San Diego FC today announced the appointment of Tyler Heaps as the Club's first-ever Sporting Director and General Manager. Heaps brings over 10 years of top-level global football experience from his roles at Right to Dream, AS Monaco, and the U.S. Soccer Federation. At 33, Heaps also becomes the youngest Sporting Director in Major League Soccer.
As San Diego FC’s Sporting Director and General Manager, Heaps will report directly to SDFC CEO Tom Penn and will oversee SDFC’s player recruitment and roster building strategy. Heaps will be responsible for the first team’s soccer operations, including scouting, player acquisitions, personnel management, salary cap and budget management.
“Tyler has demonstrated during his time with Right to Dream that he is one of the brightest people working in world soccer today,” said San Diego FC Owner and Chairman, Sir Mohamed Mansour. “He understands intimately the values of Right to Dream, which we will implement in San Diego, based around investing in youth while building a winning team that plays an attractive brand of football.”
Heaps joins San Diego FC from Right to Dream, where he served as the Group Head of Recruitment and Insights. In this role, he helped build the first-team recruitment strategy for both FC Nordsjælland and SDFC. He also drove technological and data advancements to enhance internal pipeline tracking and external monitoring, leading to more impactful decision-making. Additionally, Heaps had been spearheading efforts for SDFC on roster and club strategy to ensure cohesion and alignment with Right to Dream's overall vision.
“We are very excited to welcome Tyler as our first-ever Sporting Director,” said SDFC CEO Tom Penn. “Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to work closely with Tyler. His deep knowledge of MLS and soccer in the United States, plus his extensive European experience, makes Tyler the perfect leader to guide our sporting decisions. Since joining Right to Dream a year ago, Tyler has been instrumental in building our first-team recruitment strategy. Tyler’s strong relationships with the leaders of Right to Dream will ensure that our Club is fully aligned with Right to Dream's vision.”
Before his time at Right to Dream, Heaps was the Head of Analysis and Insights at AS Monaco Football Club from 2021 to 2023. Reporting to the Sporting Director, he supported all sporting functions including recruitment, analysis, and performance. Heaps was instrumental in developing and providing insights across leadership, player recruitment, coaching, and academy performance. His efforts contributed significantly to AS Monaco's performance, with the team playing in the Europa League in two of the three seasons during his tenure at the Club, while also achieving a third-place finish in France’s Ligue 1 in his first season at Monaco after they finished 17th on the table in the season prior to his arrival.
“I am tremendously proud and honored to be named the first Sporting Director at San Diego FC,” said Heaps. “In my time spent with Right to Dream across their group, there is no doubt that this project and the group of people involved fits with my background and values and am excited to continue to lead our sporting efforts here in San Diego.”
Before joining AS Monaco, Heaps spent six years at the U.S. Soccer Federation as the Director of Sporting Analytics (2019-2021) and as the Head of Analysis (2016-2019). During his time at U.S. Soccer, he built out the analysis and analytics department, supporting all sporting functions for all the senior and youth national teams. He led sporting analytics initiatives within the federation and worked directly with technical staffs to provide analysis and insights on areas such as style of play, opponents, player pool and trends in the game. Tyler was a part of the scouting and analytics staff that helped the U.S. win all seven games and the title at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
The Minnesota native attended and played soccer at Augsburg College from 2010-2013, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics & Computer Science in May 2013. Before joining U.S. Soccer in 2016, Tyler started his analytics career in finance while continuing to play (Minnesota United) and coach in the youth academy space and collegiately.
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