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Lutz Pfannenstiel may or may not be a familiar name or voice to you. As the sporting director, he played a key role in the successful launch of St Louis CITY SC. However, after a career that took him across the globe as a professional goalkeeper, his voice may ring a bell with you. He’s often a co-commentator for Bundesliga matches, alongside fan favorite Derek Rae.
In a conversation with World Soccer Talk, Pfannenstiel shed light on his team’s fairytale debut campaign. He also discussed the relative struggles of the 2024 season while looking ahead to 2025. Pfannenstiel also goes into depth regarding his scouting process and how a journeyman goalkeeping career and broadcasting work created the “biggest and most impressive network in professional soccer.”
Lutz Pfannenstiel discusses the inner workings of an expansion MLS team
Looking back at St. Louis’ start to life in MLS, Pfannenstiel is proud of the side’s record-shattering achievement. The Missouri-based MLS team collected maximum points from its first five games on its way to winning the Western Conference in their first year as a franchise.
“For me, having an expansion team directly after COVID was the most interesting job in football (soccer) when I came here,” Pfannenstiel said.
“It’s a very different way of rules and regulations with salary cap and roster rules than in Europe. You need to look at things a little differently. You need to calculate and prepare much more because it’s not really an open market. It’s not like whoever offers more money gets the player.”
The 51-year-old German built the club from the ground up since his appointment back in 2020, nearly three years before their debut in MLS. Earlier this year, St. Louis extended his contract through the 2026 season.
“I could share all my experience as a recruiter and sporting director as well as coaching in Africa,” he says. “I worked 35 years in football.”
For the 2025 season, MLS…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/lutz-pfannenstiel-life-as-sporting-director-bundesliga-analyst/
Author : Eskender Tamrat
Publish date : 2024-09-16 22:30:00
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