CHICAGO, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Jurgen Klinsmann, who has led the United States to a World Cup berth, has agreed to a four-year contract extension as coach of the U.S. men's soccer team.
Klinsmann, 49, will be coach of the U.S. men's team through 2018. He will also take on duties as technical director for U.S. Soccer, it was announced Thursday.
"I am very fortunate to continue the work we started more than 2 1/2 years ago," Klinsmann said. "It's exciting to see the progress we have made and we continue to make improvements on all fronts.
"The role of technical director is a huge challenge and also a huge opportunity as we look to keep connecting the dots to the Youth National Teams, Coaching Education, the Development Academy and the grassroots efforts in this country," he said.
The U.S. team is 27-10-7 since Klinsmann took over as coach in July 2011. The team set single-year records for wins (16), winning percentage (.761) and consecutive wins (12) in 2013. The wins allowed the United States to earn a spot in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
"One of the reasons we hired Jurgen as our head coach was to advance the program forward and we've seen the initial stages of that happening on the field and also off the field in various areas," said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. "In the past two years he has built a strong foundation from the senior team down to the youth teams and we want to continue to build upon that success."
