Saying he wants to play attacking soccer and consistently win, starting next season, Ronny Deila was introduced as Atlanta United’s manager Friday.
“When you’re going to win trophies, you need to play yourself to win something,” Deila said. “You have to take charge in the games and be, especially at home, you have to be very dominant in what you’re doing.”
Deila will become the team’s fifth manager. He succeeds Gonzalo Pineda, who was fired in June.
Deila fulfills President Garth Lagerwey’s and Sporting Director Chris Henderson’s wants: someone who has had consistent success and is formationally and tactically flexible. Lagerwey said the manager didn’t have to have MLS experience, but needed to understand the nuances of the league.
Deila, 49, has MLS experience. He managed NYCFC from 2020-22 and won the MLS Cup in 2021. He led NYCFC to the title and a record of 46-29-15 before leaving to join Standard Liege in Belgium. He went from Liege to Club Brugge before going to United Arab Emirates. He was fired by that club Al Wahda, earlier this week.
Before NYCFC, Deila led Strømsgodset to the Norwegian Football Cup in 2010 and league title in 2013, and Celtic in Scotland to the league title in 2014-15, and 2015-16, and league cup in 2014-15.
Deila was expansive Friday in his answers, similar to previous manager Frank de Boer, and enthusiastic about collaboration and leadership, similar to Pineda and interim manager Rob Valentino.
The difference between Deila and some of those who preceded him is that he has won six trophies.
“I couldn’t be prouder today to say that Ronny is the first coach that I’ve picked, and I look forward to years of working together with Ronny and taking this club to the next level,” Lagerwey said. “We established at the end of last season with that little run that there are some things here that are worth building on. We do have some pieces to move forward with, but we now have to set the end of the season as the floor for where we’re going to be going into years going forward. And we think Ronny’s the guy to take us to that next level.”
Deila will be part of a large group that will collaborate on player transactions and acquisitions, Henderson said. The club has a multimillion-dollar purse that it’s not limited in spending. It has two Designated Player slots open. Deila hinted that attacking players, and those who are good leaders, may be targeted.
Throughout his career, Deila said he has worked to develop the less-experience and experienced players. The key is the players have to have ambition. Deila said he can lose patience if it’s not clear that improvement is being made. Atlanta United has several youthful international players, including centerbacks Noah Cobb and Efrain Morales, and winger Luke Brennan. Many of the veterans, particularly those who were in the starting lineup, appeared for their national teams last season.
Deila said he watched a lot of Atlanta United matches last season and appreciated the energy the players showed, particularly in the playoffs.
“When you’re in a big club, you have to love to play and love to go on the pitch, and then if you lose, and you have given everything, then we have to get better,” he said. “But when you get the best start yourself and the best out of the team, and you go out and you attack the situation, you have the best chance to win.”
Deila said that’s what he saw from Atlanta United at the end of last season.
“I think it’s a foundation there that we have to work out from, and we have also some spots that we can add to the team,” he said.
Details were murky on how the pursuit of Deila came together. Lagerwey said that the data on Deila made him stand out among possible candidates.
But Deila was employed by Al Wahda until he was fired earlier this week before his one-year contract was complete. Deila said he wasn’t sure why he was fired, other than perhaps it was because they lost to the league leaders, Sharjah, in a road game in the previous match.
Lagerwey said that the Deila hire came together similarly to hiring Henderson, who was employed by Inter Miami until he was made available. Atlanta United announced his hire Tuesday.
“It’s really, really important that the three of us are aligned, and Chris and Ronny, myself, we hired Dave Tenney last week to be our new head of performance,” Lagerwey said. “We just think we have a bunch of really good leaders entering the building. We’ve added a ton more experience to our organization. And again, we’re just really excited that, however it happened, that Ronny was eventually available, that Chris was eventually available, and that we’re able to move forward with our new leadership team.”
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Atlanta United’s 2025 schedule
Feb. 22 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m., Apple
March 1 at Charlotte, 2 p.m., Apple, Fox
March 8 vs. New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., Apple
March 16 vs. Miami, 7 p.m., Apple
March 22 at Cincinnati, 2:30 p.m., Apple
March 29 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple
April 5 vs. Dallas, 7:30 p.m., Apple
April 12 vs. New England, 2:30 p.m., Apple, FOX
April 19 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m., Apple
April 26 at Orlando, 7 p.m., Apple, FOX
May 3 vs. Nashville, 2:30 p.m., Apple, FOX
May 10 at Chicago, 2:30 p.m., Apple
May 14 at Austin, 8:30 p.m., Apple
May 17 vs. Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 25 vs. Cincinnati, 7 p.m., Apple
May 28 vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 31 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 12 at NYCFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 25 at Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 28 at Miami, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 5 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 12 at Toronto, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 16 vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m., Apple, FS1
July 19 vs. Charlotte, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 26 vs. Seattle, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 9 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 16 at Colorado, 9:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 24 vs. Toronto, 5 p.m., Apple
Aug. 30 at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. Apple
Sept. 13 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 20 vs. San Diego, 4:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 27 at New England, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 5 at LAFC, 10:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 18 vs. D.C. United, 6 p.m., Apple
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