Former Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg will be the next manager of Major League Soccer’s St. Louis City SC, a source briefed on the club’s coaching search confirmed Saturday. The 47-year-old will replace interim head coach John Hackworth, who will remain with the club in his previous role as an assistant coach and director of coaching, the sources said.
ESPN was the first to report the news.
Mellberg is currently at the helm of Swedish side IF Brommapojkarna, where he coached the club to a 10th-place finish in the Allsvenskan, the Swedish first division, but will be out of a contract at year’s end.
Mellberg now joins a St. Louis team that has been without a full-time coach since the dismissal of Bradley Carnell, the club’s first-ever coach, in July. Following Carnell’s departure, Hackworth was also considered for the full-time job, the sources said.
Mellberg’s current stint at Brommapojkarna is not his first; he coached the club to promotion in successive seasons from 2015 to 2017 and had brief stays at Swedish sides Fremad Amager and Helsingborgs IF in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Mellberg had a lengthy and distinguished playing career, most notably featuring for Aston Villa during a seven-season stretch in the early 2000s. Mellberg also spent time in La Liga with Villareal and a host of other clubs. He was at one point the captain of Sweden’s national team and appeared in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
After a stellar first season which saw the club finish first in MLS’ Western Conference, St. Louis City stalled this year, finishing 12th in the West and missing the playoffs by a full 10 points.
(Photo: Neville Williams / Aston Villa FC)
