Major League Soccer has concluded their investigations on both DC United’s recent coach hiring process and allegations of the use of racist language by forward Taxi Fountas. 

The league’s first findings revealed the team did not comply with the Diversity Hiring Policy, which states that “the finalist pool includes two or more candidates from underrepresented groups, whereby at least one candidate must be either Black or African American.” 

During their investigation, MLS understood the club met with two candidates from underrepresented groups, but one of them was not considered for the finalist pool. The team claims the hiring process included several candidates prior to hiring Wayne Rooney, adding a final candidate did not want to accept the job midseason. 

D.C. United has since been fined $25,000 for the action. 

Additionally, the league investigated the incident that occurred during D.C. United’s game against Inter Miami at Audi Field. MLS was unable to confirm independently that Fountas used racially abusive language towards Inter Miami defender Aimé Mabika. 

The league concluded that it did not find Fountas‘ claim credible after a series of interviews were conducted as part of this investigation. But MLS plans to examine its policies and practices as they relate to allegations of abusive and discriminatory language and is committed to working with all of the stakeholders during this offseason.

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