Claudio Reyna out as Austin FC sporting director amid USMNT scandal

Claudio Reyna, the former U.S. men's national team captain who is at the center a scandal involving his wife, his son Gio and USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, is out as sporting director of Austin FC.

The MLS club announced Thursday that Reyna was "stepping down" and "transitioning" into a technical advisor role.

In a lengthy press release, Austin did not mention the scandal, and framed the move as an amicable scaling back of duties, but the announcement comes just weeks after Reyna, once a celebrated figure in American soccer, admitted to sending messages to U.S. Soccer officials during the World Cup to "share" his "frustrations" about Gio's "World Cup experience." Gio, 20, played just eight group-stage minutes.

ESPN reported that Claudio had threatened to reveal damaging information from Berhalter's past, though Claudio has denied that. But a week after the USMNT was eliminated from the World Cup, his wife revealed to U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart that Berhalter had kicked his now-wife in the early 1990s — a revelation that instigated a formal investigation and the explosion of this feud into public.

This is a developing story and will be updated shortly.