(By MATHEUS V. CARVALHO)

With dimmed green lights under the sound of trumpets and drums, the crowd at local bar Takoba Austin chanted “ole, ole, ole, Austin FC” to welcome the professional soccer team’s newly-hired sporting director, Claudio Reyna.

Reyna was officially presented to the public during a meet and greet event put on by the Major League Soccer expansion team Dec. 3.

Social media movements like #MLS2ATX mobilized many of the fans in attendance to be part of the push for Austin’s first professional sports franchise of any kind.

“It is incredibly exciting to be the only club here in a major professional sport,” Reyna said.

The arrival of Reyna to Austin FC has risen expectations among fans as to how his ideas surrounding soccer will affect the club during its formation.

In addition to Reyna, Austin FC’s majority owner and CEO Anthony Precourt and head coach Josh Wolff were on hand to answer questions.

Most were centered on the topic of building a new competitive team from scratch, along with next steps.

Wolff said that one of the priorities for Austin FC is to get the staff on board. He talked about the scouting staff and how important it is to establish a good structure in order to bring players to the team and find a playing style.

“Building up a scouting network, identifying a playing style, identifying player profiles that we want. I think it is important players that cost money it is really important that you bring them into an environment and a style of play that fits them,” Wolff said.

From his perspective, Reyna emphasized the importance of putting together a staff at this stage.

“Coaching staff, performance staff, scouting department and the team operation — everybody is crucial to our success,” Reyna said.

Reyna also commented on the use of under-14 youth academies to start building up a base for what the main team might look like, as well as to prepare future players for the senior team.

The possibility of open team tryouts was another idea mentioned by Reyna. He said that kind of selection process would be important for the team’s identity.

“Something that I really want to do is really get to know the Austin community, the soccer, influencers that have been here for many years,” Reyna said. “It is important that we get to know that aspect of it.”

Reyna’s vision for the team seemed to not only excite the fans gathered, but also the majority owner.

Precourt highlighted how Reyna’s experience with expansion teams and his extensive network was attractive when hiring the new sporting director. Reyna was the first professional hired for the 2013 MLS expansion team New York City FC and led the club to its debut in 2015 with big names on the roster such as David Villa and Andrea Pirlo.

Reyna said New York’s sports market, unlike Austin’s, is extremely clustered. Because of that he sought to hire big names in order to cut through the clutter of so many big sports franchises within the New York metro area.

“We’ve talked about it a little bit here [signing big-name players]. Probably the strategy will be a little bit different, but we are open to explore sort of a big-name player,” Reyna said.

But Reyna added that he’s more concerned about players who can make an impact on the field and perform well to bring good results.

With a little more than a year to go until Austin FC’s MLS debut, Reyna and the team’s board are focused on building a solid staff with a good base in order to start strong in 2021, the club’s inaugural season.

“The opportunity is amazing,” Reyna said. “To think what we can do here together with this city and really make it Austin’s team.”