SoccerWise - Andre Zanotta (FC Dallas)

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Chief Soccer Officer of FC Dallas talks to the SW crew about Lucho-mania, schedule change affect on his work, Superdrafts value, and plans for 2026.

Well, we had a little bit of extra time with this season off, and we wanted to have some conversations that we enjoy. We want to talk to some of the people around soccer, especially around Major League soccer, that we really enjoy spending time chatting with. And we think are thinking about a lot of the big picture ideas that we are as well. also hands, you know, on the actual product, building some teams and winning some games. So who else? But FC Dallas, Chief Soccer, Andrezinoza, coming along to join us. Andre, thanks for being here. Thank you.

Thank you, David. Thank you, Tom. Great to be with you guys. Always enjoy chatting about soccer with you, both of you. So besides talking to us, what are you doing right now? Like, what is December and January look like for someone in your role? That's the peak of our season. season. So right now just preparing everything for for 2026, especially the roster. We have a lot going on.

So signings and some positions that we, people that left the club, then we're trying to replace them. So doing interviews and trying to get the right players. So we can we can start a 2020. 26 better than we did in 2025. So that's the moment that I have a lot. So traveling and meeting people. So it's quite a lot going on. But I have a lot of support as well. So I share that with so many great people here

that help this job not be as hard as it is. Andre, how often this time of year are you physically traveling and going to different places? because I know that you have obviously a very extensive global network of contacts and everything else. So are you often going to South America and Europe, or is a lot of it you kind of are meeting those people either virtually or are you going all that often? So it depends on the moment and the players that we're signing. A lot can be done from here. And we try to leave that moment when we need to travel.

really to get to know better. Right now, you can, speaking about the signing players, right? So we can get a lot of information about players. We know well enough how they are on the field and what we see. It's always great to see life, but with all the tools that we have and the people that are watching those players, I trust a lot and the information they come they they bring to me but when you meet a player face to face look in the eye and then you can get a sense of family and understand who he is because that that

would really we are so happy with the the what we have right now the environment we have the players that we have the mentality and and we want to bring the right the right players so So this is what traveling at this time, most of the time is just either to get the deals done because sometimes also you can be back and forth with emails or texts with the time difference and when you travel, you can get the deals done in 24, 48 hours. So usually I use that for those reasons and yes, but at this time I'm in Dallas. so I might and you never know what can happen it's like it's it's the great about this job that you it's like you have you plan your week and then suddenly poof you're going to you

Poland or you're going to like you know something it's uh so anyway i saw how careful you were in trying to pick the hypothetical country yeah a country that you were not going to be going to i'm not going to i'm not going to poll at any time soon because lewandowski's in in Barcelona so you don't have to go all the way to Poland I wanted to ask you, we're going to talk. We have Moussa, Moussa, Levantowski, not, not. Great pairing. Two.

If you've got one, you need two. We're going to talk about Moussa. I want to talk about the 25 season and all of that. But I'm curious because you've, you know, you've worked in the soccer world and outside the soccer world. So you've been in on both sides, a normal job interview, an interview process for a player. How different is that? Like, what are the questions?

How are you trying to get to know them? And how much can you do? And what's the process you guys have built? Yeah, so we have some standard questions that, and obviously we study a lot the situation of the player, we check their social media. The social media can give you a lot of information about the player and who he is, and that's what we call it our investigative operations or some version of that. So, but the question is more to understand his ambition. We want, one, the thing that I discuss here a lot with our scouts, and this is something I talk a lot with Eric is about, and it might be a cliche, you might heard, but it's

really true, it's just players with hunger, like they're really hungry, and they see FC Dallas and come to MLS as an amazing opportunity for their career. we're not the fanciest club where we don't have all the most fancy things that we can offer that other maybe other teams in mLS can but we really want when we are in this conversations with the players we want them to show us that they see this while this is i really want this opportunity so this one of one player that really showed us this that we announced recently was uh wren bingaman Israeli player, he really sees coming to MLS as a huge next step in his career, a young player with a lot of desire to raise his level, being in a higher level, and that's

the type of players that, and that's the kind of mentality that we want here. So I think that's the most important point that we want to see in those interviews, and we try to ask the right questions to get those answers. And then once you get them in the building, you have our team that's signed a decent chunk of international players. What is your integration process? Like, what is the secret sauce for you that make sure that players are able to get comfortable, get involved in the team, and play at their best for FC Dallas? So we have a protocol and a document here that the onboarding process and during the players' time here in FC Dallas,

