Sporting KC adds three key leaders

Sporting Kansas City has announced the addition of three new Vice Presidents, the latest in expanding the technical staff to assist in building the team. All three will report to President of Soccer Operations & General Manager David Lee.

Sebastian Stein has been named Vice President, Scouting & Recruitment, Kevin Geary has joined as Vice President, Human Performance and Francisco Belo has been appointed Vice President, Data & Analytics.

“I am delighted that Sebastian, Kevin and Francisco have joined the organization, and we are excited to welcome them and their families to Kansas City,” Lee said via press release. “As MLS continues to grow, modernizing and evolving our soccer operations is essential, and these appointments are a critical part of that process. We conducted a worldwide search to identify the very best leaders for these important roles and all three impressed us with their expertise, enthusiasm and belief in what we can achieve at Sporting Kansas City.

“Together, they will lead their respective departments and establish structures that support the Sporting KC first team, Sporting KC II and the SKC Academy. Their collaborative approach and shared ambition will help strengthen the club at every level, and I am excited about what we can build together.”

Stein brings 13 years of experience in the German Bundesliga at Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund to Kansas City. Stein was most recently the Head of Scouting for Eintracht Frankfurt since 2021. The German native helped Eintracht Frankfurt consistently perform in the upper half of the league including a 3^rd place finish in 2024-25. He began his career with Borussia Dortmund in 2013 where he spent eight years with the club. Stein started as a match analyst before joining the scouting department where he coordinated talent identification and recruitment for both the senior and youth levels.

“Sebastian will be responsible for the talent identification and recruitment department from the first team through to the Academy,” Lee said. “He will build out our scouting network across the globe as we seek to significantly increase our presence in Europe, South America and domestically to ensure that Sporting KC is a desirable destination for the best talent. Sebastian is an incredibly experienced and hugely respected figure in his field, having worked extensively in one of the top leagues in the world with a deep knowledge of both senior and youth soccer.”

Geary joins Kansas City with a little different background. He has a 20-year professional career in sports performance at various rugby organizations. Geary spent the last seven years as the Head of Athletic Performance at Bristol Bears, while also serving as the Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach with England Rugby. The Irishman earned his early experience working as a strength and conditioning coach with Irish Rugby, Ulster Rugby and Munster Rugby.

“Kevin will oversee the work across our Human Performance department including Medical, Sports Science, Strength & Conditioning and Psychology, uniting our multi-disciplinary staff,” Lee said. “Bringing his experience from a hugely successful career, Kevin’s knowledge of best practices will allow him to work closely with the coaching staff to develop a clear plan to ensure optimal performance and periodization throughout the season, ensuring our team can meet the demands of MLS. Kevin will also be responsible for ensuring players within our Pro Player Pathway are equipped with physical development plans to ensure a successful transition into the professional game.”

Belo is already in Kansas City working to build the Data & Analytics team. He brings over a decade of experience in the English Premier League with Nottingham Forest where he worked as Head of Football Intelligence for the past three years. Prior to his time with Nottingham, the Portugal native was at Wolverhampton Wanderers from 2021-2024 as a First Team Football Research & Methodology Analyst and at Everton from 2015-2021 as a Technical Coaching Analyst.

“Francisco will be responsible for building our analytics department from the ground up across engineering, analysis and data science while also leading our performance analysis division,” Lee said. “Francisco has worked at the highest levels of the sport for 12 years and he will now help embed a data-driven and analytical approach to support the coaching, player recruitment and human performance staff which will be a critical component in the future of Sporting KC.”

One of David Lee’s goals/tasks was to modernize and grow the organization to be able to compete at the highest levels. These additions will now be tasked with fleshing out their respective teams, working with the others to provide high-quality players, data to make informed decisions, and improved performance for Sporting KC across all  levels of the organization.

The staffs were woefully short in these organizations compared to top teams in the league and around the world. Lee has added leaders that have expereince in two top soccer leagues and one from the rugby world as well. All three will have the opportunity to play a major role in transforming Sporting Kansas City from the first team  through the second team and the academy.