MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact announced on Monday that Adam Braz has been hired as the club’s new technical director.
Braz returns to the technical staff after serving as the first team’s manager during the final year in NASL and the club’s first two seasons in MLS.
"I am very excited at this great opportunity to be back with the organization in such an important soccer specific role,” said Braz. “I want to thank Joey and the club for giving me this opportunity and I look forward to the chance to help lead this club to long lasting success. My vision is to help create a clear soccer identity for the club.”
“We are very pleased to have quickly found someone to fill this role, with someone who knows the club, the culture, the league and the players,” explained executive vice-president of soccer operations Richard Legendre. “Adam has shown a lot of character and determination throughout his career. As the first team’s manager, he showed a lot of professionalism. He has a clear vision on how the first team should operate. I am convinced that he has the necessary aptitudes to be successful in this role.”
Braz will oversee the technical team and will report directly to executive vice-president of soccer operations Richard Legendre.
In his new role, Braz will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the first team. He’ll manage the salary cap for both the team and technical operations. He will also be the liaison between the club and MLS, all while working closely with Frank Klopas, mostly in terms of contract negotiations and strategy for the first team.
Braz originally joined the club’s technical staff on March 14, 2011, following a nine-year professional career, including seven as a member of the Impact.
He played 145 career regular-season games with Montreal, 121 of those as a starter, for a total of 10,849 minutes, helping the Impact win two regular season titles in 2005 and 2006. He finished his career in the Impact's top 10 leaders for games played, games started and minutes played.
He also played in 25 games in 2003 with Swedish club Vasteras SK, in the second division, and was also one of the first players to join expansion-side Toronto FC in Major League Soccer in 2007, appearing in 13 games.
Internationally, Braz represented Canada at all age levels: U17, U20, U23 and senior. With the senior team, he played a total of 12 games between 2004 and 2007, most notably suiting up for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2005 and 2007.
Braz, a Montrealer, attended the business schools of St. John's University in New York and Fairfield University in Connecticut.
