Timothy Bezbatchenko (born October 13, 1981) is an American retired

soccer player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby l ...

and president of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as on ...

Playing career

As a youth player, Bezbatchenko was part of the United States National Pool in 1999–2000 and his club team, Ohio FC, represented the United States at the Nike Global Premier Cup in England in addition to receiving numerous state and national awards and honors. Bezbatchenko played college soccer for the

Richmond Spiders The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. The Spider ...

of the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

and was named to the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easter ...

All-Academic team in 2003. Bezbatchenko played for the

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American ...

of the

United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

USL Second Division The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer (t ...

from 2004–2005, scoring one goal in thirty-one league appearances.

Major League Soccer

Following his playing career and graduation from law school, Bezbatchenko spent three years as the Senior Director of Player Relations and Competition with MLS located in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In that role, he was responsible for negotiating and drafting player contracts, as well as finalizing loan and transfer agreements for the import and export of players to and from MLS. In addition he oversaw all MLS rosters, the MLS player pool, and team salary budgets. He was also responsible for youth and player development initiatives for the league, including the home-grown player signing process. Bezbatchenko also helped the Player Department manage the relationship between the Players Union and interpretation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA). He also served as a liaison with the

US Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is a ...

and the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ...

. During the 2013 season MLS announced a partnership with the French Football Federation (FFF) to create an educational course for MLS Academy Directors that was managed by Bezbatchenko.

Toronto FC

Tim Bezbatchenko was named general manager of Toronto FC on September 20, 2013 after having spent three years at the

(MLS) as Senior Director of Player Relations and Competition. Since joining Toronto FC, Bezbatchenko has been instrumental in making changes to a club who had never made the playoffs in its 7 year history prior to his arrival. His work focused on changes to the roster and creating a new vision for Toronto FC: to be a leader in player development, a leading edge organization in innovative practices and to be internationally recognized as a consistent contender for championships in North America. The changes have led to Toronto FC having its two best seasons in club history, including its first ever MLS playoffs birth. In 2014, with a number of key acquisitions made through signings and trades, Bezbatchenko was a central figure in acquiring three Designated Players such as England international

Jermain Defoe Jermain Colin Defoe (born 7 October 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He also played for the England national team. Defoe began his career with Charlton Athletic, joining their youth team aged 14, be ...

, American international Michael Bradley and Brazilian striker

Gilberto Gilberto is the Iberian and Italian version of the originally Norman-French given name '' Gilbert'', used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages. In Galician, it's spelled Xilberto or Xilberte. ''Gilbert'' is ultimately derived from the Ger ...

. The club finished with the winningest season in club history at the time. The 2015 season saw Bezbatchenko make additional roster changes to build on the core group of players established in 2014, including the addition of two Designated Players (Italian international

Sebastian Giovinco Sebastian Giovinco (; born 26 January 1987) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A quick and creative player on the ball, Giovinco was a versatile forward capable of playing in multiple offensive positions. Gi ...

and U.S. international

Jozy Altidore Josmer Volmy "Jozy" Altidore ( ; born November 6, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. Altidore made his professional debut in 2006, at the age of 16, with ...

). Bezbatchenko also added French midfielder

Benoît Cheyrou Benoît Benjamin Cheyrou (born 3 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, and often acted as a deep-lying playmaker for the attack. He is the assistant manager of French amateur club La Salesienne d ...

and MLS talents such as

Herculez Gomez Herculez Gomez (born April 6, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He currently works as a commentator in both English and Spanish for ESPN. Early life Gomez, the oldest of five children, was born in O ...

Robbie Findley Robert Findley (born August 4, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He was capped 11 times by the United States national team, having made his international debut in 2007. Findley played college soc ...

, Josh Williams,

Marky Delgado Marco Antonio Delgado (born May 16, 1995), known as Mark Delgado or Marky Delgado, is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer. Early life Delgado grew up watching his two older broth ...

and Eriq Zavaleta through various trades and MLS drafts. As a result, the club was able to clinch a playoff berth for first time in club history and broke many club records along the way: total points in a season (49), total wins in a season (15), total goals in a season (58), home wins in a season (11), total home goals in a season (34) and recorded four consecutive wins for first time in club history. The hallmark signing in Bezbatchenko’s tenure as general manager has been Sebastian Giovinco. In his first season with Toronto FC and in MLS, Sebastian Giovinco broke multiple MLS and club records. He also captured the 2015 Golden Boot as the league’s top goal scorer and became the first player in club history to win the award. He also went on to win the 2015 league MVP. On the player development side, Bezbatchenko was instrumental in securing a second professional team in the

United Soccer League 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 ...

(USL) called Toronto FC II and hired Laurent Guyot from the FFF as Academy Director.

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as i ...

has helped create a clear developmental path from the Academy through to the First Team and gives TFC Academy players meaningful professional minutes. On 4 January 2019, he departed with TFC joining his boyhood club

as president.

Columbus Crew

Bezbatchenko was named the President and General Manager of

on January 4, 2019. He was named in a joint press conference with the new coach,

Caleb Porter Caleb Porter (born February 18, 1975) is an American soccer coach who most recently served as the head coach of Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew SC, Columbus Crew from 2019 to 2022. He was previously head coach of the Portland Timbers fro ...

. This announcement came at a significant time with the team under new ownership after a scuppered move to Austin, Texas by the previous owner. In only two years with the club, Bezbatchenko oversaw multiple milestones, including a new downtown stadium and training facility, along with a multi-year jersey sponsorship with Nationwide Insurance. He further aided the team in revamping the roster after losing multiple players due to the surrounding uncertainty regarding a move. Bezbatchenko is also overseeing the launch of a reserve team for the Crew that will either launch in 2021 or possibly 2022 due to the uncertainty caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United States, it has resulted in confirme ...

. The club won

MLS Cup 2020 MLS Cup 2020 was the 25th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), and was played at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The match was originally set to take place on November 7, 2020, but was postponed to Dec ...

under his watch.

References

External links

Toronto FC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bezbatchenko, Tim 1981 births Living people People from Westerville, Ohio Soccer players from Columbus, Ohio Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio American expatriate sportspeople in Canada Major League Soccer executives American people of Slavic descent American people of Ukrainian descent Richmond Spiders men's soccer players Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players USL Second Division players Association football midfielders American soccer players Toronto FC non-playing staff Columbus Crew non-playing staff