so we have our player care department. And we have a player care coordinator that is in doing everything that the player needs to make his time once he lands in Dallas. And just even before, that is as smooth as possible. So he can come here. We can take care of helping him with the housing situation, car, insurance, everything. that and if he has wife and a kid for school and so we try to make sure we understand the player needs there are some there there were cases here that a player he wanted to bring a dog but it was impossible and really the wife like this was really hurt her not being able to bring the dog so we had to

fly her back to try to sort out the situation with the dog and then they ended up buying a new dog here so all those things that you you don't this are some things that you don't predict right you cannot uh understand how the person is going to react once this dog is is not coming so we try to anticipate a lot of situations and and and after dealing with so many international players coming here we kind of have a good idea of things that worked, things that didn't work. So, but anyway, we have our protocols here, and we try to really take care of the most important, the family first, make sure that we're supporting the family, that we always have

this, the people in the player care department 24-7, once we're traveling, in away games, that if there's any issue with the kids or the wife, they need any support, any help, they know who to reach out to. So we try to show our players that we really care about not only them, but their family. So I think that this helps a lot. Looking back on the 2025 season, how do you go in and assess what was good and what was bad and what to build upon going towards 26? Yeah.

So we've had a lot of time to digest the 2025 season. it starts with the end. It ended well the way it started. We knew coming to the 2025 season that we made a lot of changes. So 20 players left. We brought 15, 16 new players. We brought a whole new coaching staff.

So we knew that we were going to be having some up and downs. obviously we when you sign someone like lucho um you want to go to the ones that you feel this guy's MVP in the league knows well mLS is going to be a right fit to play with uh with better with our our other dp and you guys know better than i do the the how how the dps in this league they they they need to make the difference uh and but again And losing players like Jesus, Paul Ariola, Nicosi, players that were starters in the past for us and having to build a new team, we knew that we would have difficulties, but I think in the end it was more than expected. trying the coaching staff figuring out understanding Eric first time in MLS,

understanding his role and how to approach those players that we have and how to make them play best together. And we always say that game against San Jose 2-2 away was the turning point. We had a very good meeting after we lost you. It was a longer, we played LAFC on a Wednesday or on a Saturday and then on a Wednesday or something. I don't remember exactly the dates. But after losing to LAFC, I think was the third or fourth consecutive loss that we had at that moment. And then we had a meeting.

It was really, really good. And then we aired it just like. It was his vision, just changed the way we were playing, play more simple, three in the back, and then stopped trying to build. We were way more direct at that point. And so the team started from that game on, I think we lost one game. We were at this, I think we were 14th or 13th in the West. we were 11 points behind Portland, 10 points behind Colorado,

nine points behind San Jose. And we finished ahead of all of it. So I think this was the really turning point. And also bringing Cappies was a great addition for us. Cappies really, really helped us in this final stretch. And Eric found the way that the team playing more simple, more direct. we were scoring more goals conceding less goals and in the end we we had that win against Vancouver in the last game of the season that put us and made us go straight to the

playoffs without the playing but but I think overall that's that's what I could sum up our season it was an experience for sure and we were sort of from the outside I'm sure you heard targeting that same conversation of the second half of the year and and what changed and what you were able to build. Before we get to it, I got to ask about the first half, though. One question about Lucho Costa, about the whole experience. The cash furs were new, the ability to replace Alan Velasco inside the league, the way you did was all new.

It was a lot of moving parts with Evander and all of it. What do you make of the experience around all of it and then eventually how it ended? You mean the experience of Lucho and specifically about Lucho, right? Yeah, and getting that deal done the way it came about. Obviously, we, once Jesus left with, Jesus was our other DP, and we wanted to play that two-DP model. We wanted to bring someone that we had an experience in MLS that would be someone that, you know,

you give the number 10 jersey right away, and it's immediate impact on the team. and lucho is that kind of player he's a great great guy he's obviously he's demanding he's coming from a team that was was was doing well and and constant being in the playoffs and we we we didn't we were not in the playoffs in in 2024 uh so once once we had him here i think it took us the way the way we were playing in the beginning of the season until we could find the ideal formation and a style of play

to really fit Lucho well, it took us too long. And the game was just Lucho was coming really low, trying to get the ball with the centerbacks because the ball was not getting to his feet. and lucho wants the ball more and more so he can do his magic so i think most of it was just we couldn't figure out a way to have a good fit with with lucho playing and that was frustrating him was frustrating all of us and and in a side of that he was having some personal issues in his life that really affected him.

