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The New York Red Bulls have gone young in their most recent managerial appointment: 38-year-old Michael Bradley. The 151-time capped ex-US international will be tasked with leading the Red Bulls back to the playoffs after the team's 15-season postseason streak ended in 2025. He'll replace outgoing manager Sandro Schwarz.
The New York club is the American side in Red Bull football's global production chain. The Austrian conglomerate is currently led by its new Head of Global Soccer, Jürgen Klopp, the longtime Liverpool manager who was named to the post in January 2025.
Mirror U.S. Sports chatted with New York Red Bulls sporting director Julian de Guzman last week during Panini America's 2026 World Cup Sticker launch about just how involved Klopp and the global Red Bull team have been in the American club's coaching search.
The answer: Klopp trusted the American contingent.
"It's great to have the voices of Jurgen and [Red Bull technical director and former German striker] Mario [Gomez] to chime in and give their thoughts and ideas," de Guzman said.
"But at the end of the day, we are here in the U.S. We are here in New York, and it's going to make sense for what Red Bull needs in this league, in this market. That's been, I would say, the biggest process when you look at the qualities and characters of what you need for coaching MLS to succeed.
"And historically, you know, we stuck to that where somebody who knows the league, somebody who understands the league, is going to be the most important thing for you when you appoint a coach for the New York Red Bulls."
Klopp has visited the New York club's training ground on multiple occasions and praised the project. He called New York's training center in Morris Township "outstanding."
In Bradley, the Red Bulls are certainly getting someone familiar with the league. He broke through with the team in 2004, when they were known as the Metrostars, before earning a move to Dutch side Herenveen.
After a European tour featuring stints at clubs like Borussia Monchengladbach and Roma, Bradley returned to the MLS with Toronto FC and helped the Canadian side lift the 2017 MLS Cup.
After assisting his father — former USMNT and Swansea City coach Bob Bradley — at a job in Norway, Bradley spent six months last season in charge of New York Red Bulls II.
“I am excited for the opportunity to be head coach of the club that I started my professional career with and also in the state that I call home,” Bradley said in a statement released by the team.
Schwarz, New York's former manager, led the club to the MLS Cup final in 2024 before the Red Bulls' form slumped in 2025 despite the addition of striker Eric Maxim Chuopo-Moting. Schwarz played under Klopp at Mainz from 2001 to 2004.
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