Henrik Rydstrom’s brief tenure with the Crew is over. The coach, who led Columbus to a 3-4-7 start in MLS play, was let go on May 17, the team announced. Assistant Laurent Courtois has been elevated to interim head coach.
The Crew have also parted ways with assistant coach Theodor Olsson and analyst Mak Pakhei.
Rydstrom, 49, was hired on Dec. 31, 2025, after his 52-16-22 run from 2023 to 2025 with Sweden’s Malmo FF. There, he led the team to the top record in the Allsvenskan league in back-to-back seasons.
“It [wasn’t a] match, I would say culturally,” general manager Issa Tall said, “but we were grateful for what Henrik brought to our team. Now we look forward to what’s next.”
The Crew hired Rydstrom to replace Wilfried Nancy, who departed Columbus to become the head coach of Scotland’s Celtic FC. In Nancy’s three seasons, the Crew won the 2023 MLS Cup and the 2024 Leagues Cup title, but he lasted just 33 days with his new club and went 2-0-6.
“We’ve decided to go with Laurent, give Laurent a shot,” Tall said. “He’s more than deserving to get his chance. … He was on the stage when he lifted MLS Cup. So he’s only deserving to get his chance. Now, if Wilfried wants to come back, I’m not sure if he wants to, but it’s something we will probably discuss about.”
Courtois started his MLS coaching career as a player/coach for the LA Galaxy’s reserve squad, LA Galaxy II, during its inaugural 2014 season. After his retirement as a player, he returned to his native France to work with the Lyon Academy. He joined the Crew’s organization in 2019 as the under-17 Academy head coach and was promoted to Crew 2 head coach in 2022. He worked there until 2024 and made back-to-back MLS NEXT Pro Cup appearances.
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At that point, Courtois headed to CF Montréal. In his first season leading the club, Montreal made its first playoff berth since 2022, falling in a wild-card round penalty kick shootout to Atlanta United. However, Montreal went winless in its first five games in 2025, and Courtois was let go.
Columbus brought Courtois back to the organization on Jan. 13 as a first-team assistant coach.
After Columbus’ two most recent games this season, Rydstrom, who had maintained his philosophy was similar to Nancy’s, argued that he didn’t have the personnel to pull off his playing style.
“We don’t have a striker,” Rydstrom said following a 3-2 loss to the New York Red Bulls on May 13. “No, we don’t, so we know where we are when it comes to that. It’s also the expectations on the club and the team are always big and should be, but at this point where we are right now, we need to lower that a little bit.”
He expanded on that thought after a 1-1 tie against the Philadelphia Union on May 17.
“We sold [former Crew and Toulouse Forward Jacen] Russell-Row a couple of weeks before the MLS season started,” he pointed out. “We brought Jamal [Thiare] in from Atlanta. … and then [forward Wessam Abou Ali] got a serious injury and is out the rest of the season. Jamal, he had some trouble before with his calf, and that came back.”
Tall admits that injuries have posed a challenge but said the Crew’s challenges have gone beyond that.
“When you look at something as simple as the number of shots on target, for example, they’ve been quite low,” Tall said. “And we’ve been unable to create chances, generate excitement and ultimately score goals and win games.
“But that’s one part of it – the results. The second thing is more the culture surrounding the team, the players and the staff, and it’s gotten to the point that we needed to have something spark within our locker room.”
Columbus has 19 goals, ranking them 19th among MLS teams. They have 59 on-target scoring attempts. They are similarly struggling on defense, where they are ranked 18th, having conceded 23 goals.
Tall acknowledged that the “spark” he is seeking is needed more than just in the locker room.
“To me, it’s about giving joy to our fans through the way we play,” Tall said.
The Crew have 20 MLS regular-season matches remaining and sit four points outside of a playoff position.
“I think a lot of teams around the league would be jealous of us,” Tall said. “When you look at our record for the last seven seasons, we haven’t had a losing record. And right now we are in a losing record, but I have seen this club time and time again come back from the ashes, and we’ll be successful. I have no doubt.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew fire coach Henrik Rydstrom after 3-4-7 start
Reporting by Lori Schmidt, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
