U.S. men’s soccer team manager Gregg Berhalter revealed on Tuesday that he committed an incident of domestic violence against his future wife in 1991, when he was 18 years old.
“During the World Cup, an individual contacted U.S. Soccer, saying that they had information about me that would ‘take me down’ — an apparent effort to leverage something very personal from long ago to bring about the end of my relationship with U.S. Soccer,” Berhalter said in a statement. “This is a difficult step to take, but my wife, Rosalind, and I want to clearly and directly share the truth. This is a story that belongs to us, but hopefully there are lessons from our relationship that can be valuable to others.”
He said that during his freshman year of college, he met Rosalind for the first time, and four months later they got in an argument at a bar and he kicked her in the legs.
“There are zero excuses for my actions that night; it was a shameful moment and one that I regret to this day,” Berhalter said. “At that time, I immediately apologized to Rosalind, but understandably, she wanted nothing to do with me. ... While the authorities were never involved in this matter, I voluntarily sought out counseling to help learn, grow and improve — one of the most valuable decisions that I ever made. To this day, that type of behavior has never been repeated.”
Seven months later, Rosalind reached back out, and the pair reconnected. They have been married for 25 years, celebrating their anniversary a few days ago, and have four children.
“I am sharing this story after 31 years because it’s important to understand it was an event that shaped me, but doesn’t define me,” Berhalter said. “It was a single, isolated event over three decades ago and a terrible decision made in a bad moment by an 18-year-old.”
Berhalter is now 49, and his contract as U.S. men’s team manager officially expired at the end of 2022. There has been no word yet on whether he will continue in the job.
The U.S. Soccer Federation said it learned of the allegations on Dec. 11, and immediately hired an independent law firm to conduct an investigation. The results will be published when the investigation is complete; no timeline was given for when that may happen.
“Through this process, U.S. Soccer has learned about potential inappropriate behavior towards multiple members of our staff by individuals outside of our organization,” the governing body said in a statement. “We take such behavior seriously and have expanded our investigation to include those allegations. We appreciate Gregg and Rosalind coming forward to speak openly about this incident.”
The statement also said that U.S. Soccer began a review of the men’s national team’s on-field performance last month, and that the coach for this month’s training camp will be announced “in the coming days.”