And I know because I had a lot of one-on-one conversations with Luchu, and it was really tough for him to handle some of the things that were happening. And at some point in the middle of the season, he came to me and said, Andre, I might got to go stay near my family in Argentina. This is something that I'm, considering now so it was things that were affecting his and and ultimately his performance so then obviously it's my my my obligation here once I have this

kind of conversation with him and and with his agent just to okay let's see what's out there because we invested good money to bring lucho and and after six months was not like and when you invest in someone like lucho you're just looking for the sporting benefits of having someone like lucho you're not looking to sell him for more in the future or whatever it's just like you want the the onto a product there and what he can bring to your team and and ultimately we're we're fighting for for trophies here but in the end the it was the best solution for he he wanted to be closer to argentina it's uh Brazil is can the Brazilian teams can pay

Yeah better salaries much better better selling than the teams in Argentina There were a few clubs in in Brazil interested Sorry Landlian clubs calling and and and and and and and and and then I started talking with fluminense They like him and and in the end we we found a deal that and he's doing really well he's playing well helping the team they just lost the semifinals of the cup of the Brazil but but I think in the end was the the best solution for both sides you know he went to to stay closer to his family playing in a huge club and for us we could

and then it was easier to figure out the best way for us to play uh that is not lucho dependent because we were always focused on finding lucho finding lucho and then when he was not on the field i think um and the players ended up having the freedom and and and the way we were playing uh we had we had a lot more success but but it was like i feel it would be i i i really obviously when you bring someone like lucho you want more you expect to um to for him to stay here i two or more years that least that was his country so but again it was it happened and and and I think that we we could find a solution that we we still trust for him we got some some some some money for for his trustor and

and he's doing well in Brazil yeah so on the other side of that is now you have an open DP spot if it is going to be another DP 10 what is that search like and and what are you looking to fulfill because you just kind of at the beginning of that when you have a special league MVP player like Lucho, like you said, give him the 10 jersey, let him do his magic, and try to build around him best you can. And then the second half of the season, you found success to your point of being more fluid and not centric around one player. So what do you do in this search if you are looking for a DB 10? So we're looking for another and we have this DP spot open, which is always a luxury to have one DP possibility and we're working to find. But we

we really need to file that's the position we cannot we cannot make a mistake so we got to find the right one so we we're taking like the window is until the end of march and obviously we want to sign as soon as possible but we want to more than signing quickly to find a player we want to make sure we we find the right one so we want a not a not the exact type of Lucho 10. We're looking for more of a dynamic attacking player, a good one-view-one that can play in the pockets can play wide, but more physical, more with more intensity. And again, we're trying to find someone that would come here and see this club as this, this is where I want to be. This is the opportunity I want. So, because I think with, with the,

with Petter, with Logan, guys that they know how to score if we find someone that can really find them in the box, find them in good position, and add someone else that also will add more goals and assist. I think we're going to be a very dangerous team. Magic of television for everyone finding out, we're doing this interview before we're actually going to run it. And we came on and you were like, okay, so we're not going to talk about the super draft, which I think for a lot of people in MLS, that would have been a joke. But you mentioned Logan Farrington, the success you've had, FC Dallas were, you know, one of the, at the forefront of youth development. You are also at the forefront of U-22 initiative signings, signing young

international players, and yet you do still value the college draft. We've talked about college soccer a lot on this show and where it sits and what's the future of youth development in America. I'm curious from an outsider now coming in and now seeing it, like where does that value come from? I mean, Logan Farrington could be an X million dollar sale player down the road, and that's a guy you got on a draft pick. Exactly. So yes, that's what I was mentioning to you guys before we started. We value a lot of the draft. So it's something that FC Dallas historically has always found some players that really impacted our team. Just Matt Hedges, as one of them, Ryan Holland said, still playing in the league.

