Kevin Tenjo was hired to be Brooklyn FC's first Sporting Director on December 10. The 29-year-old was born in New York but raised in Colombia and played professionally as a goalkeeper, first for Independiente Santa Fe in Bogotá at the youth levels before moving to America at 20 to join the New York Cosmos. Tenjo was with the Cosmos from 2016-2020, mainly featuring for Cosmos B in the National Premier Soccer League. He overlapped with Brooklyn FC's CEO Maxmilian Mansfield at the end of his playing career with New Amsterdam FC in the National Independent Soccer Association.
Once retired, Tenjo was a youth coach and scout, praised by Brooklyn FC in his hiring announcement for his "vast experience in talent identification and recruitment." That experience included working for the TSF Academy, the DV7 Academy, at Kean University, and for Queensboro FC.
Now, he's a Sporting Director working in the USL Championship and Super League. We met virtually to discuss numerous topics related to his background and his new dual role, including what he's learned from his time navigating varied parts of the New York soccer landscape, what he hopes to create in Brooklyn, and how he and the club will approach building a men's team for 2026.
Note: The interview below was edited for length and clarity.
Hudson River Blue: Congrats on the new role, a big step for you. You've been a goalkeeper, a youth coach, scout, you've done a lot of different things, so what made this role as Sporting Director for Brooklyn the right one at this moment in your career?
Kevin Tenjo: It's an amazing step, very exciting, very important. I have been involved in soccer around New York for a long time. You know, I played professionally in Colombia, played professionally here. So I think it was the right time because it's an exciting project, a huge project in the city, which New Yorkers are excited about. I feel a part of the New York community, so trying to help in this project, it's amazing.
HRB: What are the things that made you feel the most aligned when talking to the front office, ownership, and leadership of Brooklyn FC? What's the shared vision between you and them that made this feel like the right thing for you? What philosophically guides you in the role as you take it on?
KT: My philosophy that I want to implement here in the organization, it's basically what I want is to build a multicultural team in every aspect, with everyone aligned with the same mentality, which is, hey, New York is not an easy city, right? It's a top city, a city that we all love. So that's what I want from the front office to the players: People that want to be here. Leadership that I want to implement is having the right people, having the right people is the key, and that everyone goes in the same direction, aligning with the mentality of winning and working hard.
HRB: What's it been like in the early days of working with the Brooklyn ownership and leadership? What makes you confident that what they're now building here is sustainable on both the men's and women's side, and able to withstand the toughness of the New York soccer market? What about their vision made it extra appealing for you to come in?
KT: The ownership group, it's an amazing group. They have experience in these aspects of building teams, building new projects from almost zero. So it's good to have them backing up everyone here, in this case, me, as the sporting director leading this project on the the women's and men's side. Having them, it's really amazing and gives me the confidence to build this project in the right direction. That's the key for me, you know, having them there behind me supporting the decisions that I take in any aspect.
HRB: It's unique in American soccer to have men's and women's teams within one organization like Brooklyn is doing. Now that you're in as sporting director of both men's and women's teams, what does that look like?
KT: I'm very focused on both. Right now, as the women's team is ongoing already, and we have an amazing staff led by Jessica [Silva, Brooklyn's Super League coach], who is doing an amazing job, it's a little bit easier. Because it's already there. I'm there for support and to give some fresh ideas to Jessica and to the staff, to try to help them with what they need and their needs. With the men, we have a year, right? Which is the decision that we took for the benefit of us, for the benefit of the people, the fans, everyone. Because what we want to give them is, you know, the best experience possible. So that's kind of the difference. But to answer your questions, yes, I'm very focused on both sides of the table.
Building on early Super League success
HRB: What's your take on the way the teams have been built in the USL Super League in its first year, and what the league has done for the talent pool of women players in America? Will it become a league of destination, where you guys are bringing in talent from abroad, or competing for some of the bigger women's players? How do you see it progressing from where it is now?
KT: USL is doing an amazing job with the league, right? It's a new league, so at the same time, we are trying to bring in the best talent. Honestly, what I see from talking to people, talking to agents, talking to players, they really want to come to the USL Super League. They do want it, so it's not just that, 'Oh, I don't have the opportunity to go to NWSL, so I go to USL,' no. Some of the players, hey, 'I'm excited to go to USL.' I think it's a very exciting league.
HRB: The Brooklyn women's team is top of the table at the winter break in the USL Super League, is there a double-edged sword to that success? Building a successful team from the first season here in the Super League, will it become harder now that some of these players are maybe gaining more attention and on the radar of other teams? Do you expect you'll have to work through moving players along because they're successful and drawing outside interest?
KT: As we are in the first position in the table, we receive calls, you know, we receive some interest from other clubs in our players, which is good. That means we are doing a great job, Jessica and the staff are doing a great job. So we have to be prepared because this is a long-term thing.
