Landing a Job in Soccer Operations with Eddie Rock!

Meet Eddie Rock.

Eddie is the Head of Strategy for Chicago Fire FC, of Major League Soccer (MLS). He reports directly to the Director of Football and Head Coach, providing strategic planning support for the club’s roster, developing salary cap strategy, and managing the clubs best-in-class analytics team.

But Eddie’s journey didn’t start in an office, it started on the field, playing DIII college soccer at Beloit College. He served as a captain for the team before transitioning into a graduate coaching role. After two seasons coaching at Beloit, he leveraged the experience to land an assistant coaching position with the University of Chicago Men’s Soccer Team. At the same time, Eddie also started a role as a Project Assistant at Sidley Austin LLP, a law firm in Chicago.

For two years, Eddie worked his a** off pursuing coaching. Each fall and spring season, he would go into the law firm early in the morning, clock his 8 hours, and then head over to the training facility to coach, watch film, and recruit. He put in the effort, and did a good job, but he quickly realized that he was reaching a crossroads where he needed to decide - do I want to truly pursue coaching as a profession, and realistically do I think I can make it to the top level doing so?

Eddie evaluated the current soccer landscape - with MLS academies still in their infancy and the League just beginning to be built out - and considered his background of playing and coaching at the DIII level. Ultimately, he made the call: he needed another path.

Law school was the answer. He enrolled at the William Mitchell College of Law and began taking classes in the fall of 2004. After his first semester, it came time to start looking for a role to pursue during the upcoming summer. Most students target law firms, and Eddie did consider that path, but he also still had the itch to find his way into the business side of soccer.

He tapped into his network from coaching and was able to land an informational interview with Nelson Rodríguez (remember that name), an executive from the MLS. It went even better than he could have hoped. The scheduled thirty-minute conversation turned into an hour-long discussion, which then turned into a formal interview process, and finally an offer to intern with the Player Personnel Department in New York for the summer. He spent three months with the league, supporting player contracts and earning facetime with the leaders who were actively developing soccer across North America. Huge.

The next summer, Eddie resumed a similar search to find another opportunity to continue growing within the game. He lined up a great opportunity with U.S. Soccer in Chicago, but in the middle of finals he got a call. Funding had been cut, and the internship was off. Eddie begged for them to work something out, offering to do whatever it took just to be in the office, but ultimately the opportunity was gone. Back breaking, but necessary, because what happened next changed everything.

Eddie wasn’t going to let the summer go to waste, so he connected with two friends he had met from coaching school and started pulling the thread on business opportunities in the sport that would ultimately lead to the founding of Libero Sports.

In tandem with his co-founders, Eddie began consulting youth clubs on the professionalization and development of their programs. The consulting business continued to grow while Eddie finished his third and final year of law school, even landing opportunities with MLS. Throughout that year, the decision was also made that Libero Sports should expand into player representation.

So, one day (literally one singular day) after taking the bar exam, Eddie found himself on Notre Dame’s campus recruiting his first players. To be expected, that first year in the game was a challenge as they learned the new landscape of player representation. In the second year of the agency, there were times where Eddie was waiting tables at night to make ends meet, but the effort they were putting in compounded and as they went into year three, the revenue stream started to become more regular.

Eddie and his team continued to sign more and more top players coming out of the U.S. college system, placing them into professional opportunities across Europe - particularly Scandinavia - where they were often delivering salaries for their clients that were multiples higher than what they could make in MLS. They expanded into Asia, building a network in India, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. At its peak, the agency was representing and managing over 100 players. It was a dream realized.

Soccer operations and strategy is the department responsible for building, managing, and supporting the on-field product. It covers everything that shapes roster construction, player performance, competitive planning, and long-term club identity.

Teams rely on soccer operations staff to navigate league rules, manage the salary cap, analyze data, guide recruitment, oversee logistics, and keep the technical staff and front office aligned. Roles include scouting, analytics, player personnel, cap management, football administration, and strategic planning.

Because the work touches every part of the club, from the training pitch to ownership level decision making, soccer operations is one of the most competitive entry points in the sport. It blends technical expertise, communication, problem solving, and a deep understanding of both the game and the league ecosystem.

Eddie spent 10 years building and running Libero Sports, but when he and his wife welcomed their son to the world, it started to become apparent that a change was in order. Traveling to Europe and Asia for 2-3 weeks at a time didn’t provide the best balance for raising a family.

Something important to note, while much of Eddie’s focus initially with Libero Sports was international, he had still worked to build and maintain his contacts and connections within soccer in the United States. He prioritized attending the marquee MLS events like the All-Star Game and MLS Cup and made sure to keep in touch with the connections he had made while working at the league during law school. Doing so boosted his credibility and helped him build a reputation within the soccer space.

That reputation paid off when Nelson Rodríguez (I told you to remember that name) was named General Manager of the Chicago Fire. Within days of his appointment to the position, he and Eddie were talking about making the transition from being a full-time agent to working with the team. So, after 10 years, and with his family in mind, Eddie made the leap to the team side of the business, launching his MLS career with the Chicago Fire in the summer of 2017.

Eddie has spent the last 8 years with the club, progressing from Senior Director, Football Operations, to SVP, Football Operations, and finally to Head of Strategy, the position he holds now. He has seen the coming and going of multiple leadership and ownership groups, and in 2028 he will see the opening of a brand-new stadium.

Twenty years ago, Eddie was asking himself what his best chance was to make it to the top of the game. Safe to say he made it.

Q. How important is your law background to your position today? Would you recommend pursuing a law degree to students looking to build a career in soccer operations?

A. My law background is fundamental to my work in football. It's given me the foundation to think objectively and consider all sides of an issue. I'm a big proponent of graduate school to provide the framework for a job in sporting operations. The legal training helps me structure deals properly, understand MLS regulations, and work effectively with attorneys on both sides of transactions.

Q. Looking back on your ten years running an agency, what were the most important lessons you learned about entrepreneurship in sports that you think young founders often overlook? 

A. The most important lessons I learned were about respecting others while being aggressive in your aims and optimistic in your outlook. Too often, we create reasons for why something can't or won't happen. Having the confidence to take calculated risks is an important part of growing a business.

Q. What are the top characteristics and skills that you look for in candidates when hiring for positions within soccer operations?

A. People who excel in soccer operations are detail oriented, dependable, communicate clearly and display an outward passion for their work. Detail orientation is critical because our work involves complex contracts, transfer agreements, and roster compliance where small errors can have major consequences. Dependability matters because we operate on tight deadlines, especially during transfer windows—colleagues and partners need to trust you'll follow through. Clear communication is essential since you're constantly interfacing with agents, attorneys, league officials, and executives, requiring you to distill complex information for diverse audiences. Finally, passion separates good candidates from great ones—this industry demands long hours, and those who genuinely love the work and take pride in building successful rosters will thrive.

1. It Is Never Too Late to Pivot
Eddie shifted from coaching to law school to soccer operations, with each step opening a new path forward. Your first goal does not have to be your final destination.

2. Make Your Own Opportunities
Landing the MLS internship and starting Libero Sports, both stemmed from taking initiative when plans changed. If the path you want is not there, build it.

3. Your Reputation Is Everything. Show Up
Eddie built and maintained his reputation in the American soccer scene by consistently showing up at MLS events and staying connected to people in the league. That reputation was pivotal in landing his role with the Chicago Fire.

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