No one in Garden State history has reached the upper echelon of world soccer like Charlie Stillitano has.
His late father Charlie, Sr., former First Vice President of the N.J. Soccer Association and inaugural inductee to this Hall of Fame, taught his oldest son the beauty of the world’s game at a very young age. One of the fondest soccer memories Charlie, Jr. has is of the summer Sun at Jersey City’s Roosevelt Stadium when he was ball boy for an international match featuring Pele and his Santos team against Lazio of Italy.
When the historic match ended and thousands poured on to the pitch seeking Pele’s autograph Charlie remembers finding safety inside the goal. Few could have dreamed then Pele would someday return to Jersey to play for the Cosmos, with Charlie one of his biggest fans and soon-to-be close friends.
He graduated Princeton where he was a 4-year starter, 3-time All-Ivy, All-American and Captain of the men’s varsity soccer team.
Charlie has a long history of active participation in the New Jersey Soccer Association: in addition to playing at Pingry School and at Princeton University, he coached the Princeton SC. He was a player-coach for Calabrria SC, and later founded the Lanzera League where his climb through soccer’s administrative ranks began.
He received his Jurist Doctorate Degree from Rutgers.
Charlie began his career in international football in 1992 as Executive Director for the FIFA World Cup USA 1994 NY/NJ Venue. During his tenure, he successfully organized and hosted seven World Cup matches, including the semi-final, and was responsible for the negotiation of all contracts with N.J. Sports and Exhibition Authority as well as NY/NJ Host Committee. Under his guidance the event achieved a record level for profitability.
Following the ’94 World Cup eh was named Vice President/General Manager of MetroStars of Major League Soccer.
Under Charlie’s leadership, MetroStars sucured the services of some of the world’s top managers including Carlos Alberto Parreira (former Brazil National Team World Chapion coach), Carlos Queiroz (former Portuguese National Team, 2-time World Youth Champion coach and Portuguese National Team Manager) and Bora Multinovich (former U.S. National Team coach). The team also brought on international stars Roberto Donadoni (Italy), Branco (Brazil), Anthony De Avila (Colombia), Lothar Matthaus (Germany), Shaun Bartlett (South Africa), Tony Meola (USA), Tab Ramos (USA), and Nicola Caricola (Italy).
He was an inaugural Board Member of the U.S. Soccer Foundation from 1993-2007, its Vice Chairman for 11 years and Chairman of the Grants Committee for 14 years until retiring the U.S. Soccer Foundation in 2007.
He is one of the organizers of World Football Challenge, an international football tournament featuring some of the world’s most-storied clubs.
Currently, Charlie is a soccer agent at CAA Sports (since 2008), a division of Creative Arts Agency (CAA), which represents more than 400 of the world’s best athletes in sports such as baseball, football, hockey, and soccer, in addition to icons in individual sports, on-air broadcasters, and other sports personalities.
Charlie works in the New York office and represents the USA, many of the world’s leading athletes and sports personalities, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Fabio Capello, Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, Deco, the English Premier Club Chelsea FC and 2009 European Champions FC Barcelona.
Prior to joining CAA Sports he most recently served as the principal founder and Chief Executive Office of ChampionsWorld, LLC. In that role he created ChampionsWorld Series, which featured a collection of the world’s top international clubs in matches in the summers of 2003 and 2004. The series included world soccer giants Machester United, Chelsea, A.S. Roma, FC Barcelona, Juventus FC, A.C. Milan, Celtic, Mayern Munich, Boca Juniors, Galatasaray, and Liverpool.
Charlie presently co-hosts two weekly radio talk shows with former Cosmos’ legend Giorgio Chinaglia titled The Football Show and Premier League Preview for Sirius Satellite Radio. The Football Show regularly features the biggest names in international football.
