David Santos will serve as Acting Head Coach for the 2026 season. In this capacity, Santos oversees the program’s training environment, match preparation, opponent scouting, player development, recruiting, tactical planning, and game-day management.
Santos brings an established coaching background within the New York City soccer community. His coaching experience includes Central Park Rangers, Elite Players Center, DKay Henry Soccer Training, Soccer Fun for Kids, and Street Soccer USA. Through these roles, he has worked with players across multiple levels and age groups, emphasizing technical development, tactical understanding, decision-making, competitiveness, and overall soccer IQ.
At the club level, Santos has been part of the Central Park Rangers women’s program, contributing to the team’s success in the WPSL, NYMWSL, and UPSL. In the Rangers’ first UPSL campaign, Santos helped lead the team to the UPSL Nationals quarterfinals, finishing among the top eight teams nationally. The Rangers also won the 2025–26 NYMWSL A Division championship and claimed both the UPSL Women’s American Conference Championship and the UPSL Women’s Regional Championship in 2026.
Santos has also worked extensively in youth player development with Elite Players Center, including the club’s girls’ program. His work has included helping players progress through increasingly competitive levels of youth soccer, from grassroots development and CJSL competition into the EDP pathway. The EPC 2010 girls’ team captured the SOAP Indoor Tournament championship and tied for first place in EDP Division 1 in Spring 2026.
Santos holds U.S. Soccer Grassroots coaching education in 7v7, 9v9, and 11v11 formats and continues to pursue additional coaching education through the U.S. Soccer pathway.
His coaching philosophy focuses on developing technically confident, tactically intelligent, and competitive players who can make effective decisions under pressure. He emphasizes understanding the game rather than simply following instructions, while fostering the discipline, confidence, and soccer IQ necessary for players to advance to higher levels of competition.
Santos also brings a unique international soccer experience to his coaching background, having represented the United States at the 2018 FIFA Foundation Festival in Russia during the FIFA World Cup.
Residing in Brooklyn, Santos is a graduate of New Dawn Charter High School.Â
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