Minnesota United will hire Khaled El-Ahmad as its new general manager, the Pioneer Press confirmed Wednesday morning. The news was first reported by The Athletic.

El-Ahmad has been CEO for the past two years at Barnsley, a club in England’s third tier, which is called League One. He also has worked for five years as a Concacaf scout for City Football Group, which includes clubs Manchester City and New York City in MLS. He has further experience at Djurgardens in Stockholm and AaB Aalborg in Denmark.

El-Ahmad was a candidate in October for the head of football position at Swedish club Hammarby, according to Yahoo.

El-Ahmad, born in Uppsala, Sweden, also has Midwest connections. He attended Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he was a captain and defender on the men’s soccer team. His nickname on the team was “coach.” He later became an assistant coach for the Marquette men’s team from 2006-08.

MNUFC generated an internal list of candidates for its new GM position, likely to be titled Chief Soccer Officer, after letting go of Adrian Heath and Mark Watson in early October. CEO Shari Ballard said last week she was pleased with the candidates.

The new CSO will, in turn, hire the Loons’ next head coach. The CSO will have the ability to implement his vision for what the entire sporting side will be from playing style and player profiles and implement that from the MLS team to the developmental second team and the youth academy.

The Athletic reporters Tom Bogert and Paul Tenorio said a transition period for El-Ahmad will need to reached because he is under contract at Barnsley through July.

The Loons will begin preseason camp for the 2024 season in early January.

This story will be updated.

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