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Jesse Alan Marsch ( ; born November 8, 1973) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the head coach of the Canada men's national team. Marsch played 14 seasons as a midfielder in Major League Soccer (MLS) with D.C. United, Chicago Fire, and Chivas USA, winning three MLS Cup and four U.S. Open Cup titles, as well as earning two caps for the United States national team.
In 2010, Marsch retired from his playing career and became a coach, first serving as an assistant with the U.S. national team under Bob Bradley that reached the last 16 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He then became the inaugural head coach of the Montreal Impact upon its entry to MLS in 2012. In 2015, after a year-long stint as the assistant coach for his alma mater, the Princeton Tigers, Marsch was hired as head coach of the New York Red Bulls and stayed in the role through the first half of the 2018 MLS season. In his first year coaching the team, the Red Bulls won the Supporters' Shield and Marsch was named MLS Coach of the Year. He holds the record for most wins by a coach in franchise history.
In 2018, Marsch was appointed as an assistant coach at German Bundesliga club RB Leipzig under Ralf Rangnick; the team placed third in the league, was runner-up in the German Cup, and competed in the UEFA Europa League. The following season, Marsch was appointed the successor to Marco Rose as coach of Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga; he led the club to a league and Austrian Cup double in two consecutive seasons, as Salzburg made successive Champions League group stage appearances for the first time in club history. He returned to RB Leipzig as club coach for the 2021–22 season, leaving by mutual consent in December and joining Leeds United in February. He was sacked by Leeds in February 2023 and became coach of the Canadian national team in May 2024, where he subsequently led the team to finishing fourth place at the 2024 Copa América.
After the 2005 season, Marsch was transferred to Chivas USA, where Bradley was then coaching. At the time, he left the Fire as the club's all-time leader in regular season games played with 200 (he now sits sixth behind C. J. Brown, Logan Pause, Gonzalo Segares, Zach Thornton and Chris Armas). Marsch is one of three players to have played in each of the first 14 seasons of Major League Soccer. On February 5, 2010, he announced his retirement after four seasons with Chivas to enter coaching.
In August 2011, Marsch was unveiled as the first head coach of Major League Soccer expansion franchise Montreal Impact, starting play in 2012. In their first MLS game on March 10, the team lost 2–0 at fellow Canadians Vancouver Whitecaps. The club finished in 12th place with 42 points. After that one season, Marsch left the club in November 2012. Though team management had been emphatic about their satisfaction with Marsch's work, the differences in coaching philosophies between Marsch and the management of the club led to an "amicable" split.
In January 2017, Marsch was linked to taking over for Óscar García as the manager of Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. However, both New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg denied the reports. In July 2018, Marsch left the Red Bulls as the coach with the most wins in the club's history, with a record of 75–32–44. Chris Armas followed as new head coach.
During the 2020–21 season, Marsch led Salzburg to their third successive cup win, Marsch's second as coach, in a 3–0 win against LASK. Salzburg also won the Bundesliga, making it two doubles in a row.
In Marsch's first game as Leeds coach, the team lost 1–0 at Leicester City on March 5; they won at the third attempt eight days later, 2–1 at home to Norwich City. On May 22, Marsch guided Leeds to a 2–1 win away at Brentford to help the club avoid relegation in 17th position; it was the first time since 2011 that a team survived despite being in the relegation zone at the start of the final day.
Leeds only managed to pick up six points in their first 11 games of the 2022–23 season. In their 12th game, against title contenders Liverpool, Marsch guided Leeds to a 2–1 win away from home, their first win at Anfield since 2001 and becoming the first team to beat Liverpool there since Fulham in 2020–21. Leeds continued to struggle and only managed six points in their next eight games, which led to Marsch being sacked on February 6, 2023, with the club sitting 17th in the table. The club were relegated to the EFL Championship at the end of the 2022–23 season.
Marsch's debut on June 6 was a 4–0 friendly loss to the Netherlands at De Kuip, after which he said that it was important to play the best national teams to improve for the 2026 World Cup. Three days later his team drew 0–0 against the number 2 team in the FIFA Men's World Ranking, France, in Bordeaux.
At the 2024 Copa América in the United States – Canada's first entry in the CONMEBOL competition – Marsch lost 2–0 to World and South American champions Argentina in Canada's opening game, before a 1–0 win over Peru gave him the first victory of his spell. A goalless result against Chile in the final group game allowed the Canadians to advance as runners-up, before beating Venezuela on penalties in the quarterfinals. After a semifinal elimination by eventual champions Argentina, Canada contested the third place playoff against Uruguay, conceding an added-time equalizer by Luis Suárez and losing on penalties. Marsch said that despite the result, his team were ahead of where he thought they would be six weeks into his post.
After the Copa América, Marsch was linked with the national head coach job for the United States, who had fired Gregg Berhalter after a group stage elimination. Marsch said that he had no interest in the U.S. job and would never consider it unless there were changes in the United States Soccer Federation. He had previously been a candidate to replace Berhalter after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but the latter was re-hired; Marsch criticized the USSF, saying "I wasn't treated very well" in the application process.
Prior to the 2025 CONCACAF Nations League Finals, Marsch stated that he was ashamed of President Donald Trump's calls for the United States to annex Canada and called the idea "ridiculous". Canada took third place with a 2–1 win over the United States, but Marsch was sent off for arguing with referee Katia Itzel García over two penalty claims. He was suspended for two games at the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which Canada was eliminated in the quarter-finals after a penalty shootout loss to Guatemala.
| + Coaching record by team and tenure | |||
| Montreal Impact | August 10, 2011 | November 4, 2012 | |
| New York Red Bulls | January 7, 2015 | July 6, 2018 | |
| Red Bull Salzburg | June 6, 2019 | June 30, 2021 | |
| RB Leipzig | July 1, 2021 | December 5, 2021 | |
| Leeds United | February 28, 2022 | February 6, 2023 | |
| Canada B | January 17, 2026 | January 17, 2026 | |
| Canada | May 13, 2024 | Present | |
Chicago Fire
Red Bull Salzburg
Individual
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