Major League Soccer

Rongen is named as coach of expansion Club Chivas.

Thomas Rongen was named coach of the expansion franchise Club Deportivo Chivas, his fourth Major League Soccer club. -- MLS photo --

CARSON, Calif. (Thursday, September 23, 2004) -- Thomas Rongen assumed the helm of his fourth Major League Soccer team when he was hired as coach of the Club Deportivo Chivas expansion franchise.

The hiring was somewhat of a surprise because the owner\operator of the new team is Mexico's Chivas of Guadalajara. Many assumed the team would be led by a Mexican, or at least Hispanic, coach. Rongen, who is Dutch, is multilingual and considered conversational in Spanish. He will take Spanish lessons to improve his ability to communicate, an MLS official said.

Renowned former Chivas Guadalajara goalkeeper Javier (Zuly) Ledesma will be Rongen's top assistant coach. The two were introduced today in a press conference at The Home Depot Center, a facility Chivas will share as a home field with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"Today we present two fundamental elements in the birth of this soccer club, both on and off the field," said Jorge Vergara, the Chivas of Guadalajara owner who will be Club Chivas owner-operator along with Antonio Cue. "We bring on experienced coaches with the same ideologies as our sports administrators."

Rongen, 47, was coach of the Tampa Bay Mutiny in MLS's 1996, inaugural season, moved to the New England Revolution for two seasons (19997-98) and was at the helm of D.C. United for three years (1999-2001). While Rongen now will lead his fourth MLS team, nobody else has coached more than two league clubs.

With an 82-90-8 (.478) cumulative coaching record in MLS, Rongen has the most losses and second most victories of any coach in MLS history. He leaves his job as coach of the United States under-20 men, a post he has held since 2001, after leading the team to fifth place in the 2003 World Youth Championships.

Ledesma, one of the most respected and popular figures in Chivas history, was a product of the club's youth system.

Chivas is known for using only native Mexican players. It is unclear whether that policy will continue with its MLS team, particularly considering the league's limits on foreign players. MLS allows three senior international and two junior international players per team, though legal immigrants with green cards do not count as foreign players.

"We want to keep this club and keep this club as true Chivas as possible,'' Rongen said. "I feel very strong about that. There is also a very good understanding, and I think myself is a prime example, that if you want to bring in the best people, you might have to go beyond a Mexican or Latino player, although that will always be first and foremost of our choices.''