um and and more recently we had nicosi taffari that's also playing that was drafted in 2020 it was 14th pick so i think you can it's just my feeling is that if you really take um uh a good look and invest time to to watch this players you can find you can find you can for me i always say this you can find talent everywhere so and and in this country with so people who coming from all over the world and you will always find some interesting players and again this this the draft this year is another example of talented players and when in 2023 the 24 draft sorry when we moved to get the third pick and and and and and and got Logan was we always are a little bit we don't think immediately in the first year the player coming from the draft will have an

impact we have so many examples in the league uh take jean buchin and darrell dk and and just to mention some recent ones that are in europe right now and having huge success uh but logan is one that we saw i said this kid can can be can be a difference maker for us but if we prepare him well and in in the first year, he already scored goals, assists, and then the second year playing even better. And as you said, we got him the draft. So we truly believe that you can find interesting players in coming from college that can,

we signed Sam Sarver as well. Sam. Yeah, legend. Sam. Goss is gone. The first game, he got a PK. And then against Vancouver in the last game of the season, and he started and he got a red card cheed uh i promise you know no national no national

shows talked more about sam zarver than ours i saw i know i know frisco texas so sam is such an amazing story and scoring i think 19 goals in mLS next bro uh MVP of nils next pro so it's another one that uh he can he he he already in just a small sample in MLS, he showed that he can help us. So we're going to continue to do that and we're going to continue to invest time to watch college players because this is this is part of who we are as a club and and we truly believe our owners. They come from they come from from the football world as well and they they always interested. They always want to know what we're doing in the draft. So it's something that we take very seriously and we're going to continue to do that.

So on the other side of things, the big conversation right now around MLS is the change to the schedule, which aligns with transfer windows so that Tom has more to talk about and potentially more moves. Almost the entire conversation is geared around Europe, which you guys have done big business. Obviously, Petzarmusa coming in, some of the players you've sold. But your background is from Brazil as a club you've done some big moves with league mx i'm wondering how this potential schedule change and the transfer window shift affects business across the americas and maybe some of with some of these leagues is it the same as it would be with europe or are you thinking about it in a different way no i think aligning with europe with the transfer windows in europe

will help because it's and then it's it's easier for you to uh to to try transfer players once it's in like your season is not in in the middle so we've we've had success selling players in general peppy was sold in generally brian reynolds was going to which is not usually the the top window for european clubs but and those just mentioning those two transfers they were big values for us but we transfer players in meet Tener Testman, Regan, and Carlos Grisso, they were all transferred in the summer. And then you have to react, and it's always when you bring a new player that's in the middle of the season, it's not the same, obviously.

When you bring his son and L.A.F.C., it's easy. But other players that they need more time to understand the league to adapt. So I think aligning will be easy. I lost, there was opportunities that we couldn't complete a deal because of this lack of alignment, especially Lowens. It's hard to, you to have every time when discussing with a club in Europe and you want to bring a player on Lowen, you would end if they do a full season for us, it will end in the middle of their season. And sometimes they are using that international spot.

If it's an international player for someone else, they cannot have the player back. So it will help us in that regard as well, and allowing, having players on low-income here. And we can loan players as well in the middle of the season or in the summer that will be the beginning of our season. So I think we'll help teams do more business. I don't know if the Americas, when you mentioned about more in the Americas, Mexico, yes, it's also the same because we're going to be more aligned with Mexico. But we're going to disaline with Brazil ground because Brazil, they keep the calendar year as their season and now the winter is their main window. But anyway, I think aligning with Europe, with Mexico will favor us to have more deals in place and keep selling players. Andre you've been here since I believe 2019 with this club

you came from you worked for Santos you worked for Gramio you've done a ton of big deals there big deals here like I've said before you have a very extensive network so since you first got here to now how has like the perception of MLS changed when you're speaking to clubs whether it's buying or selling or how is the global view of the lead change from the day that you arrived through right now?

