Issa Tall — General Manager

Tall, named the Crew’s sixth full-time General Manager on June 6, 2024, joined the Crew as Assistant General Manager of Player Personnel & Strategy in 2019 and has significantly impacted Club-wide personnel decisions and long-term planning during the past six campaigns. He also oversaw the team’s scouting, player personnel and analytics processes in his previous position.

In his tenure, the Crew claimed two MLS Cups in the past four seasons (2020 and 2023) and won the 2021 Campeones Cup. In 2024, the Club reached its first Concacaf Champions Cup Final after becoming the only MLS side in tournament history to defeat two Liga MX clubs (Tigres UANL and CF Monterrey) in the knockout rounds on the path to the championship match.

Tall served an integral role in the Club’s hiring of Head Coach Wilfried Nancy in December 2022, as well as the Club’s acquisition of top international talent while emphasizing the importance of elevating player performance throughout the Crew organization. In 2023, the Crew and Nancy, a back-to-back finalist for the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year Award, lifted the MLS Cup; tied a franchise record with 57 points (third in the MLS Supporters’ Shield); posted a MLS-best 67 regular season goals, their first time pacing the league in the category; and led the league and set Club standards in many major statistical categories for performance at home.

The success in 2023 occurred following one of the Crew’s most active summer transfer windows, highlighted by the incoming transfers of 2020 MLS Golden Boot winner Diego Rossi and Yevhen Cheberko, the outgoing transfer of Lucas Zelarayán and trades for Julian Gressel and Rudy Camacho. The Crew also received tremendous contributions from talent developed within the Club: Homegrown Midfielder Aidan Morris, a 2023 MLS All-Star and Under 22 presented by BODYARMOR selection; 2022 MLS NEXT Pro Goalkeeper of the Year Patrick Schulte and Homegrown Midfielder/Defender Sean Zawadzki, who both received their first U.S. Men’s National Team call-ups; and 2022 MLS NEXT Pro Best XI Defender Mohamed Farsi.

Tall’s contributions were paramount as the Crew executed the highest-profile transfers in club history to land 2020 MLS Cup MVP and 2021 MLS All-Star Lucas Zelarayán in 2020 from Liga MX’s Tigres UANL; 2023 MLS Cup MVP and MLS Best XI Forward Cucho Hernández from the English Premier League’s Watford F.C. in 2022; and Rossi from Turkish Süper Lig side Fenerbahçe S.K during the 2023 summer transfer window. He also fostered the Club’s trade with Atlanta United in 2020 to acquire 2022 MLS All-Star and Captain Darlington Nagbe, one of the most respected players and decorated champions in MLS history.

Last year, Crew 2 also claimed back-to-back Eastern Conference championships after winning the inaugural MLS NEXT Pro Cup in 2022, while the Crew Academy was named the 2023 MLS Mark Abbott Club Awards Academy of the Year by its peers.

Additionally, Tall has been pivotal to ensuring Crew players, coaches, technical staff and their family members have top-notch resources and amenities to succeed on and off the pitch, particularly with his oversight to establish the OhioHealth Performance Center in June 2021.

Prior to Columbus, Tall gained critical experience at FIFA’s Headquarters in Zurich (2016-2019), where he worked in the Federation’s Team Services and Competition Department – the group responsible for organizing the World Cup and other FIFA competitions. He was a primary liaison for all international delegations participating in major FIFA tournaments, including the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil and the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, he led the revision and implementation of the current FIFA World Rankings.

Tall established a strong foundation in Major League Soccer as a key contributor to Toronto FC’s Player Personnel and Scouting Department (2014-15) and MLS Headquarters’ the Player Competition Department in 2013). With TFC, he directed the formation of the Club’s scouting and analytics processes and resources.

A native of Mulhouse, France, Tall graduated from Adelphi University, where he made 41 appearances and posted 24 goals from 2009-2011 before working as an assistant coach. Prior to his college career, Tall competed with RC Strasbourg Academy and helped the club win the French National Cup in 2006 and two Regional Championships 2003 and 2004.