Roc Nation Sports International (RNSI), the entertainment and sports management company, has hired former US international player Chris Wingert to lead the expansion of its soccer operations into North America.
As well as recruiting players in the territory, RNSI will seek to maximize opportunities for its Europe-based athletes that want to make the move across the Atlantic.
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Roc Nation's on-pitch player representation business will be supported by its commercial, media, social, digital, and communications departments.
Wingert, who played in Major League Soccer for 14 years, joins RNSI as director of soccer in North America.
During his career, he played for Colorado Rapids, New York City FC, Columbus Crew, and Real Salt Lake, as well as the US men's national team.
He retired in 2018 and moved into player representation shortly after.
Juan Perez, founder and president of Roc Nation Sports, and Michael Yormark, president of RNSI, opened the company’s London office in September 2019 to build out its European operations having signed up several high-profile players.
The RNSI stable presently includes Belgian internationals Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan) and Axel Witsel (Borussia Dortmund), Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Eric Bailly, Villareal's Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze, Italy’s Federico Bernardeschi, and England defenders Tyrone Mings and Reece James.
In 2020, the agency appointed Alan Redmond as head of football to expand its presence in the sport.
RNSI is a division of Roc Nation, which was founded in 2013 by Shawn Carter, the US rapper and music producer better known as Jay-Z.
