Darren Eales (born 6 August 1972) is an English sports executive who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Premier League club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He was previously a footballer who played both collegiately and professionally in the United States. He was a 1995 first team All American and earned his

Cambridge Blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of other ...

in 1998. In July 2010, he was appointed director of football administration at Tottenham Hotspur.Club Announcement
Tottenham Hotspur, 1 July 2010 In 2014 he became Chief Executive Officer of Atlanta United in the MLS.

Early life

Eales grew up in Cambridge, England. As he approached the end of his secondary education, he was faced with the decision of attending university or pursuing a football career. When approached by an American university scout offering him the opportunity to both play and attend university, he decided to move to the United States.

Education and college football

Eales attended

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, a member of the Ivy League, playing on the school's NCAA Division I soccer team from 1991 to 1994. In his final season, he was the Ivy League Player of the Year and a first team All American. He received a first class bachelor's degree in economics.

Playing career

U.S. football

In 1995, Eales signed with the Hampton Roads Mariners of the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. He spent two seasons with the Mariners, scoring 24 goals in 19 games in 1995. In 1997, he played five games for the Hershey Wildcats.

English football

Eales continued to play at the amateur level. In 2001, he joined the

Newmarket Town Newmarket Town Football Club is a football club based in Newmarket, Suffolk, England. Affiliated to the Suffolk County FA, they are currently members of the and play at Cricket Field Road. History The club was formed at a meeting at the Star ...

Reserves in the Kershaw League. He later moved to the Lancashire County Football Association where he played for Millhead Reserves from 2004 to 2006 and Higher Poynton from 2006 to 2007.

Professional career

In 1997, Eales returned to England, where he read law at Cambridge, and gained his

in 1998. He became a member of the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 2000 and eventually joined 2 Temple Gardens. On 6 May 2006, he was hired as an in-house legal counsel by West Brom. and was subsequently made a Director and Company Secretary. On 2 March 2010, Spurs announced that Eales was joining them as club secretary at the end of that season.Club Announcement
Tottenham Hotspur, 2 March 2010 On 1 July 2010, he officially joined the club as Director of Football Administration. On 10 September 2014, Eales was named the president of the new Atlanta MLS expansion club, Atlanta United FC. On 15 July 2022, Eales became the CEO of

Newcastle United FC Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eales, Darren 1971 births Living people English footballers English solicitors Brown Bears men's soccer players Virginia Beach Mariners players Hershey Wildcats players USISL players Newmarket Town F.C. players All-American men's college soccer players Association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers English sports executives and administrators