The New York Red Bulls made a familiar addition to their technical staff on Monday, announcing that recently retired defender Ibrahim Sekagya will stay on with the club as an assistant under new head coach Jesse Marsch.
Sekagya, 34, played the last year-and-a-half with the Red Bulls before announcing his retirement on Saturday. He played 33 regular season games in his two seasons in New York, helping the Red Bulls to the 2013 Supporters’ Shield and starting all five playoff games in the team’s run to the 2014 Eastern Conference Championship series.
“Ibrahim understands the game incredibly well,” Marsch said in a statement released by the club. “That’s what allowed him to play at a high level for so many years. He will be a great resource to our staff, and I expect him to have a very strong impact on our young players, especially our young defenders.”
The longtime captain of the Ugandan national team, Sekagya joined New York in the summer of 2013 from Red Bull Salzburg. He spent six years in Austria, helping Salzburg to three Austrian Bundesliga titles and one Austrian Cup championship.
“I appreciate this opportunity,” Sekagya said in the statement. “This is something that I wanted to do in my career. It’s a good opportunity, it will be a bit of a transition, so it’s good to do it at a club I know. Staying within the family of Red Bull was important to me. It’s almost eight years between my time here and Salzburg.”
