From a box above the field at PayPal Park in San Jose, Ernst Tanner looked on. It was 10 June 2023, and his Union team were losing a physical match 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes. Jamiro Monteiro, a player Tanner had brought to the Union in 2019 before trading him to San Jose, was being substituted. Monteiro, clearly exhausted, trudged to the Earthquakes’ bench as referee Nima Saghafi extended his arm and ushered him along, briefly making contact.
It wasn’t the first time Saghafi had touched the midfielder. In the first half, with Monteiro on the ground after being sent flying by a tackle, Saghafi placed his hand on Monteiro’s back, a small gesture meant to show concern.
Both were throwaway moments, the type of thing a referee might do in any given game in any given league in the world.
“Why don’t you just kiss him, you faggot,” Tanner allegedly said in response to Saghafi’s actions, loud enough to be audible to fans sitting below the box where Union staff were located.
“Twenty people must’ve heard this,” one eyewitness said. “There was a woman in the stands who was clearly horrified.”
The alleged incident is one of many involving Tanner in a wide-ranging complaint filed by the MLS Players’ Association (MLSPA) to Major League Soccer in January which was obtained and reviewed by the Guardian, and which MLS confirms they received. The account of the Saghafi incident in the complaint matches that of a source who claims to have witnessed the event and multiple sources who were told shortly thereafter.
Sources said despite the public nature of the alleged incident, Tanner did not face any immediate scrutiny, suggesting he likely wasn’t recognized. MLS sporting executives are hardly celebrities and to anyone other than knowledgeable fans in San Jose, Tanner was likely little more than a random face in a box seat.
In fact, Tanner is one of MLS’s most influential and renowned roster builders, portrayed publicly as a disciplined executive who arrived from Europe, mastered the North American league’s arcane rulebook, and turned a struggling franchise into one of MLS’s best.
Privately, though, 17 sources have alleged numerous misbehaviors spanning nearly the entirety of Tanner’s seven-year tenure with the Union. These include six of the eight allegations in the MLSPA complaint for which the Guardian was able to find supporting evidence, including accounts from current and former Union employees. The Guardian can separately report additional allegations. Together, the claims suggest a different side of Tanner, who allegedly:
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Made multiple misogynistic comments, including saying “women don’t belong in men’s soccer” about a female MLS referee and telling a gathering of academy players that they “should never worry about a referee, unless she’s a woman.”
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Spoke about Black players “like they were subhuman” and suggested that Black referees “lack intelligence and capability.”
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Touched a co-worker inappropriately “numerous times,” an allegation for which he was reported to the Union’s HR department.
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Hired an underqualified coach who was allegedly abusive toward players on the Philadelphia Union II, the club’s reserve team that is used as a proving ground for young players from its thriving academy.
“He thinks people are below him, and that he can get away with anything,” one source said. “because he’s given [the Union] some success.”
Through his attorney, Tanner told the Guardian in a statement that he “firmly denies these accusations, some of which are six or seven years old.” The lawyer’s statement continued, “Throughout his career spanning over three decades in professional soccer around the globe, Mr. Tanner has worked fairly and effectively in a diverse, multi-cultural world upholding high standards of professionalism.”
The Philadelphia Union said in a statement to the Guardian that Tanner was found to have made potentially insensitive gender-based comments early in his tenure, for which he underwent training and had discussions with club leadership. They said they were not previously aware of the allegations in the MLSPA complaint.
“The Philadelphia Union takes all allegations of misconduct extremely seriously and is unwavering in our commitment to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all players, staff, and members of our community,” the club said.
MLS confirmed in its own statement that it received the MLSPA complaint and launched an investigation into the allegations immediately afterward. The Guardian understands that Tanner was never placed on leave after the investigation began in January because MLS couldn’t corroborate the claims against him. The investigation was closed this fall. However, the league told the Guardian in a statement that it had required Tanner to go through a “structured remedial program focused on professional workplace conduct” due to the seriousness of the allegations in the MLSPA complaint, and retains the right to re-open the investigation if more information is brought forward.
