Atlanta City FC now has the person who will decide what the club looks like on the field when it kicks off in 2028. The club announced Monday that Richard Gunney, Gotham FC’s director of scouting and recruitment since 2022, has been hired as its Chief Soccer Officer. Gunney will report directly to AMBSE President of Soccer Mauricio Culebro and officially starts on November 1st.
Gunney will be the one setting the club’s soccer philosophy and making sure roster planning and player development line up with the philosophy City wants to put forward. The day-to-day management of soccer operations will fall under him, as well. When Culebro was introduced in June, he said the club would look for a chief of soccer in a role similar to the one Chris Henderson holds with Atlanta United, and this is culmination of that process.
Gunney has spent 10 years in the NWSL, and the teams he’s been involved with have reached the postseason in every one of them. At Gotham he built out the club’s player identification and evaluation system and led its scouting network. Gotham won two NWSL Championships during his time there. The club also lifted the inaugural CONCACAF Women’s Champions Cup in 2025 and won the NWSL Challenge Cup this year.
“As we began the search for a Chief Soccer Officer, we set out to identify a leader with significant experience and a proven track record of success in the women’s game,” said Culebro. “With a decade of experience in the NWSL across coaching, scouting, player recruitment and development, Richard is uniquely qualified to take on this role and develop a championship-caliber club for Atlanta. We are thrilled to have Richard join Atlanta City FC. I would also like to thank our search committee, including the team at Sportsology, for their dedication and diligence throughout this process.”
Sportsology should sound familiar, since AMBSE also thanked the firm after the search that brought in Deandra Duggans as chief business officer in April…among many other hirings across AMBSE’s portfolio.
Before moving into the front office, Gunney was down on the frontlines. He spent 2017 through 2021 as an assistant with the Portland Thorns, who won the NWSL Championship in his first season there. He then joined the San Diego Wave for their inaugural season, and that Wave team became the first expansion club in NWSL history to make the playoffs in its first year. He’s already been part of getting a brand new NWSL team through its first season, which is exactly what Atlanta City is preparing for now.
His background in the game goes back more than 20 years overall. Gunney spent five years as technical director of Fulham FC’s Girls Center for Excellence and six years as head coach of the Welsh men’s futsal national team.
“I am extremely excited to be joining Atlanta City FC as Chief Soccer Officer,” said Gunney. “The opportunity to help build this club from the ground up is truly special, and I look forward to working closely with Mauricio and the entire organization.”
Gunney joins a front office that already includes Duggans, who came over from the Las Vegas Aces, and Keith McCloat, who was hired as vice president and chief financial officer in May after working with the New York Mets. Around the time Atlanta City revealed its name and crest last month, Culebro told The IX Sports that the club expects to make more front office hires before December.
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