St. Louis City SC roared to success in its first season before dropping to the bottom of the Western Conference. The team’s new soccer chief says he has a plan to give supporters more to cheer about in seasons to come.
Corey Wray, a Canadian native who won the league’s executive of the year award in 2022 and has held high-level roles with teams that won three MLS titles, gave his first Energizer Park press conference Wednesday. His remarks came days after the club announced his hiring as the team’s second-ever sporting director.
Wray replaces Lutz Pfannenstiel, whom club leaders fired in August. During Pfannenstiel’s tenure, City SC surprised the league by winning the Western Conference in its inaugural year. But the club was bounced from the playoffs in the first round by rival Sporting Kansas City and then finished last the following two seasons.
“I will not rest until we get this right,” Wray, 40, said of his efforts to improve the team. “I probably will have moments where I am struggling for the answer … but I will not stop thinking about how to make this team the best team in MLS — and then hopefully, one day, in North America.”
As sporting director, Wray is in charge of all the club’s soccer operations: hiring and firing coaches, building and maintaining the roster, scouting players and developing young athletes. Wray’s previous jobs in the league include successful tenures as assistant general manager with Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew. Most recently, he served as director of soccer for CF Montréal.
“He will make us stronger by building upon our existing foundation and working collaboratively with our sporting team to improve in every aspect of our operations,” City SC President and GM Diego Gigliani said in a statement.
High on Wray’s to-do list is to hire a new head coach for City SC’s first team. The club has already employed two permanent head coaches and an interim head coach across its three seasons in the MLS. Additions to the roster are likely as well, he said.
But Wray said a fresh approach in the front office will come first.
“Based on some high-level assessments, we need to maybe improve some of the expertise in the sporting leadership. I am one person. I am not going to change everything by myself. I'm not going to be able to make this a powerhouse by myself. And so I think we could really use some additions in that space,” Wray said.
He also said the club needs more coordination between the arms of the organization that develop young athletes within its player development program and the professional scouts who look for talent in soccer leagues around the world.
“The second thing is to redefine or relook at how we're scouting players. There's probably a gap there. I think my job will be to support the staff and to try to create a scouting process that can look at domestic and international players and then also incorporate the internal side and find a way that we can have [those departments] talk to each other.”
Better communication and a more cooperative approach behind the scenes were themes in Wray’s prescription for success.
Wray said that the style of play for the club’s first team is up for discussion as leaders look for a new coach, but that players will eventually benefit from a more cohesive plan of attack on the pitch.
“We just need to provide the next level of structure and clarity in terms of roles. There needs to be a little bit better work done on how they all work together. I think that's very important for me as well. When recruiting [it’s important to ask], ‘Do the pieces complement each other or not?’”
MLS has not yet released the schedule for its 2025-26 season.