In the meantime, the Union have continued to win. The club compiled MLS’s best regular season record in 2025, and have advanced to the conference semi-finals. Their youth academy has produced multiple US national team players in line for a spot on the 2026 World Cup squad. Tanner has drawn continued praise for this success.
These achievements, taken with the allegations, paint a picture of an MLS executive whose results have earned him an increasing level of power and influence, even as claims of workplace misbehavior were reported.
“You wonder, how many lives does this dude have?,” asked another source.
Allegations contained in the MLSPA complaint were supported independently, with recollections of Tanner’s alleged comments recounted by at least one person who claims to have heard them firsthand, with additional evidence via contemporaneous accounts, including emails, text messages and video. Allegations not contained in the MLSPA complaint were recalled separately by multiple sources who were present for the incidents, and were supported by contemporaneous accounts.
No source, however, would go on the record – either because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, or because they feared repercussions for speaking out against a powerful sporting executive in the relatively insular world of American soccer. They expressed this despite MLS’s promises of anonymity via a reporting hotline and guidance issued to every club in the league.
“100% you can get blacklisted for speaking publicly about any of this,” said one source, a sentiment shared by many others.
“This is a small, small world,” added one. “And not just MLS – it’s easy to get a reputation as someone who speaks out about stuff like this and it will cost you your job, not just where you are presently. It will follow you around every league in this country.”
‘I like winning. A lot.’
It’s no overstatement to call Tanner one of the most successful sporting executives in MLS history.
In many other leagues, that type of respect would be earned through winning a haul of trophies. While the Union have won two of those (the 2020 and 2025 Supporters’ Shields, awarded to the MLS team with the best regular-season record), Tanner’s reputation has been gained more through shrewd business than silverware.
Tanner arrived in Philadelphia in 2018, brought in by Union minority owner Richie Graham, the financial muscle behind the club’s wildly successful YSC (Youth Soccer Center) academy. Tanner was tasked with guiding a club that had qualified for the playoffs only once and lacked the resources of the league’s biggest teams. In MLS, though, a soft salary cap allows well-managed lower-spending teams to be competitive.
“That was one of the reasons I thought it was good to go here,” Tanner said in 2022. If you do your job right, you can be successful … here, you can win. To be honest, I like winning. A lot.”
Under Tanner, the Union have qualified for the postseason every year except 2024 and made the 2022 MLS Cup final, a performance that earned Tanner the league’s executive of the year award. These successes have come on a threadbare budget: The 2025 team that finished with the league’s best record spends about $11m on its players – about a third of star-studded Inter Miami, who pay Lionel Messi about double what the entire Union first team earns.
Nearly every one of the same sources who spoke to the Guardian about Tanner’s alleged misbehavior freely admit that the Union and some staff have benefitted from Tanner’s presence. The organization has brought in about $43m through player sales over the course of his tenure, often from their own academy products. Tanner has also displayed an uncanny ability to scout little-known players from abroad who become solid contributors on team-friendly deals before being dealt away for a tidy return. In a league that has encouraged parity, the Union under Tanner are proof that one can compete with big money in the league without needing to spend it.
“I think there were some positives that came from [working with him],” said one former staff member who also supported several allegations against Tanner. “He’s been in some really impressive places and I think he used his knowledge to push me to be better at dealing with really challenging people. I can’t say my experiences were all negative – I certainly grew from it.”
When Tanner arrived in Philadelphia in 2018, he worked alongside Chris Albright, who was then the club’s technical director. Sources said that in Albright’s time at the Union, reining in Tanner’s unprofessional and inappropriate comments became a regular part of his job.
“When Chris Albright was there he was able to manage [the dynamic between others at the club and Tanner],” one source said. “He was kind of a buffer for everything. But that’s gone now.”
Albright declined to speak to the Guardian. The Union declined to comment on Tanner and Albright’s dynamic.
Perhaps Tanner’s biggest single decision at the Union was the 2024 dismissal of head coach Jim Curtin, a Philadelphia-area native who had been in the organization in some form since 2010, had experienced success under Tanner, and was widely respected by fans, players and the wider organization.
