The Summer Austin FC Turned Pretty (We Hope)

For Austin FC, 2026 has become much more than another unending campaign of mostly futile exploits on the soccer pitch. It’s instead turned into a months-long odyssey of sweeping change that the club hopes marks the beginning of a much-needed glow-up.

The changes have kept coming in recent days, beginning with the club’s introduction of new sporting director Khaled El-Ahmad, who previously occupied the same role at Minnesota United.

El-Ahmad takes the office most recently occupied by Rodolfo Borrell, who the club fired back in May along with then-head coach Nico Estévez. It became clear in the weeks following Borrell’s departure that things had gotten somewhat toxic between the bombastic Spaniard and his ATXFC bosses. And in a classic post-breakup move, Austin FC made sure the next flame was diametrically opposite from its ex.

In Borrell, the club had a brash MLS outsider with an old-school, practically autocratic approach to decision-making. El-Ahmad, in stark contrast, is a polished league veteran with much more interest in the ideas and opinions of his colleagues.

“One of the things that we wanted to identify as part of our leadership was somebody who understood the importance of collaboration, somebody whose leadership style emphasized that,” Austin FC CEO Andy Loughnane said. “We also wanted to make certain that our sporting director had a degree, if not expertise, in MLS, the MLS transactional model… and so with that, it led us to identify Khaled as our top choice.”

El-Ahmad, a former war refugee from Lebanon raised in Sweden, served as sporting director for Barnsley FC of the English third division prior to joining Minnesota in 2023. Before that, he worked as a scouting lead for NYCFC, where he developed a familiarity with then-Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin, Austin FC’s head-coach-in-waiting, who takes over next season. 

“I can already see from the offset that our values and principles are going to align, and I’m excited,” El-Ahmad said.

However, unlike Curtin, El-Ahmad’s work with Austin begins immediately. And he has no shortage of resources with which to work, as the club made several outgoing transfers this summer to amass a budget for its new top roster architect.

In the last week, Austin FC struck a pair of seven-figure sales. ATX homegrown midfielder Owen Wolff was traded to Sporting Kansas City – where his father Josh’s name occupies a spot in the club’s hall of honor – in exchange for $4.5 million plus up to $3.1 million in performance bonuses. Per interim coach Davy Arnaud, Wolff had expressed a “wish of playing elsewhere” dating as far back as last year.

Austin FC also netted at least $1.1 million, and potentially as much as $2.325 million, from Bolton Wanderers of the English Championship in exchange for winger Jayden Nelson after the Canadian World Cup vet made just 13 appearances for the club.

Factor in as well the more than $2 million return in the July trade sending Dani Pereira to CF Montréal, and the club begins El-Ahmad’s tenure with some of the most spending flexibility it’s ever had, at the expense of a young nucleus of talent.

In the shorter term, things have also taken a pivot regarding Austin FC’s on-field pursuits this season. A buzzkill of a 2-0 loss to Toluca in the Leagues Cup quarterfinals dashed the club’s best chance at lifting anything shiny in 2026. However, that was followed up with a thrilling win against the Portland Timbers in MLS play over the weekend punctuated by an Oleksandr Svatok game-winner in stoppage time.

The club sits five points outside the Western Conference playoff picture with 12 matches remaining in the regular season, beginning with a home tussle against the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday night.

For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle’s Austin FC hub. Sign up for The Verde Report newsletter to get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox, and follow The Verde Report columnist Eric Goodman on X: @goodman.

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