Kevin Kratz (born 21 January 1987) is a German professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former player who is the current technical director and head coach of

MLS Next MLS Next (stylized as MLS NEXT) is a youth soccer league in the United States and Canada, that is managed, organized and controlled by Major League Soccer. It was introduced by the league in 2020. It is a successor to the U.S. Soccer Develop ...

club

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

U-16.

Playing career

Europe

After spending three seasons with

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

's reserve team early in his career, Kratz joined

Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a football in Germany, German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's 2. Bundesliga, second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three- ...

in the 2. Bundesliga. After Aachen was relegated from the 2. Bundesliga at the end of the 2011–12 season, he transferred to

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

. With his new club, Kratz won promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

in 2013. After the

2013–14 Bundesliga The 2013–14 Bundesliga was the 51st season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 9 August 2013 and the final matchday was on 10 May 2014. The winter break started on 23 December 2013 and ended on 24 January 2 ...

season, Kratz transferred to

SV Sandhausen Sportverein Sandhausen 1916 e.V., commonly known as simply SV Sandhausen or Sandhausen, is a German association football club that plays in Sandhausen, immediately to the south of Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. The club's greatest success ...

Philadelphia Union

In September 2016, Kratz signed with

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

of Major League Soccer in the United States. Union Sporting Director

Earnie Stewart Earnest Lee Stewart Jr. (born March 28, 1969) is an American former soccer player who played as a striker or a midfielder. His career spanned 17 years from 1988 until his retirement in 2005, with the majority of them spent in the Netherlands, th ...

indicated that Kratz would find a place in the Union midfield, stating "Kevin provides us valuable depth in multiple positions across our midfield." Union coach

Jim Curtin Jim Curtin (born June 23, 1979) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the current head coach of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. He spent most of his playing career with the Chicago Fire. Youth and ...

likewise indicated that Kratz would fit into a central position in the midfield but suggested that he would be used as a backup for existing Union players. Philadelphia later announced that Kratz would not be returning to the team for the 2017 season.

Atlanta United FC

On 11 December 2016, Philadelphia announced that it had completed its transaction to send midfielder Kratz to Atlanta United, acquiring the expansion club’s fourth-round pick in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft in exchange for Kratz. After scoring on two free kicks, one being the game-winning goal, against Montreal Impact on 28 April 2018, Kratz won both MLS Goal of the Week honors and MLS Team of the Week bench honors for Week 9 of the 2018 season.

Managerial career

Atlanta United Academy

In circa February 2019, Kratz re-joined Atlanta United as a talent scout and was the acting Head of Football Operations and Transfers at a point, and helped during the 2019 MLS SuperDraft with player selection. In March 2020, Kratz was appointed as the new manager for Atlanta United's Under-16 program due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

furloughs. Kratz is praised by his club's front office and is touted by This Week in MLS as one of the "Top 10 Youth Managers for MLS Clubs".

Personal life

Kratz earned his U.S. green card in July 2017. This status also qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Kevin Kratz
at Alemannia Aachen's official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kratz, Kevin 1987 births Living people People from Eschweiler Sportspeople from Cologne (region) German footballers Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia Association football midfielders Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Alemannia Aachen players Eintracht Braunschweig players SV Sandhausen players Philadelphia Union players Atlanta United FC players Atlanta United 2 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States