Christa Mann

Christa Mann joined Gotham FC as Senior Vice President, Communications in January 2023. In this role, Mann serves as the club’s primary spokesperson and stakeholder with the media and broadcast partners, as she develops and executes the strategic plan to increase the visibility of Gotham FC through media coverage globally, nationally, and in the New York-New Jersey area. 

A former professional and collegiate soccer player, Mann’s lifelong long passion for the sport has developed into a career. She joined Gotham FC from Major League Soccer, where she spent more than six years in a variety of leadership roles in communications at the league office in Manhattan. During her tenure, MLS experienced its most rapid growth from 20 to 29 clubs and experienced a significant increase in fan engagement and press coverage. 

Among her many responsibilities at MLS, Mann served as communications stakeholder for the league’s national and global media partners FOX and CBS, and provided communications support for MLS Competition, the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion leadership team, and the Professional Referee Organization (PRO). She managed the communications strategy to launch new groundbreaking on-field initiatives, including the implementation of the Video Assistant Referee initiative (VAR or video review) and the concussion substitutions, and she drove PR strategy and facilitated media opportunities while on the ground with every club at the MLS is Back Tournament when the entire league returned to play in Orlando in a protected environment in 2020 during the pandemic. 

Mann played collegiately at Georgia State University, where she started every game of her college career, earning the captain’s armband in both junior and senior seasons, before embarking on a professional playing career in the Icelandic Women’s Premier League (Landsbankindeild) in 2008. With Afturelding FC, Mann became the first female foreign athlete to garner the club’s Player of the Year honors. 

Immediately following her stint in Iceland, Mann moved into a role as a broadcast analyst for regional and national coverage of college women’s soccer before finding her passion on the communications side as Manager of Media Relations for the Atlanta Beat of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS).  

Prior to joining Gotham FC, her previous experiences in addition to MLS and WPS includes two years with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee – where, among many roles, Mann managed non-rights media at USA House during the London 2012 Olympic Games – and positions with USA Track & Field, the Atlanta Falcons, and Turner Sports. 

An English and conversational Spanish speaker, Mann earned her BA in Journalism at Georgia State and a Master of Sports Administration at Ohio University, along with several business and management certifications from McKinsey and Company. 

Mann is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, where she serves on the executive board of the Sports Task Force as Vice President of Communications & External Affairs, and she also serves on the Board of Visitors for the Georgia State University College of Arts & Sciences.