LA Galaxy’s Zack Murshedi: ‘I help solve problems’
Team administration manager might not be the most exciting job title, but much of Zack Murshedi’s work at the LA Galaxy requires more tact and care than first appears.
Murshedi does what he calls the basics - helping players get settled and bank accounts as well as organising team flights to Seattle for an away game - but it is the relationships he forms that allow the administrative side of the work possible. After all, if he doesn’t understand the person it is harder to help the player in the most effective way.
“Once you know the players you can sense if something is not right,” Murshedi tells The Player Care Group’s students. “You can pull them aside and ask them if they need help with anything… What I’m here to do is to take their mind off certain things and support them. I help solve problems, that’s the biggest thing I do. If they have an issue I’ll take care of it.”
Murshedi has been with the Galaxy since 2009 after transitioning from a role in game operations. The Dignity Health Sports Park, LA Galaxy’s stadium, is used by the national team so through hard work and networking Murshedi earned his way into the youth national team setup. When a job vacancy at the Galaxy popped up, all it took was a 10-minute chat with Bruce Arena and his work began.
“It was a learning curve,” Murshedi explains. “I started in the middle of a season in August 2013 and was kind of thrown into it. I learned on the job and every preseason I learn something new.”
From marketing to communication and ticketing, Murshedi knows and works with almost everyone at the club. Other than with the players, he spends most of his time with the general manager, head coach and technical director. Lots of people ask him lots of questions and so Murshedi needs to make sure he doesn’t forget anything.
“I like to write things down, I create a lot of lists. I walk through the locker room and players could say I need this or that and I go back to my desk and write it all down so nothing gets lost.”
Murshedi & Javier Hernandez after a recent LA Galaxy game
Exchanges with other team admins across the league also help. Murshedi is in a group chat with all of the MLS team admins, allowing for an organic support network to develop amongst those providing the care. More conversations with other sporting organisations is one thing Murshedi hasn’t crossed off his to-do list yet though. The Galaxy owners also own the city’s NHL team, the Kings, and Murshedi is hoping to exchange ideas there sooner rather than later.
For all that Murshedi has learned and continues to learn, it is often the ability to know when to use his skills that makes the biggest difference. Each player requires a different touch. When Steven Gerrard signed, the Liverpool legend had a team with him, as is often the case with star players. Naturally, Murshedi was less in demand but other players require more assistance, whether it be relocating or settling in. Sometimes it’s also sensing how to divulge information through others that can make the biggest difference.
“I find it beneficial to let a player who has been here a couple of years to explain the situation to a new player,” Murshedi explains. “Most of the time players like to take advice from other players rather than someone like myself.”
Nevertheless, the subtle changes Murshedi makes do not go unnoticed. It is often the smallest things that make the biggest difference to a player’s well-being. When Robbie Rogers - the first active men’s player in the US to come out as gay - was at the club, the lounge name was changed from revolving around female partners to significant others. Back when the club travelled commercially, Murshedi once had to help Zlatan Ibrahimovic get his head around the free seating on a Southwest flight. Murshedi made sure that he sat next to him though, so as to make his journey a little more comfortable.
Even after all these years, it’s clear that Murshedi still believes in and is passionate about player care. And it is his work that is helping spark change across America’s professional soccer landscape.
“Teams are starting to hire player care coordinators who just deal with the players,” Murshedi says. “A lot of teams still follow the rule I have here, where the work is split between player care and team operations but I think in a couple of years each MLS team will have a player care department.”
After all, as Murshedi says, the quicker they settle, the quicker they’re on the field, and it’s hard to think of a club that wouldn’t want that.
Zack Murshedi was speaking to the students & alumni of the ‘Certificate in Player Care’ on an exclusive live Q&A. For more information or to sign up to the next cohort, please visit our education page here.
Jonathan Harding is a sports writer who cares about the person and the player, the coach and the community. He speaks German, is a father and tries to look after the planet. Graduate of Cohort 3 of the ‘Certificate in Player Care’ and will be writing various articles for The Player Care Group.