Miami FC names Octavio Zambrano as general manager, soccer chief

Miami FC named Octavio Zambrano its new general manager on July 23 and paired the move with executive vice president of soccer duties for Sports Performance Hub, handing one man authority that reaches beyond a standard front-office hire. The club also described Zambrano as a decorated manager, a clear sign that this was built as a soccer-first decision, not just an administrative shuffle.

The structure of the job says plenty about where Miami FC wants to go next. In the USL Championship, a general manager can shape roster construction, scouting, technical planning and the long-term direction of the club, and Zambrano’s dual title suggests Miami wants one voice guiding all of that while also linking the first team to Sports Performance Hub. Miami’s social posts underscored the same point, welcoming him as executive vice president of Sports Performance Hub’s soccer vertical and general manager of Miami FC.

That broader platform matters because Sports Performance Hub describes itself as an integrated ecosystem focused on performance and education. Put together with the GM title, the hire looks like more than a personnel change. It reads as an attempt to merge soccer operations, player development and performance infrastructure into a single chain of command, the kind of reset clubs often chase when they want clearer standards and quicker alignment from the front office to the training ground.

Zambrano brings a résumé built for that kind of mandate. Octavio Zambrano Viera was born on Feb. 3, 1958, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and has held coaching roles with Canada Soccer and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Canada Soccer once presented him as the new head coach of its men’s national team program, with oversight running from the senior side down through the U-14 level, a background that points to broad technical oversight rather than a narrow administrative role.

The move also fits Miami FC’s recent pattern of using leadership changes to reshape its sporting identity. The club appointed Paul Dalglish as general manager on Nov. 13, 2019, then announced Michael Williamson as CEO and shifted Dalglish into the dual role of technical director and head coach on Oct. 15, 2020. More recently, Miami FC announced Todd Eason as its first general manager in a new era on Nov. 25, 2025, and said players at its 2026 open tryouts would be evaluated by Eason, Gaston Maddoni and their staff.

That history makes Zambrano’s arrival feel like a reset with urgency behind it. Miami FC is not just changing a title holder; it is signaling a new center of gravity, one that puts soccer decisions, organizational structure and performance planning under the same roof.