In the absence of Curtin, Albright and other longtime staffers, sources say, Tanner has only become more empowered. In 2024, he was given a long-term contract extension by the Union, a year after he was connected to the vacant US men’s national team sporting director post. His vision for the club is directly cited by club owners as the driving force behind not just first-team coaching and tactical decisions, but also the way the youth academy operated at a granular level.
“We’d always question how a sporting director has so much power over everybody,” said one former Union academy player. “Everything went through him, it was so strange. His face was everywhere, all over the stadium. Why is a sporting director so popular, or so public like that? Whether it’s the way he talks or because he’s so intimidating, who knows. It’s a strange thing.”
In his statement, Tanner said he “remains proud of the team’s success this season and his work with the Philadelphia Union.”
‘This is not women’s soccer’
Allegations concerning Tanner’s behavior date back to his first year at the Union in 2018. During a large gathering of academy players and staff that year, Tanner was speaking about his plans for the Union’s academy and offering advice to those in attendance – a group that included young prospects, the director of the academy, and allegedly at least two members of ownership, including Graham. At one point, an academy player asked Tanner whether he had any advice on dealing with match officials.
“You should never worry about a referee, unless she’s a woman,” multiple sources allege Tanner said, with another recalling that he added: “women should be in the kitchen, not being referees.”
That alleged incident, which is not in the MLSPA complaint, was followed two years later by one that is. During a preseason game in February of 2020, Tanner allegedly went after head referee Tori Penso, then a newcomer to MLS and still half a year away from becoming the first female head referee to call an MLS regular-season game. Penso’s resume was long, though, having called games in the men’s lower leagues and NWSL. She has gone on to call a host of international matches since, including a Women’s World Cup final.
After a foul late in the match, one source recalled Tanner saying “this isn’t women’s soccer, go back to women’s soccer – women don’t belong in men’s soccer.” Other sources who were present confirm this account, as does partial video of the match obtained by the Guardian in which Tanner can be heard raising his voice near the camera and yelling “this is not women’s soccer.”
“A lot of us who were there were just incredibly uncomfortable,” said one source. “This wasn’t an uncommon thing for him when it came to female referees or just women generally.”
“If these remarks are proven to be true, we are appalled,” said Mark Geiger, general manager of the Professional Referee Organization, which administers professional soccer officiating in the US. “Such comments – and any form of discriminatory language – are deeply irresponsible, wholly inappropriate, and have no place in our game or in society.”
Tanner issued a statement through his attorney saying he “denies ever intentionally making insensitive gender-based comments.” Tanner’s legal representation also supplied supportive statements from five current and former coworkers. Of those, two work within the Union academy. Dr. Nooha Ahmed-Lee, who serves as the academy’s head of schools, said in part that Tanner has “shown a deep respect for our diverse community” and that “As a woman and person of color, I have always experienced Ernst as a thoughtful and principled leader who values professionalism, inclusion, and integrity.” Jon Scheer, the director of the academy, said Tanner has “fostered a culture rooted in accountability, development and respect.”
In its statement, the Union said that “early in his tenure with the club, Mr Tanner was found to have made potentially insensitive gender-based comments,” without referencing any specific allegation.
“The club took remedial steps to address this conduct, including through training and discussions with the club’s leadership on appropriate workplace conduct,” the Union said.
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‘A way of getting buried’
In 2019, notice was filed to the Union’s HR department alleging Tanner engaged in inappropriate physical contact with a club employee. The alleged incidents occurred during greetings between Tanner and the employee and involved Tanner grabbing the employee’s buttocks “numerous times,” according to the MLSPA complaint. The allegation and the existence of notice to Union HR are supported by emails reviewed by the Guardian as well as the accounts of nine sources familiar with the incidents, all of whom requested anonymity to protect their professional relationships. None of the sources saw any evidence of a response from the Union, who like MLS declined to address the topic specifically when asked by the Guardian. Tanner’s legal representation denied the allegation, saying that he “did not inappropriately touch a colleague.”
