Atlanta United’s Bocanegra receives contract extension

Carlos Bocanegra and Atlanta United agreed to a multiyear contract extension that was announced by the club Monday.

The length of the contract wasn’t announced. His previous contract with the club was set to end in March 2022.

Carlos Bocanegra has signed a multiyear contract extension with the club.

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— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) November 15, 2021

Bocanegra has been with the club, first as technical director and then promoted to vice president in Oct. 2017 season, since 2015. He joined after a storied playing career in MLS, England, France, Scotland, Spain and with the U.S. men’s national team that resulted in him being inducted in the National Soccer Hall of Fame this year. He also serves on a committee with the U.S. Soccer Federation, and was part of a group that helped the U.S., Mexico and Canada earn the right to host the 2026 World Cup.

The club won the MLS Cup in 2018, the U.S. Open Cup and Campeones Cup in 2019, and has qualified for the playoffs in four of its first five seasons, including this year. It will play at NYCFC on Sunday.

“I want to thank Arthur Blank, Stephen Cannon and Darren (Eales) for their continued confidence in me,” Bocanegra said in a statement from the club. “We built something from scratch that I think we can all be proud of, but collectively we have bigger aspirations for what this club can become. I also want to recognize the support staff for their dedication and sacrifice to the project and vision that we have for this club. We’re still a young franchise, but the goal is to keep pushing forward and continuing to build upon the foundation that we’ve laid and ultimately establish this club as the premier team on the continent. Finally, I’m really excited about working together with Gonzalo (Pineda), who shares our strategic vision for this club’s future.”

The team won 255 points in its first five seasons, third most among the league’s teams. The team has also competed in three consecutive Champions Leagues, advancing past the first round each time.

“Since we’ve started in 2017, we have had consistency,” Atlanta United President Darren Eales said last week. “Across those five seasons we’ve had the most trophies for an American club. I think that consistency four out of five years and making the playoffs is good. We see how difficult Major League Soccer is.”

Bocanegra has overseen the scouting and signing of several impact players, including Hector Villalba, Miguel Almiron, Josef Martinez, Ezequiel Barco, Pity Martinez, Marcelino Moreno and Luiz Araujo. He has also overseen the scouting, signing, trades and draft picks that were crucial to the team winning three trophies. That group included Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Julian Gressel, Darlington Nagbe, Eric Remedi, Franco Escobar, Miles Robinson, Michael Parkhurst, Jeff Larentowicz and Brad Guzan, among others.

The job of technical director also oversees the academy, which has produced numerous players who have played or are now on the first team. That group includes fullback George Bello, centerback George Campbell, midfielders Tyler Wolff and Machop Chol, and striker Jackson Conway. Those players joined Atlanta United under a mechanism in MLS called a Homegrown signing. Other Homegrown signings currently with the club are centerbacks Bryce Washington and Efrain Morales.

“I think we’ve got a lot to be proud about,” Eales said last week. “I think the consistency in the first team has been really good in the first five years of existence, I think, our academy we’re seeing year on year, that blossom and develop.”

Bocanegra’s time with Atlanta United has also come with criticisms of the coaching hires of Frank de Boer, who was fired after 1-1/2 seasons but that included two trophies and making the Eastern Conference finals in 2019, and Gabriel Heinze, who lasted 13 games before he was fired earlier this season. The team rebounded post-Heinze under the promotion of Rob Valentino to interim manager and then the hiring of Gonzalo Pineda as the team’s manager.

He has also been criticized by some of the team’s supporters for personnel decisions such as trading Nagbe and Gressel and selling Villalba and Gonzalez Pirez before the start of the 2020 season.

“What we’re building as a club is something that we can be proud of,” Eales said last week. “You know, that doesn’t mean we’ve gotten everything right. By no means. But you know, we do work our socks off to give the best product for our supporters on the pitch. And I think over the five years that regardless of what happens in this playoff and and how we do this year, we’re trending in the right direction. I think you can be really excited about next season for for a lot of reasons.”

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Atlanta United’s playoff schedule

Nov. 21 at NYCFC, 3 p.m., ABC

Atlanta United’s 2021 MLS schedule

April 17 Atlanta United 0, Orlando 0

April 24 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 1

May 1 New England 2, Atlanta United 1

May 9 Atlanta United 1, Inter Miami 1