Toronto FC announced today that Pierre Barrieu has been named the club’s Director of High Performance.
“Pierre brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our club having worked at the highest levels of the game,” said Toronto FC General Manager Ali Curtis. “Excited about the positive impact he will have on our team’s overall health, fitness and conditioning.”
Barrieu, the former strength and conditioning coach for the United States Men’s National Team, most recently worked with the LA Galaxy as their director of high performance. Barrieu began his coaching career at the University of Virginia in 1999, holding a dual role as an assistant coach and strength and conditioning coach with the men’s soccer program. He then joined US Soccer as head fitness coach for the National Team, Olympic team and U-20 team in 2002 and remained until 2007. After one season at New York Red Bulls, Barrieu re-joined the U.S. National Team in 2008 and remained through 2011. During this time with the National Team, Barrieu was part of the staff at three FIFA World Cup’s (2002, 2006, 2010), five Concacaf Gold Cups (2002, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011), two U-20 World Cups (2003, 2005) and two FIFA Confederations Cup’s (2003, 2009). He then joined the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) Football Association as the head fitness coach for the Men’s National Team then as an assistant coach with the U-19 team. In 2014, Barrieu held the position of director of high performance for English side, Sheffield Wednesday F.C. and later joined Norwegian club, Stabaek Fotball as a senior consultant. From there, he joined French club, Le Havre AC as the director of high performance (2015-16) and then as head fitness coach for Swansea City A.F.C. (2016-17). Following his time in Europe, Barrieu joined the LA Galaxy in 2017.
“I think that joining TFC is a great opportunity. The organization is known to be one of the very best in MLS and I am looking forward to keep building a winning culture, optimizing the performance structure while taking advantage of the wealth of resources MLSE provide,” said Toronto FC Director of High Performance Pierre Barrieu.
In addition to his extensive experience at the club and national team level, Barrieu also serves as a High Performance Expert and instructor with FIFA since 2014. He holds two “A” coaching licences from UEFA (FFF) and the U.S. Soccer Federation.
