been in Dallas, Jimmy has always been one of the players I can really count on,” Zanotta said. “Helping manage the group, helping new players adapt and helping the coaching staff, Jimmy has always been at the forefront of the group. He’s really well prepared and has a global view of the game. He’s also the (MLS Players’ Association) representative for the team. So, he has many different visions of the game and the business of sports.”
Maurer is well prepared to take the next step in his off-field career. The 35-year-old has bachelor’s degrees in finance and marketing from the University of South Carolina (where he played collegiate soccer), as well as an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. He also recently earned a coaching license from the U.S. Soccer Federation and is a certified MLS Match Evaluator, a kind an MLS scouting license. Plus, Maurer is fluent in Spanish – especially helpful for working in soccer – from his time playing in Chile.
Going from player to sporting executive is certainly not unheard of in soccer, especially in MLS. Garth Lagerwey, current CEO of Atlanta United, played goalkeeper for the Dallas Burn, Kansas City and Miami Fusion in the early days of MLS before going on to become an award-winning exec with Real Salt Lake and later Seattle Sounders. FC Dallas’ rival, Houston Dynamo, is currently headed by its retired goalkeeper Pat Onstad – who led his former club to the conference finals as General Manager in 2023.
It’s still very early in the process for Maurer, who will push Maarten Paes for a starting role in FCD’s goal this year. But Lagerwey and Onstad can serve as ready-made examples for his post-playing soccer career. Zanotta, who knows exactly what the job entails, feels Maurer “checks many of the boxes” to be a sporting director in the future, as well.
“That's always been the dream job, to help run an MLS club as a sporting director or general manager, these different things,” Maurer said. “It’s the ideal transition from trying to compete and succeed on the field. Whenever my time comes of not being able to play anymore, I’m just trying to set myself up the best way possible.
“The transition from a playing career into that next phase of your life is never easy, it’s a serious career transition later in life. So, it's great that MLS is able to offer these professional pathways and it's really important. I'm really, really thankful and excited to get into it.”
