Los Angeles FC announced Friday that head coach Steve Cherundolo will be stepping down at the conclusion of the 2025 MLS season.
“It is an honor to be the head coach of LAFC,” Cherundolo said in the club’s statement. “After much reflection and discussion with my family, we made the decision that at the end of this year we will return to Germany. I love Los Angeles and LAFC, but this move is in the best interest of my family, even as it will ultimately take us away from a team, city, organization and fan base that I am proud to represent. I am looking forward to continuing our work with the players, coaches and staff to make the 2025 season a success as we keep fighting to win trophies.”
Cherundolo joined the organization in 2021, initially coaching its then-USL affiliate, the Las Vegas Lights, for a single season. He was appointed head coach of the MLS club ahead of 2022 following Bob Bradley’s resignation after the club’s first — and, to date, only — missed postseason. LAFC went on to win the Supporters’ Shield in Cherundolo’s first season before achieving a rare league double by winning MLS Cup, with midseason signing Gareth Bale scoring a memorable equalizer late in extra time to force a decisive shootout.
The club returned to MLS Cup in 2023, falling to Wilfried Nancy’s Columbus Crew.
Cherundolo’s first three seasons saw LAFC competitive on every front, but often coming up short in decisive games after winning MLS Cup. In 2023, his team lost in the final of the 2023 Concacaf Champions League (since rebranded as the Concacaf Champions Cup) as well as the one-off Campeones Cup against Liga MX side Tigres UANL. In 2024, the club reached the Leagues Cup final but fell to the Crew in a rematch of the previous year’s MLS Cup.
Ultimately, LAFC won its third major trophy under Cherundolo last fall, besting a poor Sporting Kansas City side in the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final. Despite finishing atop the Western Conference standings, LAFC exited last season’s playoffs in the conference semifinal against the Seattle Sounders in extra time. Currently, the club sits seventh in the West and was eliminated from the Concacaf Champions Cup in a two-leg quarterfinal against Inter Miami.
In all competitions, LAFC has an 87-26-43 record under Cherundolo, winning just over twice as many games as they’ve lost. As a player, Cherundolo was a stalwart right back for the U.S. men’s national team and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2021. He spent the entirety of his club career in Germany with Hannover 96, where he was also a youth coach before returning to the U.S.
“Steve has been a tremendous leader for LAFC and has proven to be one of the top coaches in our league,” LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington said in a statement. “What he has achieved during his tenure speaks for itself, and we are extremely thankful to him for his continued dedication and hard work. We support his decision to focus on his family with this move at the end of the season. For the remainder of 2025, our goals have not changed. We remain committed to winning trophies this season. We believe we have the people to make that happen, and there will be no better way to close this chapter than with another trophy for LAFC.”
(Top photo: Kelvin Kuo/Imagn Images)