Khaled El-Ahmad
Khaled El-Ahmad joined Austin FC as Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director on August 25, 2026, with the experienced global football executive taking charge of the Club’s Soccer Operations. El-Ahmad oversees all functions of Austin FC’s Soccer Operations, including roster construction and management, scouting and recruitment, player development, and the Club’s complete player pathway from the Academy through Austin FC II to the First Team.
El-Ahmad has nearly two decades of experience across Major League Soccer, European football and City Football Group. Throughout his career, he has held leadership roles encompassing roster construction and management, scouting and recruitment, technical strategy, player development, value creation and organizational leadership.
El-Ahmad was born in Lebanon to Lebanese and Czech parents and raised in Sweden. He played in the youth system of his hometown club, IK Sirius FK, before moving to the United States to play collegiately at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Having lived and worked across multiple countries and football cultures, El-Ahmad speaks several languages, an experience that has helped shape his international approach to leadership, relationship-building and talent identification.
Early in his career, El-Ahmad worked across coaching, scouting, recruitment and data analysis roles in the United States and Scandinavia before becoming Head of Recruitment for Djurgården Elitfotboll AB in Sweden’s top division. During his tenure, Djurgården reached the Swedish Cup Final in 2013.
In 2016, El-Ahmad joined City Football Group as the organization’s scouting lead for Concacaf and Scandinavia while also supporting roster construction and recruitment for New York City FC in the period leading up to NYCFC’s 2021 MLS Cup success. During his six years with City Football Group, he created and led an international scouting and recruitment network and contributed to roster-building efforts across the organization.
El-Ahmad joined Barnsley FC in England in 2021 as Chief Executive Officer and Sporting Director. He oversaw the club’s sporting, business and commercial operations, including technical strategy, roster construction and management, player trading, coaching appointments and organizational development. During his tenure, Barnsley qualified for the EFL League One playoffs in consecutive seasons, finishing fourth and sixth, and advanced to the promotion playoff final at Wembley Stadium in 2023. The club also successfully developed and transferred several players during that period.
El-Ahmad returned to Major League Soccer in December 2023 when he was appointed Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director of Minnesota United FC. In that role, he led Minnesota’s sporting operations and guided the Club to the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of his two full seasons, reaching the Western Conference Semifinals in both 2024 and 2025 after the Club had missed the postseason in 2023. In 2025, Minnesota finished the MLS regular season with a club-record 58 points.
El-Ahmad earned both a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a Master of Business Administration in international business from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also holds a Sports Management Leadership Diploma from Örebro University in Sweden and completed The FA Level 5 for Technical Directors, The Football Association’s advanced development program for technical leaders in professional football, focused on sporting strategy, leadership and high-performance environments.