it changed a lot i can tell you it changed a lot i remember when i started here uh in 2019 it's going to be seven years now uh as uh there were like there were many agents um clubs they were skeptical of like i'm not sure about um sending my player there not sure about this complete like i i haven't heard that in a while So I think what MLS is in a different level, I think the quality you can see clearly the quality, even in those last my seven seasons here, from the first season to now, the quality that you see of the games are better, the quality of the players that we have in the league. It's improving every year. Teams investing a lot of money, bringing top talents, young ones mixed with some of those. super international stars that we have here so I think it really it really is nice and when I travel especially when you speak with you go to Europe and you speak with the scouts and in sporting directors you see that they're watching more MLS now MLS is a

league that they are tracking and they are like players and I remember when I and this was in the beginning here that when we had that relationship with Biomewion and they would tell me that they wouldn't follow but more and more what I heard is that they feel

especially players coming from South America if they come to MLS and they adapt well they play perform well in the league with how the league became the physicality, how intense the league is, this transitions

then they feel it's it's we can pay higher than but especially in Germany it's they say it's such a good difference cultural difference between Germany and and and the South American countries that they feel investing in a player that a South American player that adapted in MLS it's a it's a much less risk for them so I think I think with the direction that we're going I'm very happy to be part of that problem that be seen that so close and so that's that's well that's uh just a happy with the moment of emilus let me let me so on a personal note i know that you had been to the united states and been to texas before you got to shop that was one of the first times we spoke trying to get

your background where i wrote a story about you but now that it's been seven years of you working for dallas and being here on a personal side are you starting to get a little southern drawl Are you a big country music fan? Do you wear boots or line dance? Like, I need to hear some personal Andres and notes of changes. Someone told me that they mentioned something to you about this. They might have. They might have planted that question.

But that's true. So when I was in exchange students leaving about 30 minutes here from the stadium in 1997, before you were born, Tom. Almost. Almost. And then I lived with a typical. Texan family and I that's like and and but that's where my my country music music taste that's when it stopped in the late 90s so so you're stuck in time yeah

Garth Brooks Allen Jackson worked great I did and then there's a gap and then I start now my kids are listening a little bit so I I kind of learn more about Luke Holmes and others but my Joe Michael Montgomery that's the kind of of Team McGraw. I went to Tim McGraw concert a couple years ago here in Dallas. All right. Love it. It's not a bad city to be in, probably to refine that love. Before I let you go, we appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. Let's talk about 2026, you know, this split year last year.

As you said, if you just took the second half of the year, you're contending at the top of the Western Conference. First half of the year, you're sitting basically dead last in the West. What's the goals this year? How do you look at 2020? for FC Dallas and what needs to be accomplished? So, and the good thing is the way we ended the season, right? Because we finished really strong. We had, unfortunately, we could not. I think if we could force that third game, we would give a very hard time to Vancouver.

They had an amazing, amazing team. What a good team they had this year. But we were winning until the 93rd minutes in that second game and lost in the PKs. so we could have had the third game that and obviously you never know what can happen but but I'm super proud how that coaching staff and Eric and and the players how they figure out a way to play that really made us very strong we felt the teams would come and different from the beginning of the year they were like whoa that those guys are it's going to be hard to beat those guys so that's we got to build from from there and and what i mentioned before

we're trying to find those right pieces players that really want to be here want to help us raise the level we think of the signings that we're making we're going to be better than we finished last year we kept the core of the team so we have our our we just a few players left this year that that was something that I really wanted to make sure that we we didn't have such a busy off season as as it was the year before because we I think we are we are in this right direction and and we're back in League's Cup is something that we wanted to play again the League's Cup and have another trophy you fight for so it's it's we're we're a humble team we are the we are the underdogs so we

want to make sure we have the the team that the way we finish the season and and this view this momentum from the beginning so we can try to my dream is to win a trophy in this club and and and and I think with the players we have and and and the mentality and with the how competitive our head coach is I think it's possible so So we're going to be, I think we're going to be a very, very strong team this year. And I hope I'm going to have you guys talking a lot about us. I love Will, and when you talk good about us. We're always happy to talk about you when you're doing well.

I wonder if you do win, if you win a trophy, you're going to put on the FC Dallas-Hara Quill hat, the huge brim hat. It feels like he makes them custom. I will. I will. That's a good one. Okay. That will be the next interview that we do. Well, once again, we appreciate you being here. We're excited to see what the season has to come.

I will pick Petar Moussa as my preseason golden boot winner for the third year in a row. And I look forward to us doing this all again sometime soon. Perfect. I appreciate you guys. Thank you for the time and having this, as I said, it's always fun to chat with both of you. So let's see. Let's see. Hopefully, next time we come, it's to celebrate something that we chat.

is to celebrate the good moments for FC Dallas. We'll be the first phone call once you lift the trophy. Thank you.