NEIL MCGUINNESS
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Neil McGuinness joined LAFC on May 13, 2024 as the first Technical Director in team history.
He most recently worked for the Columbus Crew, where he spent the last five years as the Director of Scouting and Player Recruitment. A key member of the Crew Technical Staff, McGuinness helped build the Crew rosters that won MLS Cup in 2020 and 2023, Campeones Cup in 2021, and advanced to the final of the upcoming 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup.
Before joining the Crew, McGuinness served as the Senior Player Recruiter for the Qatar Football Association from 2015 to 2018, where he was responsible for the identification and recruitment of players to represent the Qatar National Team. During that time, he also worked as a scout for Qatar’s Aspire Academy and as a consultant to teams in the top divisions in England, France, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Spain.
A native of Scotland, McGuinness has experience in the Scottish Premiership as the First Team Senior Scout for Celtic Football Club. With Celtic, McGuiness was responsible for first team player scouting and international recruiting in addition to opposition analysis for European competitions.