Commissioner Don Garber celebrates 25 years at the helm of Major League Soccer

Don Garber never pretended to know everything about soccer, but he did know business, and that’s served him well as the head of Major League Soccer for the past 25 years. He introduced the league’s marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing, encouraged the construction of soccer-specific stadiums and spurred the growth of an academy system to develop players in the United States. “There were so many challenges but I think the first was legitimacy, relevance, value and position in the major league landscape here in our country, where we were able to, you know drive opportunity, opportunity for players, opportunity for employees, opportunity for fans, opportunities for community,” Garber said. I really think those qualities are very important and very helpful to Don in leading Major League Soccer.” Among Garber’s notable accomplishments is the league’s academy system.