The USMNT and Borussia Dortmund star sat down with Boardroom to discuss developing in soccer as well as his business and investing philosophies.
If you took a Metro North commuter train the day after Memorial Day and thought you saw a 6-foot-1 international soccer star ride into New York’s Grand Central station, your eyes did not deceive you.
During a rare week in which he didn’t have on-pitch responsibilities, Gio Reyna was back in his native state both for business and pleasure. During the holiday weekend, he got engaged to longtime girlfriend Chloe Ortolano, who sat next to Reyna that morning at an Upper East Side cafe. They hauled luggage through trains and Uber rides, crisscrossing the city, conducting media interviews, and attending meetings before traveling down to Washington, DC for the US Men’s National Team‘s training camp in preparation for the ongoing Copa América tournament.
Reyna’s been through a lot for a 21-year-old, reflected in his graying temples bordering a chiseled physique. He signed his first Adidas endorsement contract at 14 and left the NYCFC academy overseen by his American soccer legend father Claudio at 17 for the huge German club Borussia Dortmund. Despite notching seven goals and four assists for Dortmund during the 2022-23 season, the midfielder was loaned to Premier League side Nottingham Forest to get more playing time as he battled through injuries.
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Still maintaining his post-engagement glow, Reyna struck an optimistic and hopeful tone as he discussed progressing and developing in soccer as well as his business and investing philosophies. Despite all he’s accomplished on the pitch in the Champions League and huge international competitions, Gio has a strong head on his shoulders and is aware enough to understand that it’s OK to not have everything quite figured out at such a young age.
“Obviously being younger, I’m still getting into the business side,” Reyna said. “I’m just trying to learn a bit more. I want to do things that feel right to me, feel natural, and that I feel deep in my heart.”
In addition to his long-term Adidas deal, Reyna has an endorsement deal with C4 Energy and works with the Making Headway Foundation which supports families of children diagnosed with brain and spinal cord tumors. His older brother Jack tragically died from a brain tumor in 2012 at just 13 years old, and you could feel the passion he spoke with when he mentioned his most important philanthropic cause.
Through his father and various connections growing up in Connecticut, Westchester, and Germany, Reyna has developed a strong network of friends, colleagues, and mentors in finance, private equity, and real estate. He’s trying to learn from everyone along the way on how to forge a path forward in business.
While Reyna, born in Sunderland while his dad was playing in the Premier League, is starting to get the investing itch, he said he’s in no hurry to make any rash decisions.
“I’m definitely getting to the point now where I understand more and I’m definitely open to anything,” Reyna said. “If something seems right and ready to go, then I’ll do it for sure.”
Reyna has a team of agents, financial advisors, and money managers on call once he’s ready to be more active with his money, including a reported $3.8 million per year contract with Dortmund that runs until 2026. He’s also thankful that modern athletes are more financially literate than ever before, with athlete bankruptcy now occurring far less often. Reyna doesn’t feel the need to live a life of excess with five houses and 10 cars, learning his most important business lesson from his father.
“If you think you’ve saved enough, you probably haven’t,” Reyna recalled his dad’s mantra. “Always put more away than you need.”
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Being a second-generation member of one of US Soccer’s leading families has its drawbacks. A dispute over playing time with USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter during the 2022 World Cup led to reports that Reyna’s mother, Danielle, disclosed a decades-old domestic violence incident between Berhalter’s now wife in response, initiating a US Soccer investigation that led to Berhalter being re-hired as coach.
While Reyna didn’t want to discuss the specifics, he said he’s looking forward, not backward, and that he and Berhalter are hard at work repairing the relationship.
“In US Soccer, there’s not much that really happens in terms of drama, but I feel like in other countries it’s much more common for things like this,” Reyna said, intimating that things got blown out of proportion. “The soccer bubble in America is pretty small, and I feel like this was in a magnifying glass. It’s very much a professional relationship at this point and we’re moving past it.”
Reyna returned to the USMNT lineup in October 2023, scoring twice in a friendly against Ghana. Five months later, his signature moment as a national team player came at March’s CONCACAF Nations League’s semifinals and final. He had two assists in the semis win over Jamaica and scored the winning goal in the final against Mexico, earning the golden ball for the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Gio said that going into the match against Mexico, he had an unexplainable feeling that he was going to score.
“When you’re just so in the moment and you understand how the games are flowing,” he said, “that if you show up in the right moments, you’re confident enough to take it. I knew was going to get a chance that day. You picture it before and obviously hope it happens. And then when you really get into the game and understand where the space is and the openings are, you can try taking advantage of it, which I did.”
While Reyna admittedly had a tough domestic season with Forest and Dortmund, which made the Champions League final while he was on loan, he’s looking forward to a healthier and more productive season in 2024-25. As the summer transfer window begins, Dortmund is working with his father and his agents to see where he may end up next season to get consistent playing time. That could be in Germany or on loan at what Reyna hopes is a team in Italy, Spain, or Portugal that’s playing in the Champions League or Europa League.
When someone has been in the public spotlight for so long at a young age like Reyna has, it’s sometimes hard to remember that he’d still be in college in a normal situation. Still just 21, Gio seems to have a good mindset and a strong support system in place to develop and score goals at his own pace on and off the pitch, with plenty of assists from those he loves and trusts.
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