Why new KC Current coach looks to Vlatko Andonovski, literally and figuratively
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Vlatko Andonovski has shifted to Kansas City Current sporting director.
- Chris Armas was hired as head coach to maintain tactical continuity and growth.
- Owners prioritized continuity, international expansion and club development.
Until a few weeks ago, Vlatko Andonovski and Chris Armas had never spoken or met in person. But that didn’t mean they didn’t have a certain sense of each other.
From a distance, Armas said Thursday alongside Andonovski, he’d admired the U.S. women’s national teams Andonovski coached from 2019 through 2023 and appreciated the style of play. That impression, along with later watching video of Andonovski’s Kansas City Current team, made Armas feel he knew “what was inside his brain” without even talking to him.
Meanwhile, Andonovski beamed as he revealed he’d been on a panel of voters that in 2024 selected Armas for the 2025 U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame class.
“Did you vote for me or against me?” Armas joked.
With a laugh, Andonovski said, “Of course. You got it, right?”
When Armas playfully noted it had taken a while for him to make it (he was elected through the veteran ballot), Andonovski smiled and said, “Until I got on the panel.”
That process proved to be a precursor to another affirmation Andonovski bestowed upon Armas, one that became part of them sitting beside each other at CPKC Stadium in new roles for each:
Armas as the Kansas City Current’s new coach and Andonovski as the club’s global sporting director, a job to which he transitioned after guiding the Current to a 37-6-9 record in two NWSL seasons — including a record-setting 2025 regular season.
Co-owners and founders Angie and Chris Long launched and effectively led the search that resulted in hiring Armas after they had mutually determined with Andonovski that Andonovski would expand his developmental role as part of the club’s world-wide vision, including its acquisition last year of the Danish soccer club HB Køge Women and likely more international ventures in the future.
But while it was through a longtime trusted connection of the Longs — Canadian men’s national team coach Jesse Marsch — that Armas became the nearly immediate favorite for the Current job, Andonovski officially was part of what constituted a three-person hiring committee.
And while he seems likely to have had sentiments for assistant coaches Milan Ivanovic and Freya Coombe, whom he called “strong candidates” internally in an interview with ESPN in November, Andonovski also told the team in a meeting that he would maintain his coaching duties until they found the right fit to replace him.
That turned out to be Armas, despite the fact the former MLS star and coach of three teams in the league hasn’t coached women’s soccer since 2014 when he finished a four-year stint as the head women’s coach at Adelphi University — his alma mater.
While they had known each other only by reputation before, a connection between Armas and Andonovski seemed apparent promptly to Chris Long.
Despite the difference in technical or strategic terminology each might use, he said, they found what Long called a “love language” virtually right away as they shared in watching Current videos — including some Armas cut himself and, he said, hoped would impress Andonovski.
“I see how he’s seeing the game,” Armas said.
Seeking all the “little cues and clues” of who Andonovski is as he considered the job, Armas also appreciated watching him interact with Current players while watching the NCAA Women’s College Cup (Final Four) at CKPC in early December.
What he witnessed was the love players had for Andonovski and a sort of living, breathing representation of a culture he wanted to join.
From Andonovski’s perspective, he was taken with Armas’ passion for the game and could tell they saw the game very similarly — a point that was important to Andonovski personally and professionally to assure what he called “continuity in this process.”
“We don’t want to take a step back before we move forward,” Andonovski said, later adding that Armas had an understanding of where the club is, what it’s doing and “the little things that we can improve on … to get better moving forward.”
For his part, Armas certainly seemed attuned to being part of something bigger than himself even as he spoke of seeking the places where the team and the process can get 1% better.
With his very first words at the introductory press conference, for instance, he acknowledged the presence of staff in the room — including Ivanovic and Coombe — and said, “I’m falling in love with them already.”
Moreover, as Armas spoke he repeatedly glanced toward the Longs, sitting to his right, and some 25 or more times he turned his shoulders toward Andonovski on his left.
The dynamic seemed a combination of engagement, respect and deference in the fledgling relationships.
Armas’ body language also included realizing he was sitting on the edge of his seat most of the news conference.
It’s also a posture he hopes Current fans will continue to find themselves in often as he sets out to enhance a thriving operation while succeeding an immensely popular coach.
A daunting task, Armas acknowledged, but more desirable and promising to start in tandem with Andonovski’s presence ... and another vote for him.