The Vancouver Whitecaps have confirmed a move in their front office, with the club announcing Friday that Nikos Overheul has been hired as their director of recruitment.
Overheul first joined the club as a consultant last October with an extensive background working in soccer analytics. He most recently worked at analytics company StatsBomb as the head of technical scouting and previously spent time as a team analyst and first-team scout with English Championship side Brentford FC and Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland before working as a consultant for clubs all over the world.
“Over the last two years, we have invested a lot of time and resources into elevating our recruitment philosophy and process,” Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster said in Friday's release. “The changes we’ve made have been gradual and with purpose. We are very pleased to add someone of Nikos’ expertise and skills to lead the team, while complementing him with a talented group of scouts.”
The club announced further additions to the recruitment department in first-team scouts Dave Dir and Kevin Antunes, as well as longtime member of the club Steve Meadley as the college scout and Homegrown player manager.
Dir returned to the club near the end of 2019 as a consultant after previously working as the chief scout during Vancouver’s first two MLS seasons, while Meadley has been a full-time member of the club since 2005, as a coach and scout in varying roles from the academy to the first team.
