Orlando City SC hires Isaac Ramos as its First Team Director of Fitness pending P1-S visa approval. Additionally, the Club has parted ways with Dave McKay.
“We’re happy to add Isaac to the training staff. He brings years of experience in South American leagues and competitions and we believe he will help the team moving forward,“ Lions General Manager Niki Budalic said. “I would like to thank Dave for his contributions to our Club since 2015 and wish him the best of luck in the future.”
“We are very excited to bring Isaac in as I feel with his experience and expertise he will really be able to help the players achieve their goals,” Lions head coach James O’Connor said. “I would like to thank Dave for all his hard work, contributions and time over the last few years and I genuinely wish him all the very best for the future.”
Ramos, 40, has experienced success with top-flight leagues in South America. After three years working with the youth ranks of the Venezuelan national team and academies of Venezuelan sides Caracas F.C. and Deportivo Anzoátegui Sport Club (DANZ), Ramos joined the DANZ first team in 2009, eventually winning Venezuela’s Torneo Clausura and Copa Venezuela in 2012. The Venezuelan then joined one of the country’s most successful clubs, Deportivo Táchira Futbol Club, and was a Copa Venezuela runner-up in 2013, won the Torneo Clausura in 2015 as well as the Venezuelan first division Title in 2014-2015.
Following his success in Venezuela, Ramos was hired as Fitness Director for one of Paraguay’s most successful teams, Cerro Porteño, in 2015 and then for Bolivian side The Strongest, where he won the 2016 Torneo Apertura, was the Torneo Clausura runner-up in 2017 and reached the Round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores de America.
Most recently, Ramos worked with Venezuelan first division side Deportivo La Guaira before joining the Lions.
Ramos played professionally in Venezuela from 1994 until 2004 for Club Sport Marítimo, Caracas F.C. and Galicia de Aragua and also helped the Venezuela U-20 national team win the Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe in 1998.
