New York City FC today announced that Ronny Deila has been appointed as the Club’s new Head Coach.

Deila, a three-time title winning manager at multiple European clubs including Celtic FC in Scotland, joins NYCFC from Norwegian club Vålerenga where he served as manager beginning in 2017. He has signed a three-year contract with the Club and will join NYCFC pending the approval of a U.S. work permit.

After an extensive playing career, most notably at Odds BK in his native Norway, he took charge of Strømsgodset in 2008. Deila won his first trophy in 2010 capturing the Norwegian Football Cup and then led the club to its first league title in 43 years in 2013.

Deila left Strømsgodset for Celtic FC in 2014 and won back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles during his time in Glasgow. Additionally, Deila has managed in both the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds and UEFA Europa League, and won the Scottish League Cup in 2015.

Deila said: “When the opportunity came up to join New York City FC as their new Head Coach, it was a dream come true for me to manage an amazing Club in a great city.

“When I come in, it’s important to continue to build on what’s already proven to be a strong foundation and to get some of my ideas across. The way I want to play and the way NYCFC has played is very similar. I’m a very attacking coach. We want to have the ball as much as possible, but also try to be direct when you have those opportunities.

“I’m really looking forward to getting going and getting to know the players in preseason and begin my time at NYCFC. I’m ready to see our supporters and hopefully we’ll have a wonderful relationship. I’m going to do everything I can to play good football the City way and I’ll give everything from myself to the Club and I’m sure we’re going to achieve fantastic things in the future.”

In his past stops, Deila established a reputation for recognizing and developing young talent. Throughout the past decade, Deila took numerous Manchester City players on-loan at his clubs including Jason Denayer, who is currently vice-captain of Olympique Lyon, Patrick Roberts and Dedryck Boyata.

Additionally, he helped progress the career of 2019 UEFA Player of the Year and Ballon D’Or Runner-up Virgil Van Dijk and gave first team debuts to then 19-year old Denayer, 16 year-old Martin Ødegaard, who later moved to Real Madrid, and 18 year-old Kieran Tierney who is now with Arsenal.

NYCFC CEO, Brad Sims, said: “We’re extremely excited to have Ronny join us, and after a thorough coaching search, we’re confident we’ve found the perfect fit for New York City FC. City Football Group has had a relationship with Ronny for a long time, and we’ve been very impressed with his coaching acumen and his belief in playing a style that fits our attacking ethos.

"He’s an experienced manager that has succeeded in winning trophies at clubs with high expectations like we have here at NYCFC. Importantly, not only are we getting a wonderful coach, but also an exceptional person. I can’t wait for our fans to meet Ronny and get to know him. We’re looking forward to Ronny joining us for preseason as we prepare for an incredibly exciting 2020 campaign.”

Deila will take the reins of the Club coming off its best season in franchise history. NYCFC finished atop the Eastern Conference in 2019 and qualified for the Concacaf Champions League for the first time in Club history.

NYCFC is set to return nearly 95 percent of last season’s goal scorers as well as four defenders who started more than 24 games from the league’s fourth ranked defense. Club Captain, Alex Ring, and United States Men’s National Team goalkeeper, Sean Johnson, will also be back in 2020.

Deila said: “I think consistency is an important thing. Consistency in the way we play and to keep on improving in the City style. The group of players have been here for a while and they’re ready to take the next step together. Winning a title will be a big goal for myself and for the Club.

“The expectations from the fans are high and I’m going to show them that my expectation is the same. We are here to win and that’s why I’m coming because it’s another opportunity to win a title, but I know how much hard work it takes to get there. If we push ourselves together and build on what the team accomplished last season, I think we have a very good opportunity to achieve something big in the next few years.”

NYCFC Sporting Director, David Lee, said: “With the benefit of time in the offseason, we wanted to make sure we found the right person to lead our Club and we’re really delighted that Ronny has agreed to become the new Head Coach of New York City FC.

“Knowing we had a very strong group of players returning in 2020, we wanted to recruit an experienced manager who played in a similar style as we have done in the past few years, with a proven ability to win league titles and develop players. Ronny meets that criteria managing over 400 games, winning three leagues titles and two domestic cup competitions, along with many players who have been identified and developed by Ronny that have gone on to have careers at the highest levels of football.

“We’re really happy with the group of players we have coming back and excited about the prospect of what this group can do, so we wanted to make sure we found the right Head Coach. We know we have a fantastic team that we believe is ready to win. Ronny is a winner. He won at Strømsgodset. He won at Celtic. We want to lift trophies and Ronny has done that in his career.

“Ronny is incredibly passionate and excels at building a culture and environment in the places he’s worked. He’s humble, hard-working and going to be a great leader for our players in the locker room. He’s an incredible person and I’m looking forward to seeing him build that with our supporters in 2020.”

Details of Ronny’s coaching staff will be released at a later date.

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