Hooper spent the last six seasons with Aston Villa and joins Head Coach Dean Smith鈥檚 coaching staff听听
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Thursday, April 2, 2026) 鈥撀燙harlotte FC announced today the Club聽has聽named聽Karl Hooper聽as a First聽Team Assistant Coach under Head Coach Dean Smith.聽Hooper will focus on the Club鈥檚 set pieces and individual development plans for players.聽
鈥淜arl is聽a聽great addition to Dean鈥檚 staff聽having extensive knowledge in both developing young players and game-planning聽set pieces,鈥 said General Manager Zoran Krneta. 鈥淲e are excited to continue to add quality coaches to聽our organization,聽and with over 15 years of experience coaching in Europe, Karl is a great compliment to our existing technical staff.鈥澨
Hooper spent the last six seasons with Aston Villa, including the last five-plus as Villa鈥檚 Assistant Under-21 and Professional Development Phase coach. During that time, he worked closely with Unai Emery and the coaching staff to align playing styles, individual player pathways and set pieces. The Birmingham, England native also worked within the professional development phase to aid the development of individuals, units and teams of the Under-18 and Under-21 squads.聽
Hooper began his coaching career at Birmingham City FC in October of 2010 as an academy coach.聽He quickly rose within the organization to become the Professional Development Phase coach. His role as the professional development coach included overseeing individual development plans for Under-18 players, providing coach education and evaluation to youth development and foundation phase coaches. Hooper spent seven years working in this part of the organization.聽
Hooper holds a UEFA A License and a FA Advanced Youth Award.
