Former Inter Miami sporting director Chris Henderson will join Atlanta United in the same role, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the move confirmed The athlete on Monday. These sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about Henderson’s appointment.

The move is immediate, these sources said, as Atlanta sends a second-round pick in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft to Miami as compensation – Henderson was under contract with the club.

Henderson joined Inter Miami in 2021 and was at the club during the arrival of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets. The former United States international is highly regarded in MLS and has been partly responsible for some of Miami’s successes – a Leagues Cup triumph in 2023 and the Supporters’ Shield championship this season.

Henderson was also largely responsible for guiding the club through the severe financial and roster penalties MLS imposed on him prior to his arrival after Miami violated the league’s roster regulations.

Despite all this, his departure is not a huge surprise as his influence at the club was beginning to wane. Miami restructured its sports operations in June by hiring former FC Barcelona manager Raul Sanllehi as president of soccer operations, somewhat clouding Henderson’s role. In recent weeks, Miami’s owners have responded cautiously when asked about Henderson’s future, and Sanllehi has become the face of the sports team, appearing at news conferences and being quoted in press releases.

Henderson’s appointment in Atlanta reunites him with the club’s president, Garth Lagerwey, with whom Henderson worked for six years at the Seattle Sounders, from 2016 until his departure from Miami in 2021. During Henderson’s tenure in Seattle, the Founded in 2008, the club have often been dominant, winning two MLS Cups and four US Open Cups. In Atlanta, Henderson will replace outgoing technical director Carlos Bocanegra, who was fired in September.

Henderson has long been a familiar face in the world of American soccer. A World Cup veteran, Henderson was a key part of the USMNT in the early to mid-1990s and also had a successful club career, playing in Norway and Germany before playing for numerous MLS teams. Henderson retired in 2006.

(Marco Bello/AFP via Getty Images)