Several Americans have served as the head coach of a foreign national soccer team. Americans coaching foreign national teams is seen as an important step in improving the perceptions of American soccer.
During the 1900s, Americans coaching foreign national teams were rare. The first American to coach a foreign national soccer team was Mark Scott Thompson, who was appointed El Salavador's first ever head coach in 1930. Alkis Panagoulias led the U.S. team in the 1980s including the 1984 Summer Olympics, before soccer had become fully established in the U.S., in between stints with the Greece national team. When Panagoulias led Greece to the 1994 World Cup, he was the only American head coach in the tournament.
Since the 1990s and the establishment of Major League Soccer, Americans coaching foreign national teams has become more frequent. Bill Moravek was the first American-born head coach of a foreign national team.
Alkis Panagoulias, Steve Sampson and Bob Bradley all led the United States national team before later becoming head coach of a foreign national team; Afshin Ghotbi served as a U.S. national team assistant coach before taking over the Iran national side.
Egypt's hiring of Bradley in 2011 was seen as a milestone in the growth of American soccer — an American coach taking over a team with a history of success. Bradley's hiring was seen as an important step that would help other American coaches land oversees coaching jobs. Bradley was also the first American head coach of a Major League Soccer team to become the head coach of a foreign national side.
Two American coaches faced each other in the 2003 Gold Cup when the Steve Sampson coached Costa Rica faced the United States, coached by Sampson's successor Bruce Arena. Ian Mork had the distinction of coaching Belize against his native United States in the 2013 Gold Cup. Another occasion where two national sides played where both teams were coached by Americans was the 3–0 victory by Thomas Dooley's Philippines over Jack Stefanowski's Nepal in a 2014 friendly match. Jack Stefanowski was not a well-known American coach until he took the reigns of the Nepal national team, where his highlight was leading Nepal to victory over rival India in the South Asian Football Federation championships.
The only American currently coaching a foreign national team is Thomas Dooley, former captain of the U.S. national team, who was hired by the Philippines in 2014. Dooley is also the first person who has played for the U.S. national team to coach a foreign national team.