Hedge Fund thinking meets the beautiful game — Inside America's World Cup ambition

An offhand text message among friends spirals into a high-stakes intervention in American soccer’s future. When frustration with the US men’s national team reaches a boiling point after a disastrous Copa America, hedge fund manager Scott Goodwin finds himself at the centre of an unusual power play - where billionaire wealth, personal passion, and national ambition collide. As coaching legends are courted and private donors step in where federations fall short, a controversial hiring reshapes the road to the 2026 World Cup. But how far does influence stretch when success on the pitch becomes a personal investment before the ultimate test begins..By Ira Boudway.Scott Goodwin’s path to becoming a major donor to US Soccer began with an offhand text to friends in the summer of 2024. Now was the chance, he told them, to get a better men’s national team head coach before the 2026 World Cup.The co-founder of credit investment firm Diameter Capital Partners had just watched US winger Tim Weah get sent off against Panama for punching an opponent in the head. It was a low moment in a disastrous Copa America tournament. The US lost that match and the following one against Uruguay, and failed to advance beyond the group stage. Less than three months later, US Soccer unveiled Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino as the man to fix things. And hedge fund manager Goodwin, along with billionaire Ken Griffin, was among the people paying for him.Football federations in Europe and Latin America get some of their income from the public purse in addition to commercial operations, sponsorship deals and broadcasting rights. For the US there is no direct government funding. The shortfall is made up by philanthropists, giving donors influence over the world’s most popular sport. Of US Soccer’s $264 million in revenues last year, $50 million was from donations, and over half of that had restrictions on how that money could be spent. .Goodwin started young as a football fan. Born in France, one of the world’s greatest football playing nations, he also played as a kid growing up in Connecticut and studied in Madrid in the early 2000s, when La Liga’s Real Madrid CF boasted a collection of superstars. Frustrated with the US team and its then-manager Gregg Berhalter, Goodwin, 46, began complaining in a longstanding text thread, he said. In the chat were Kyle Martino, a former midfielder for the US men’s national team; Alecko Eskandarian, another former USMNT player who now works for Major League Soccer, and New York restaurateur and former Goldman Sachs credit trader Sean Feeney. Goodwin played against Martino in high school in Connecticut. Martino, Eskandarian and Feeney played together at the University of Virginia.In July 2024, less than two weeks later, Berhalter was fired. The following day, several news outlets reported that the US federation was talking with Jürgen Klopp, a highly respected German manager who had just retired after a successful nine-year spell at Liverpool FC.Goodwin, hearing the news, checked in with the group. Klopp would be nice, they told him, but the US federation could never afford him. If money was the problem, Goodwin replied, he could help. At first, his friends thought it was bluster, but Goodwin insisted: “I’m like, ‘No, really, I’ll pay.’”“I texted him on the side,” said Eskandarian, “and said, ‘Are you being serious about this? Because, if you are, I’m happy to make an introduction.’” Goodwin was and Eskandarian did. Later that month, Goodwin met with US Soccer’s CEO, JT Batson, over breakfast at Locanda Verde, an Italian tavern in New York..Batson, as Goodwin recalls, named the three leading candidates for the head coaching job. Pochettino, who managed top clubs in Europe, including Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, was one. Goodwin told Batson he was willing to help with any of them.“It was pretty clear that the men’s team, while it had talent, needed somebody who was going to demand the respect of the players, not be their friend,” said Goodwin, “So if I could help impact the ability to bring that person in, as a patriotic thing, that seemed like an incredible opportunity.”Over the following month, the US federation and Pochettino negotiated a two-year deal that’s set to expire after this summer’s World Cup. In August, Batson called Goodwin and gave him a number for the donation they would need to make it happen. Goodwin declined to disclose the amount, though was surprised at how much it was.“I said, ‘Wow, that’s more than I expected. Can I have a phone-a-friend?’” The total cost, including salaries for Pochettino and his staff and a buyout for Berhalter, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, was around $20 million. (US Soccer declined to comment on the details of Pochettino’s contract.) That friend turned out to be Griffin, the billionaire founder of the Miami-based hedge fund Citadel. The two were familiar from the Florida hedge fund world and shared an interest in the sport. Griffin has donated to US Soccer before, giving money to help put fields in underserved neighborhoods in Chicago and Miami. He agreed to help..In September, the US named Pochettino as head coach, saying that the appointment was “supported in significant part” by gifts from Griffin, Goodwin and several commercial partners.Cason Carter, Global Head of Public Affairs at Citadel, said that Griffin was excited to support the continued growth of soccer in the United States and for the opportunity for players to inspire young Americans. The donations that helped the men’s team land Pochettino are part of a broader boost in philanthropy at US soccer, in part driven by a generation coming of age financially. As the sport entered the US mainstream over the past thirty years, people who grew up playing and watching it now have the resources and influence, said Batson.Michele Kang, the owner of several professional women’s soccer teams, has committed to give more than $50 million to the federation to support the women’s teams, while Arthur Blank, the billionaire co-founder of the Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons, contributed $50 million toward the construction of the federation’s national training center, which opened earlier this year in Atlanta with his name on it. .US Soccer’s annual fundraising haul will soon be over $70 million, according to Leah Burton, chief advancement officer at the US federation. That’s 10 times what it was in 2024, according to the federation’s financial statements. A big part of the job, said Burton, who previously oversaw fundraising at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, is making sure the broader public is aware that US soccer is a non-profit organization. “There’s a lot of people who deeply care about soccer in this country and our work is giving them a clear way to be a part of building its future,” said Burton. Wealthy backers paying for Pochettino has a parallel in Canada, where the soccer federation turned to the owners of the country’s three Major League Soccer teams — CF Montreal, Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps — to help bring in Jesse Marsch as men’s team head coach in 2024.Marsch, who previously managed RB Leipzig in Germany’s Bundesliga and Leeds United in the English Premier League, signed a four-year extension earlier this year keeping him with the federation through the 2030 World Cup. That extension, for undisclosed terms, was partly paid for by gifts from Montreal owner Joey Saputo, Vancouver-based mining entrepreneur Amir Adnani, and Seth Boro, a tech investor and managing partner at private equity firm Thoma Bravo..For Goodwin, giving to US Soccer has made him deeply invested, financially and emotionally, in the team’s performance at this World Cup. His gift also comes with perks beyond patriotic pride. He and Pochettino have become friends, he said, and get dinner when they are both in London, where Pochettino has a home, or in Palm Beach, where Goodwin spends much of the year.The 54-year-old coach has had a tumultuous start to his tenure, taking criticism for failing to personally call players who were not selected for the World Cup squad and for engaging in talks with Italian Serie A club AC Milan during the run-up to the tournament.In the end, of course, Pochettino will be judged by how far the US advances in the World Cup. Reaching the round of 16 is the baseline expectation, Goodwin said. He’ll be in attendance at every US match to monitor his investment. “I've done my part by helping put him in that role,” said Goodwin “Now it's up to him and the players to do the best they can.”.© 2026 Bloomberg L.P..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Hedge Fund thinking meets the beautiful game — Inside America's World Cup ambition

Related Stories

Everything you need to know ahead of Bafana Bafana's World Cup opener against Mexico tonight

The real World Cup final: Nike's Mbappé against Adidas's Yamal

Steenhuisen was warned—repeatedly. South Africa's FMD disaster is his to own.

Ivo Vegter: FIFA — Power, greed and the world's most untouchable monopoly