Larry Sunderland thrilled to return to Long Island roots and run show for The Island FC soccer team
Larry Sunderland, who grew up in Massapequa Park, is the first sporting director for The Island FC soccer club. Credit: The Island FC
Larry Sunderland acknowledged that this is a full-circle moment.
He grew up in Massapequa Park, where his dad, Wayne Sunderland, once was the mayor, and then Massapequa. His soccer beginnings were with the Massapequa Soccer Club, noting the club was “where I found my real joy and my love of the game.” He played one season of college soccer at C.W. Post and also played an exhibition season with Uniondale’s New York Express of the then-Major Indoor Soccer League before leaving the area at 23.
Four decades later, Sunderland, 62, is back.
“They say you can leave Long Island but Long Island never lets you go,” he told Newsday. “There was really a pull to come back here to the Island and to do this.”
Sunderland was named the first sporting director (the soccer equivalent of a general manager) for The Island FC, the independent team that will debut in July 2027 and compete in MLS Next Pro, the professional development league of Major League Soccer that is in the third tier of the American soccer pyramid.
The team is set to play at a new modular stadium at Mitchel Athletic Complex, with groundbreaking set for November.
“I’m really excited to be here,” Sunderland said. “Some projects you’re drawn to because of the professional nature of them and other projects you’re drawn to maybe on more of a personal basis. This one really touched me with both.
“It’s from the professional standpoint, there’s so much opportunity here on the Island. There’s talent, and there’s already a youth base. And it’s an opportunity to build something on the professional level, basically from scratch.
“And then when you tie in the professional aspect and my growing up here on the Island, it really means something special to me.”
Sunderland spent the past seven years as the director of player development for MLS’ FC Cincinnati and helped launch and lead the team’s youth academy. Before that, he coached the U.S. under-17 and under-16 national teams.
He also had MLS stints as the youth technical director for the Portland Timbers and the director of player development and academy programming for the Chicago Fire.
With The Island FC, Sunderland will be responsible for constructing the team’s roster and hiring a coach. He will work closely with managing director Gary Book and youth director Miquel Gasparin Ferrando in player development with The Island FC’s youth teams, which began play last month.
So why was Sunderland the right man for the job?
“Number one, we can’t not mention his pedigree,” president of business operations Travis Lamprecht said. “His experience in MLS, and then at FC Cincinnati, being director of player development and also overseeing the academy. Those are crucial roles that play into a lot of what we’re doing.
“And then the local factor is huge. I think we’ve said from the start that we want to represent the community we play in. We want people that are from here, and Larry checks all those boxes.”
Sunderland said roster construction will start in January and that the team should begin training six to eight weeks before its inaugural season begins in July.
He said the team will scout players from Long Island and is “going to look everywhere,” including the college ranks, other pro leagues and internationally. Sunderland added that the team’s goal is to help players improve and ultimately steward them on to their next move.
“I think it’s very important for us that our team has the identity of Long Island,” he said. “And what is that? That’s a work ethic. An unbeatable work ethic. That’s being resilient. That’s having ambition. And look, Long Islanders and New Yorkers have an edge to them.
“So our players, obviously, we want talent . . . But the character and the identity of the players really have to fit what we’re trying to do here. And we want to build a team when the fans come and watch the game, yeah, they see good football, but they want to see themselves on the field.
“They want to take pride in the players that are out there, and that’s really what Long Island is.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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