Nick De Santis - Sporting Director

Nick De Santis begins his second year as the club’s sporting director, following his appointment on January 31, 2011. Along with supervising the First Team, he also oversees all of the technical aspects of the three Academy teams (U21, U18, U16), as well as the soccer schools.

He has the unique distinction of winning the league championship with the Impact in all three positions that he has held so far with the club, triumphing as a player in 1994, as head coach in 2004 and as technical director in 2009.

De Santis has been the club’s technical director since June 2008 and was the architect of the team that won the Nutrilite Canadian Championship in 2008, a team that went on to qualify for the quarterfinal round of the CONCACAF Champions League in February 2009.

De Santis also coached the Impact for six seasons from 2004 to 2008, and acted on an interim basis in 2011, registering 76 career wins, 33 losses and 34 ties, in 143 games. De Santis was a finalist for the Coach of the Year award in his first three seasons at the helm of the Impact (2004-2006) and won the award in 2005. He led Montreal to the league championship in 2004, as well as regular-season titles in 2005 and 2006.

As a player, De Santis played 219 career games in 10 seasons with the Impact, from 1993 to 1998 and from 2000 to 2003, and sits in second place in team history for games played and fourth for goals scored (21). He helped the Impact win the league championship in 1994 and three regular-season championships, in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

He began his professional career with the Montreal Supra in 1987, in the Canadian Soccer League, and also with Raleigh Capital Express, in the North American second division.

He also played eight seasons in indoor professional soccer, with Kansas City, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto.

Internationally, De Santis played a total of nine games with the Canadian Senior National Team, and scored his lone goal in his very first game, in a friendly game against Peru in 1988. He also played for Canada’s World Cup Qualifying team in 1997. He finished first with Canada at the 1986 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship, beating the United States in Trinidad & Tobago. In 1987, he represented Canada at the FIFA World Youth Championship, in Chile, and in the Pan American Games, in Indianapolis.