The club’s handling of that complaint is par for the course, say several sources, who described situations in which Tanner avoided contact with them and circumvented their authority after they reported him to Union HR for other incidents. In total, over a dozen current and former Philadelphia Union employees say that complaints concerning Tanner’s behavior have been submitted to the club’s HR department but that they have seen no evidence of a response.
“I know many people feel that stuff that has gone to HR has a way of getting buried,” said one source. “Everybody always said – ‘guys, all you can do is report things to HR.’ But sometimes it felt like anyone who reported shit to our HR department just ended up getting pushed out.”
In their statement, the Union said: “When a matter has been brought to our attention, the Union has always acted swiftly and appropriately, including retaining outside counsel when appropriate to conduct thorough investigations in accordance with club policy and legal requirements.”
The Guardian understands that while MLS expects its clubs to share allegations of workplace misconduct, the league was not previously aware of the allegations contained in the MLSPA complaint. A majority of those interviewed by the Guardian said that several of these incidents were among those reported to the Union’s HR department.
‘Like they were subhuman’
Another common theme among a majority of the sources who spoke with the Guardian was Tanner’s allegedly racist commentary about Black players, coaches and referees. Several such allegations are made in the MLSPA’s complaint to the league.
“He consistently would speak about African players like they were subhuman,” said one source of Tanner’s workplace behavior, a description matching that of three other current and former Union employees. “That was pretty consistent. He would always sort of throw out – ‘well, he’s African, he’s not able to do that.’ Or, ‘we all know that Africans can’t perform like that, we can’t trust them.’”
The MLSPA’s complaint contains a few allegations that fall within these lines. One, supported by a source close to the Union first team, said that Tanner criticized a Black player’s perceived lack of speed by saying “It’s like he’s not even Black.”
Multiple sources supported another allegation from a Union match against Orlando City in March of 2023. During the match, Union forward Mikael Uhre was called offside by assistant referee Justin Howard, who is Black. In the MLSPA complaint, Tanner is alleged to have said in response: “This is the problem with MLS, they allow Black referees in the league. When did they allow this? They lack intelligence and capability.” This allegation is supported by three sources who either witnessed it firsthand or were told about it shortly afterward.
The MLSPA complaint also references an alleged incident in which Tanner reacted to the dropping of a plate of food at a coaches’ training by saying “It’s a good thing we invited the African coaches; they’re used to eating food off the floor.” Multiple sources confirm this account, adding that the comment was said in a room full of people and was directed toward an attendee who had spent time coaching in Africa.
A majority of sources interviewed by the Guardian said that a cultural disconnect was often raised among Union employees as a potential explanation for why Tanner, who is German, behaved in this manner. However, all of those sources were quick to clarify that Tanner’s behavior far exceeded anything that could be attributed to a cultural difference.
“[The disconnect] was a thing, for sure,” said one source. “But a lot of [people at the club] were from Europe, too, though, and I don’t know anyone who comes from there to here who acts that way because of a ‘disconnect.’”
It was, another source said, “absolute ignorance, things that aren’t acceptable but maybe he thinks they are.”
In his statement to the Guardian, Tanner wrote that throughout his career he has “worked fairly and effectively in a diverse, multi-cultural world upholding high standards of professionalism.”
Of the five statements in support of Tanner provided by his attorneys, three are from current or former coworkers who are Black. Union senior director for club welfare and compliance Sheldon Phillips said in part that Tanner’s “direct communication style encourages healthy dialogue, contributing to a space where diverse perspectives can thrive.” Union academy scout and assistant coach Idrissa Kone called him a “supportive person and boss” who “has been friendly and kind to me.” Former Union assistant coach Marlon LeBlanc expressed gratitude for Tanner’s hiring him at the Union and recommendation for him for a different job considering “it is very difficult for Black coaches to break into MLS.” LeBlanc said he was treated “with respect, and professionalism.”
‘He stood up for it the entire time’
In 2020, Tanner hired Sven Gartung to coach the Union II, the club’s reserve team that is often used as a proving ground for the club’s academy players. Gartung arrived after a very brief stint coaching a Malaysian Super League side, with past experience at academy level in Germany. The Union dismissed Gartung after just six months on the job, at the time offering no reason for his termination.