We are not just focused on now, but we are focused on the future. So as we are playing right now and we are developing the players and we're in First Place, we are also thinking of in the future. What we can bring, what we can do better, what we can improve, you know, in the players, in the organization, in the young talent to develop, maybe bring another top, top player, you know? So it's, as I said before, this is not just the right now, but it's a long-term thing. So really we are thinking ahead of everything. It's hard to manage those things, but at the same time, it's exciting, because as I said before, that means we are doing a great job with the staff, with the coaches, with the players. The players are happy with the way we're working, so that means a lot.
HRB: As you look at the USL, this feels like a period of stability. There's expansion and new markets adding teams, more money flowing into USL, stadiums being built. What's your stance on the current state of the USL, does it feel like you're at a growth point where it's gonna keep getting bigger?
KT: USL is doing an amazing job, as I said before. The league is growing up and growing up and growing up. Every year, more teams, as you say, and more stadiums, more fans. You can see, like, now you can see in every stadium, like, hey, there is fans. A couple years ago, if you were not in MLS, it was hard to find. So we are building credibility to the fans base in every team. And now with the Super League, it's another plus. Another plus to keep building, to keep growing, to keep building the league. I think we cannot compare the USL now and the lower leagues years ago, because the system has been changed a lot, the soccer system in the U.S., but definitely I think USL is doing a great job.
Coney Island, USL Championship in focus
HRB: The big story late last year was the fact that Brooklyn FC couldn't play on Coney Island due to the turf issues at Maimonides Park. How confident or certain are you and the rest of the front office that you'll have the home stadium available and be able to play there when the spring season kicks off for the women's team, and just in general, long term?
KT: Yeah, we are all set for our first game in Coney Island. And we're excited for that day, and we want to see all our fans over there. So yeah, we're all set to start playing over there, everything is resolved. What happened, the conditions weren't very safe for the players. Safety of our players is first, so that's why we had to move to Columbia, but right now, everything is all set, yeah.
HRB: With the delayed start in the USL Championship now in 2026, what does this next year look like for the men's team? Does it start with a Head Coach first? Do you want to have a coach in the fold who can work in alignment with you to make sure you're getting the kind of players that fit with their philosophy?
KT: Yeah, definitely, my plan is to have a coach as soon as possible. I have been in conversation with some coaches, and the idea is to have the coach as soon as possible to start working on it all together, with the vision of what the club wants, with the same mentality, with the same ambition, with the same goals. The idea is to have the coach by the end of summer, if not sooner.
HRB: Is there extra pressure to make sure that the men's team gets off to a good start when it launches in 2026? How important is initial season success, for drawing people in and making sure the team makes a mark right away?
KT: For us, it's going to be always important to win, you know, and to get results, and to be there in every aspect, to be doing great in every aspect. So that's kind of the mentality that I want to that I want to implement. And following the success of the of the women's team, which is winning, winning, winning, winning, we're top of the table, six points ahead of the second one. So it's amazing, you know, and definitely that's what I want to implement in the in the in the men's team, it's going to be important for us.
Standing out in NYC
HRB: Max Mansfield, Brooklyn FC's CEO, spoke to me last April about the importance of youth development and the academy build-out for Brooklyn. With your background in youth coaching, how central will that be as a strategy to building, especially on the men's side, where you're you don't have a roster yet? You guys have a UPSL team, so is that an area where you're focusing on building that team up to try to find players who might be ready to step up to the USL Championship in 2026?
KT: Definitely, we want to build a pathway, a pathway to pro on both sides. On the women's side, you know, it's harder, and in this area there is not a straight pathway, a good pathway to pro on the women's side. We have Gotham here, and they have partnerships with some academies, but at the same time, they don't have their own academy.
So, listen, we're trying to build something spectacular for the organization. Definitely, yes, we want to build a pathway for the men's side and for the women's, to give the opportunity to young talent, local talent. There is a lot of talent in New York, you know, in men's and women's, so we want to build that to give them the opportunity to be close to us. One of the things I want to build is a culture in an organization where everyone feels that it's their team, like, this is my thing, I want to support this because I feel this is mine, you know? I want to build that on both sides.
HRB: You've experienced a full slate of non-MLS teams in New York City attempting to launch and become viable and play while not being a part of the MLS ecosystem. From your time with the New York Cosmos, New Amsterdam FC, and Queensboro, FC, what have you learned from all those very different experiences is going to help you now that you're in this role with Brooklyn, basically trying again to get this kind of team viable and sustainable over the long-term?
KT: It's a tough market, right? It's not for everyone, to launch a team in New York City. As I said before, we are happy and fortunate that we have this group of ownership that has experience and they support every decision and they're there to try to build this in the right way. I also think it's, you know, don't give up. They are people that don't give up. It's the underdog mentality, which is: Survive and fight and work hard every day, night and day. That's, for me, that is gonna be a key for our success in launching a team in Brooklyn. The women's team is already there, we are doing great, and that's what we want for the men's team, too.