The first order of business for Gerog Heitz will be to head the hunt for a head coach, his other responsiblities will be to oversee all aspects of Fire football operations, first team and Academy decisions. He has been at this sort of thing for nearly 20 years now and is a well thought of soccer executive, now he awaits his work visa.
Georg had this to say of his new position, "I'm honored to join Chicago Fire FC. I made the decision to join the Club after many inspiring discussions with Joe Mansueto & Nelson Rodriguez. I believe in the vision of this Club, I am vey much looking foward to living in Chicago and I can't wait to get started." His new position as Sporting Director will have Georg wearing a great many hats as he manages the coaching staff, technical staff and youth developmental programs, along with overseeing the football operations budget and team salary cap. Reporting directly to Mansueto, the team Owner & Chair as will Nelson Rodriguez, who had been handling both the sporting and business aspects of the team, now he has but the businees end.
As do a great many Europeans, Heitz has comand of 3 languages, English, French & German, he arrives to the Fire following quite the wide ranging time in the upper echelons of European soccer as an executive. Last he had spent 8 years with Swiss Super League side FC Basel 1893 from 2009-2017, as Sporting Dir. & Board Member from 2009-'17. At Basel, he handled the first team and academy, player transfers , contracts, recruitment of players, coaches, scouts along with techincal and medical staffs. With him at the helm, they had an unprecedented 8 straight Swiss Championships from 2010-'17 to go with a trio of Swiss Cups, 2010, '12 & 17. Basel was able to achive the UEFA Champions League 6 times with 2 trips to the Round of 16 in 2012 & '14. As for the EUFA Europa League, Basel went deep into the games on numerous occasions topped off with the semis in 2013.
Mansuetto had this to say of his new man, "In every position at our football club-both on and off the field-we want to have a world-class professional in each role."
In excess of $180,000,000 Euros were generated in player transfer fees for the team from 2009-'17. In his tenure Georg found and developed many top professionals with the scoutng and technical staffs, not limited to Mohamed Salah, his Liverpool teammate Xherda Shaqiri & Arsenal's Grant Xhaka.
Heitz began as a journalist and deputy editor for many organizations from 1994-2008, among them FIFA and Basler Zeitung a paper from his native Switzerland. He became a Basel consultant following this time period, then taking up a full time spot with them in 2009. He went on to found, and partnered in the froming of Heusler Werthmuller Heitz AG, taking the point position of change management and strategic operations for Swiss, German & Austrian soccer groups.