This Week in Toronto FC History - The Preki Era Officially Begins | OneFootball

The date was March 27, 2010. For Toronto FC fans, it was supposed to be a day of renewal—a fresh start after the most scarring collapse in the club’s young history. Instead, it was the beginning of a rigid, disciplined, and ultimately frustrating chapter known as the Preki Era.

To understand why the hiring of Predrag "Preki" Radosavljević felt like such a massive pivot, you have to look back at the final day of the 2009 season. TFC traveled to New Jersey needing only a draw against a last-place New York Red Bulls side to clinch their first-ever playoff berth.

What followed was a 5-0 capitulation that remains one of the darkest days in franchise history. The team lacked spine, defensive structure, and leadership. In the fallout, manager Chris Cummins was out, and Director of Soccer Mo Johnston went searching for a "disciplinarian." He found one in Preki.

Preki arrived in Toronto with one of the most decorated resumes in American soccer history. As a player, he was a wizard—a two-time MLS MVP (1997, 2003) known for his unstoppable "Preki Cut" that left defenders sliding into the advertising boards.

As a coach, he had immediate success with Chivas USA, winning MLS Coach of the Year in 2007. He was known for a defense-first philosophy, demanding absolute tactical adherence. To a TFC front office tired of the 2009 chaos, Preki was seen as the man to finally bring "professionalism" to BMO Field.

The era officially kicked off at Crew Stadium on March 27th, 2010. TFC fans travelled in droves, hoping to see a rejuvenated squad. What they saw instead was a team that looked terrified to cross the halfway line. The Reds fell 2–0 to the Columbus Crew. The goals came from Andy Iro and the legendary Guillermo Barros Schelotto, but the scoreline didn't tell the whole story. TFC looked stiff. The scoring prowess of Dwayne De Rosario was sacrificed for defensive positioning, and the midfield struggled to provide any service to the forwards. It was a sign of things to come: a season defined by playing for the 0–0 draw.

The season under Preki was a grind. While the defense improved marginally, the joy seemed to vanish from the pitch. Friction began to grow between the coach and the locker room, specifically with star players who felt stifled by his rigid 4-5-1 system.

Despite a decent run in the CONCACAF Champions League, the MLS results were mediocre. Under Preki, Toronto won only seven games out of 24 and managed to score only 21 goals in the MLS regular season. By September, the front office had seen enough. In a shocking double-firing on September 14, 2010, both Preki and Mo Johnston were relieved of their duties. Assistant Nick Dasovic took over as interim, but the damage was done. TFC finished the 2010 season in 5th place in the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. The "revolving door" of managers had officially begun.

The aftermath of the Preki era ushered in a chaotic four-year stretch characterized by radical identity shifts and a "revolving door" at the manager’s office. In 2011, the club pivoted to a Dutch "Total Football" philosophy under Aron Winter, but the experiment collapsed spectacularly in 2012 after a record-setting 0–9 start to the season—the worst in MLS history. Winter was replaced by Director of Player Development Paul Mariner, whose traditional English approach failed to stop the bleeding, leading to his exit after just six months.

The 2013 season saw another gamble with the hiring of Ryan Nelsen, a respected former player with zero head-coaching experience. Despite the high-profile arrivals of Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley in early 2014—branded as "A Bloody Big Deal"—Nelsen couldn't translate that star power into a playoff spot. Following a public fallout with then-GM Tim Bezbatchenko in late August 2014, Nelsen was dismissed, making way for Greg Vanney. Initially seen as just another name in the long list of TFC coaching casualties, Vanney would ultimately become the architect of the club’s greatest era, finally halting the cycle of instability and leading the Reds to their historic 2017 Treble.

After leaving Toronto, Preki spent time coaching in the USL with Sacramento Republic (where he won a championship) and Saint Louis FC. However, he eventually returned to the MLS sidelines in a different capacity. As of 2026, Preki remains a vital part of the Seattle Sounders coaching staff. Joining Brian Schmetzer’s crew in 2018, he has found his niche as an assistant coach. In Seattle, his tactical mind and demanding standards have been credited with helping the Sounders maintain their status as a perennial powerhouse, proving that while his head coach tenure in Toronto was a mismatch, his soccer IQ remains one of the highest in the league.