SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes announced today that Vassili Cremanzidis has been named the club’s Head Sporting Strategist. He previously served in various roles on the Earthquakes’ technical staff from 2016-18 before spending nearly six years with Club de Foot Montréal, most recently as their Assistant Sporting Director.
Reporting directly to Earthquakes General Manager Chris Leitch, Cremanzidis will help oversee recruitment, scouting, management of the first team’s salary cap, team administration and roster build.
“I’m excited to welcome Vassili back to San Jose,” said Leitch. “He is extremely hard-working and brings a lot of experience to this role. His insight and MLS knowledge, as well as his understanding of the international market will be very valuable to our club moving forward.”
Cremanzidis recently completed his second stint with his hometown club, CF Montréal, returning in November 2018 as Head of Analysis and Assistant Director of Player Personnel. In 2020, Cremanzidis was promoted to Assistant Sporting Director. Two years later, CF Montréal placed second in the Eastern Conference and sported the third best overall record in the league in the Supporters’ Shield standings, setting club records for wins (20) and points in a regular season (65), as well as league records for road wins (11) and consecutive road wins (7) in one campaign.
“I would like to thank the Earthquakes for the opportunity to rejoin the club and their trust in my abilities,” said Cremanzidis. “Relating to the culture and values of the club is important to me, so I’m immensely happy to be back in San Jose. The sporting project Chris presented to me was very exciting and motivating, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the organization’s success.”
From 2016-18, he was part of the Quakes’ technical staff, initially joining in 2016 as Analyst of Scouting and Performance. In 2017, the Black and Blue reached the semifinals of the historic Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and reached the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2012.
In 2018, Cremanzidis was promoted to Head of Analysis and Associate Director of Player Personnel, where he was responsible for overseeing pregame and postgame analyses, salary cap management and GPS performance analysis.
He started his MLS career with CF Montréal, then known as the Montréal Impact, as the club’s Performance Analyst from 2013-15, where his duties included scouting the first team and opponents, while collaborating with the team’s fitness coach on player monitoring and tracking.
Cremanzidis, 34, holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Concordia University (2011) and a master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University (2013).
