D.C. United has announced that Wayne Rooney, the club’s former striker and one of the best players of his generation, has been named its new head coach.
Rooney played for DCU in 2018 and 2019 before returning to England to play for, and eventually manage, second-tier side Derby County.
At DCU, Rooney will take over a struggling side that fired its head coach Hernán Losada early in the season and did not turn things around under interim boss Chad Ashton. Currently United is tied for the fewest points in the league, with a record of 5W-10L-2D.
“Wayne is a soccer legend and one of the most exciting and dynamic up-and-coming managers in our sport. He’s already proven in his young coaching career that he knows how to lead a group through adversity,” said DC co-owners Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan in a statement.
“He has an understanding of our league and what it takes to be successful in Major League Soccer thanks to his two-year stay with us as a player. The passion he showed while wearing Black-and-Red electrified our city and our club and we are so excited to welcome him back as our head coach.”
After a career that saw him become the all-time top scorer for Manchester United and the England national team, Rooney retired in January 2021 to take on the full-time managerial role at Derby.
Rooney guided Derby through a tumultuous 2021-22 campaign that saw the club hit with a 21-point penalty for financial mismanagement. Despite a strong campaign, the point deduction proved too much to overcome and the club was relegated to League One, with Rooney resigning shortly thereafter.
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