Who is Chris Armas? What to know about KC Current’s new head coach & past stops

The Kansas City Current’s head coach vacancy came as a surprise to many. And the mystery of who will fill that role stands no longer.

The Current announced Wednesday morning that the club has hired Chris Armas as head coach.

Armas, 53, most recently coached the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer for the last two seasons.

Armas hasn’t coached women’s soccer since he was the head coach of Adelphi University — his alma mater — from 2011 to 2014.

Armas enjoyed an extremely successful playing career, making 265 appearances in the midfield for both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chicago Fire. In addition, he made 66 appearances for the United States Men’s National Team, but due to injury missed out on the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

After his playing career concluded in 2007, he joined the Fire as an assistant in 2008, and worked as a high school PE teacher and youth soccer coach before taking the job at Adelphi. In his four years there, Adelphi posted a 47-23-10 record and earned a berth in the Division II NCAA Championship Game.

Armas would then join the New York Red Bulls as an assistant before taking over midseason in 2018, when head coach Jesse Marsch left to coach Red Bull Salzburg. Armas was let go after the truncated 2020 season, and posted a record of 33-27-11 in MLS play.

He briefly led Toronto FC in 2021 but was fired after 11 games and a 1-8-2 record, following a 7-1 loss to D.C. United, the worst loss in the team’s history.

Armas joined Manchester United as an assistant under Ralf Rangnick during the latter’s interim spell in charge of the global giant. He then joined Marsch’s staff at Leeds until the summer of 2023.

Ahead of the 2024 season, Armas became the head coach of the Colorado Rapids, where he posted a 30-35-17 record in two seasons in charge, missing the playoffs on the final day in heartbreaking fashion in 2025.

Armas becomes the Current’s fourth full-time head coach since the Long family and Brittany Mahomes helped bring an NWSL franchise back to Kansas City in 2021. The Current’s winningest spell came under Vlatko Andonovski, who transitioned into the club’s sporting director role just a week after being eliminated in the first round of the 2025 NWSL Playoffs.

Under Andonovski’s leadership, the Current experienced success like they hadn’t before, posting a record of 37-6-9 in two NWSL seasons. In those two seasons, the Current accrued more wins, points and goals scored than the previous three seasons combined.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 10:27 AM.