Following his hiring on January 3, 2022, St. Louis CITY SC Head Coach Bradley Carnell will be at the helm and has announced his staff ahead of CITY SC’s inaugural MLS season. Carnell will be in his first season as head coach having spent a half season as interim head coach with the New York Red Bulls during the 2020 season.
“I am excited to continue our momentum from CITY2 and our Academy’s success into our inaugural MLS season,” said Head Coach Bradley Carnell. “We have had a full year to put our footprint into the soccer community of St. Louis and at various levels of the U.S. soccer landscape. Now is the time to implement our philosophy and style of play.”
Carnell will have Director of Coaching John Hackworth, John Miglarese, and Elvir Kafedžić as assistant coaches and Director of Goalkeeping Alex Langer as his goalkeeper coach.
Hackworth, who recently led St Louis CITY2 to the MLS NEXT Pro Championship, returns to Major League Soccer as one of Carnell’s assistants with four-plus years of MLS experience, two years as head coach and GM and two-and-a-half as an assistant with the Philadelphia Union (2010-2014). Overall, he has accumulated over 30 years of experience at various levels of the U.S. soccer landscape. Hackworth will continue to support sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel in implementing and managing the team’s coaching development programs, working closely with the coaches to ensure that the club’s sporting philosophy is consistent at all levels.
Kafedžić was CITY2’s assistant coach before moving up as a first team assistant. He was a part of Hackworth’s MLS NEXT Pro staff that helped CITY2 earn the organization’s first two trophies. Kafedžić joined the club in Fall of 2020 as a sporting consultant where he helped the club in building meaningful relationships with the larger soccer community, especially within St. Louis’ Bosnian community. He was actively engaged in scouting to find the most talented players for the club’s first-ever academy teams. In the summer of 2021, Kafedžić took the role of the assistant coach for the clubs U17 academy team.
Miglarese earned a promotion as Carnell’s assistant following a brief stint at the helm of St. Louis CITY Academy’s United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) squad. The Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, native oversaw the Under-21 team make the playoffs in their first season. Prior to joining St. Louis CITY SC, he served as head coach and technical director for USL League One team Tormenta FC. Miglarese was also the Under-17 and Under-19 Boys Academy Head Coach at Chattanooga Red Wolves as well as the USL Academy Director.
Langer spent last season as CITY2’s goalkeeper coach before earning his promotion to the first team under Carnell. He guided CITY2’s goalkeeping group of Roman Bürki, Michael Creek, Ian McGrane and Eric Walker to a combined seven shutouts, which was tied for sixth best in MLS NEXT Pro. Langer will continue to be responsible for creating the club’s goalkeeping training curriculum and fostering a competitive environment that recruits and develops goalkeepers within the St. Louis region as the CITY SC’s Director of Goalkeeping.
