Philadelphia Union Sporting Director Ernst Tanner formally introduced Head Coach Bradley Carnell as the fourth head coach in franchise history at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that was streamed on PhiladelphiaUnion.com. The press conference will be streamed in its entirety below.
Carnell, 47, brings 10 years of professional coaching experience, including eight seasons in Major League Soccer (MLS). Most recently, he spent two seasons as manager of St. Louis CITY SC, the team’s inaugural head coach, after being named to the position in January 2022. He went 22-15-25 in 62 total regular season matches. St. Louis led the Western Conference and ranked third in the League with 62 goals and with a plus-17 goal differential during the 2023 campaign.
Prior to joining St. Louis, Carnell served as assistant manager and interim head coach with the New York Red Bulls from March 2017 to January 2022. As interim head coach from Sept. 5 to Nov. 19, 2020, Carnell went 6-3-5 in 14 matches to lead New York to their 11th straight postseason appearance and as an assistant manager, he helped guide the Red Bulls to the 2018 Supporters’ Shield.
Carnell began his coaching career as the head coach of the University of Johannesburg men’s team (2012-15) before serving as an assistant manager at Orlando Pirates (2016-17) and Free State Stars (2015-16) in South Africa.
The former defender played professionally for 18 years (1993-2011), making his debut at 16-years-old with Wits University in South Africa (1993-97). He most notably collected three goals and nine assists in 134 matches between VfB Stutgart (1998-2003) and Borussia Monchengladbach (2003-05), both part of Germany’s Bundesliga. He also played four seasons (2005-09) with Karlsruher SC and Hansa Rostock (2009-10) in Germany’s Bundesliga II, before making his final stop with Supersport United in South Africa (2010-11).
Internationally, Carnell represented South Africa in 42 national team appearances from 1997-2010, including three starts in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and four starts in the 2002 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
