St. Louis City SC Dismisses Sporting Director After Disappointing MLS Campaign

St. Louis City SC Sacks Lutz Pfannenstiel as Sporting Director

St. Louis City SC has made the decision to relieve Lutz Pfannenstiel of his position as sporting director, after a period of almost two seasons with results below expectations. The official announcement was made last Monday. Diego Gigliani, club president and general manager, along with technical director John Hackworth, will assume interim sports management while a permanent replacement is sought in St. Louis.

These decisions are never easy and, given the trajectory that Lutz built during his time here, he will always be part of the extended CITY family. From the beginning, Lutz has shown a true passion and commitment to this project and the foundation he established was fundamental to the club’s historic first season.

Diego Gigliani

Gigliani added that, as they enter the next phase of the club’s long-term plan to boost the region and help both the team and St. Louis reach their potential, the next five years will be extremely important. They believe that a change in sporting leadership will help in the pursuit of the club’s goals. Gigliani continued to explain that, despite constantly increasing investment in the team, they have had difficulties creating sporting stability and have not been able to meet the expectations of the owners or the fans. Pfannenstiel, who was one of the first to be hired by the organization in 2020, built a team that had a promising start in the inaugural 2023 season, managing to win the regular season championship of the Western Conference. However, subsequent campaigns were not as successful. In 2024, St. Louis failed to qualify for the postseason, resulting in the departure of coach Bradley Carnell. The 2025 season has presented similar challenges. Olaf Mellberg was hired as coach in the preseason, but only lasted 17 games after recording a 3-9-5 (W-L-D) record, a performance that negatively affected Pfannenstiel’s management. The situation has not improved under the interim direction of David Critchley. Currently, St. Louis occupies the 14th position in the Western Conference, which has 15 teams, with a record of 5-16-6.