MILFORD, Ohio — FC Cincinnati has a new general manager.
The club announced the hire of Gerard Nijkamp on Thursday morning, hours ahead of a press conference in which the team said it will make a “major club announcement."
The 49-year-old comes to Cincinnati from the Netherlands, where he served as the technical director for PEC Zwolle since 2012.
Nijkamp will oversee roster management; roster budget and salary cap administration; player acquisition and scouting; sporting data analysis; overseeing the first-team coaching staff, sports performance and medical staffs and the youth development programs.
Officials will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. at the club’s Mercy Health Training Center in Milford.
The announcement came weeks after a Major League Soccer source confirmed the club was looking for a new general manager.
The search predates the firing of head coach Alan Koch, who led the team from its successful run in the United Soccer League to an inglorious start in MLS, and doesn’t mean longtime president and GM Jeff Berding is going anywhere.
FC Cincinnati relieved Koch of his duties on May 7. Berding in a press release cited a deterioration in the team culture as the main reason for the firing.
The team named assistant coach Yoann Damet as interim head coach.