“Sven was a weird one,” said one former Union II player, “because he came with what we believed was like zero or no coaching experience. It was so strange. His ideas and knowledge of the game were really the worst I’ve ever seen at the professional level. The things he was showing us was stuff you’d do at a U-7 training.”
Internally, six separate sources said, it was clear that Gartung had been dismissed because of an inappropriate interaction with another Union employee. Two sources recall that at one point, Gartung threatened a prominent Union academy player after he was ruled out due to a concussion, saying “I’m gonna cut your testicles off and hang them on the wall” if the player missed a game. Gartung did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Guardian, while USL and the USL Players’ Association both said they had no record of any formal complaints filed against Gartung (Union II played in USL at the time).
Another former Union II player remembers a situation where a player was forced to run “to where he was sick.”
“And [Gartung] basically said the player should be able to do it because of where he was from,” the Union II player said. “He was African.”
“There were issues with the way [Gartung] spoke with women on staff,” added another source close to the club. “And Ernst would say basically that there were cultural dynamics at play, that people talk differently here in the US. But it definitely was incredibly inappropriate.”
One source characterized Gartung and three other Tanner-hired coaches in the Union organization who were similarly harsh in their dealings with players as “direct reflections of Ernst.”
“Those were the people he wanted to be around on a daily basis, he defended them to a fault,” the source said. “I felt Ernst was going to be fired over that whole [Gartung] situation but he just stood up for it the entire time.”
The Union and Tanner both declined to specifically address the hiring of Gartung, who has since left soccer entirely and landed back in Europe, where he is CEO of an AI startup.
‘Ernst has done his job’
MLS and the Union confirmed to the Guardian that the league ran an investigation into Tanner’s conduct alleged in the MLSPA complaint. The Guardian understands that the league relied on their own legal counsel to do interviews, doing so in order to better collaborate with the MLSPA. However, a source indicated that the league hadn’t followed up with the MLSPA concerning the status of the investigation until last week, after the Guardian approached MLS for comment.
MLS told the Guardian that “more than a dozen current and former players and club employees” were contacted for its investigation, with a “majority” deciding to take part. The Guardian understands that a total of 13 people were contacted, with eight eventually participating, including Tanner. The Union said in its statement that the club “fully cooperated” with the investigation.
MLS said it closed the investigation when it could not corroborate the allegations in the MLSPA complaint, but the Guardian understands that the league found the alleged behavior, if true, to be unacceptable, constituting a “clear violation” of league policy.
Even though the league did not corroborate the allegations, it did require him to participate in a “structured remedial program focused on professional workplace conduct,” according to the league’s statement. The Guardian understands this to be a training on appropriate workplace behavior that lasts several hours. It is at least the second training of the type Tanner has been made to do aside from the Union’s annual sensitivity training, which the club says it requires all staff to complete.
In their statements to the Guardian, both the Union and MLS stated that furthering their investigation into Tanner remains a possibility.
“The League maintains an anonymous reporting hotline and will re-open the investigation if additional information is brought forward,” said an MLS spokesperson.
“Should any new information emerge, the Philadelphia Union will act quickly and appropriately, in accordance with our policies, and will continue to cooperate fully with the league,” wrote the Union.
MLS has a long history of investigating similar allegations of misbehavior, but they’ve largely been limited to on-the-field incidents. In terms of front office personnel, one recent high-profile investigation into racist behavior was focused on now-former Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen, who was eventually forced to sell his share in the club and the NWSL’s Utah Royals.
Current San Jose Earthquakes head coach Bruce Arena was also at the center of a league investigation during his time at the New England Revolution in 2023. Arena was first placed on administrative leave by the league after allegations of “insensitive language” were made, reportedly by his own coaching staff. He eventually resigned and never publicly addressed specifics of the situation, citing “legal restrictions.”
Tanner has remained at the Union, by most accounts in good standing with ownership.
“To ownership, Ernst has done his job,” said one source. “I think when [chair and CEO Jay] Sugarman looks at it, his ROI is astronomical. Why would I get rid of the guy who’s done this for me, at this point?”
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