Orlando Pride hire ex-KC Current GM Carducci as operations VP

Former Kansas City Current general manager Caitlin Carducci has been announced as the new vice president of soccer operations and GM of the Orlando Pride.

Carducci takes over the role left vacant by Haley Carter, who transformed the Pride into a championship team in 2024 before leaving for similar role with the Washington Spirit late last year.

Carducci said in an interview with ESPN that she does not plan on making major changes to the Pride, who followed up their NWSL Shield and Championship double by falling just short of another final last year. Her goal is to sustain success in Orlando.

“I think where I can come in immediately is to make us as efficient as possible as to how we operate,” Carducci told ESPN.

“And then on top of that, use that as a recruiting tool to make sure that players and agents understand that when they come here, this is a destination — how we operate, what the professional environment looks like for those players.

“That way, we can use the technical experts — Seb [Hines, head coach], [assistants] Giles [Barnes], Yolanda [Thomas], our amazing coaching staff — to really put them in the best position to develop their game and get to the top.”

Carducci previously worked as a manager of member programs at U.S. Soccer and the NWSL’s director of player affairs before joining Kansas City.

Her only full season as full-time general manager in Kansas City saw the Current win the NWSL Shield in record fashion, clearing the second-place Spirit by 21 points while conceding just 13 goals in 26 games.

She was initially thrust into the GM role on an interim basis in 2024 upon the departure of former Current general manager Cami Ashton. That year, the Current lost to Orlando in the semifinals in what has become a budding rivalry on the field over the past two seasons.

Carducci was originally hired as the Current’s director of soccer operations. She was ousted from her GM role in November, after the team’s surprising loss in the quarterfinals, as part of a major shake-up in Kansas City that saw Vlatko Andonovski relinquish his head coaching title to focus on being sporting director, and Ryan Dell take over as GM from his previous role as head of soccer operations.

“I took a heartbreaking loss, which is what we love about this game — again, anyone can win at any time — and understand that ownership wanted to go a different direction in Kansas City and they have every right to make those decisions, and I respect it,” Carducci said.

“I loved my time there. There are still many people at the club that I care deeply about and hopefully will continue to have working and personal relationships with them. But the decision is what the decision is and at this point, I’m here in Orlando and ready to get to work down here and try and do everything I can to make this the best club possible.”

Just over a week elapsed from Carducci’s firing and the reorganizing announcement in Kansas City, the announcement of Carter’s departure from Orlando, and the phone call from Bloom Recruiting, which helped the Pride with its search.

“Really excited to get a call like that,” Carducci said. “Especially in life, going through a transition like I did, to hear that your services are respected and wanted, but more than anything, the platform and the foundation of this club — this type of job is usually not open.

“When you have a club of this caliber and the success that they’ve had specifically in the last two years, usually a job like this is a rebuild or a tear-down to build it back up, and that’s not what this is in the slightest. [I] was really excited to get the phone call.”

Carducci considers Carter a friend and colleague and said that Carter was one of the first people to call her following the news of her departure from Kansas City. During the hiring process in Orlando, the two spoke about the job and opportunity with the Pride — something Carducci said she was encouraged to do anyway by Pride owner Mark Wilf.

“Caitlin is a proven leader whose experience across every level of women’s soccer and history of building championship-caliber rosters set her apart,” Wilf said in a statement “She emerged as the clear choice in our search with her deep expertise, strong reputation and a vision that aligns with our culture. Caitlin is the ideal person to elevate the strong foundation we have established and position the Pride for sustained success.”

Carducci said that ownership’s trust in its staff was a major selling point for her to take the job.

“It was very clear that they know what they want, they know what type of person they want, and I am thrilled that I met those requirements for them,” she said.

Her first conversations with Hines, the 2024 NWSL Coach of the Year, were that of “collaboration and alignment.”

Carducci said she has been brought up to speed on recent roster developments, none of which (including the recent transfer of defender Emily Sams to Angel City) she was previously involved in.

Orlando grinded through the 2025 season, ultimately finishing fourth and falling to Gotham FC in stoppage time of the semifinal. The team spent the second half of the season without star forward Barbra Banda, who was injured.

Sams’ absence in the back leaves a void, as does the absence of Kylie Nadaner, who missed the backend of last season and is pregnant and expecting her first child in May.

Carducci is quickly getting up to speed on what those and other changes mean in the short-term while trying to plan for the long-term.

“We really need to make sure that this is a sustainable roster as we look at players coming off of contract, prioritizing those, and using any of these new roster rules if and when they come into effect, how they come into effect — the High Impact Player rule, how we want to utilize that is going to be a big thing for every team in the league,” Carducci said.

“I think that’s one that we definitely will look into and with the blessing of ownership from an investment standpoint will be happy to utilize. And then I think it’s also just, how do we achieve the success going forward? Nobody wants to be a flash in the pan.”