About 5 — Spartan Management Group

Concentrate on your game and leave the rest to us.

Spartan Management Group was co-founded by Ben Rechler and David Jacobs. The two brought their experience together and built an agency that would represent professional football athletes across the globe, providing excellent customer service and management offerings.

The SMG team focuses on everything from ﬁnalizing contract negotiations with clubs to tax and estate planning for all clients. Today, the ﬁrm represents many athletes and is committed to scaling the business while maintaining the personal attention needed to make each player successful.

Ben Rechler

PARTNER
Ben graduated from the University of Syracuse with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management from the David M. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. His passion for sports led him to join SPM (Sports Professional Management) where he led client contract negotiations for the ﬁrm. Since then, Ben has evolved his expertise and co-founded SMG in 2022. He primarily focuses on overseeing operations, client relationships, and overseas partnerships.
David Jacobs

PARTNER
After leaving university, David embarked on a 14 year successful career in the City, working for some of the world’s most prestigious investment banks.
Fast forward at SMG, David is responsible for the day to day running of the business. Drawing on his own experience of being an elite sportsman, he appreciates his players determination and dedication and is passionate about utilizing these experiences to help encourage and grow others.
Simon Durno

HEAD OF MARKETING & CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
Simon joined SMG to help the UK side of the business, as well as with the negotiation of contracts and the sports marketing side of the business. Simon is a registered agent authorized by both the FA and FIFA and is eligible to work with minors. In addition, he is a qualified chartered accountant and UEFA B coach.
Simon has experienced a 30 year successful career in the investment world primarily at Morgan Stanley and latterly at a major macro hedge fund. He has been involved in the football world for 15 years and started his own agency working with some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
Lewis Gross

ADVISOR + CPA
Lewis is a practicing CPA holding a Masters Degree in Taxation and one of the top sports agents in the past 30 years. Lewis originally founded SPM, a small independent sports agency, where he led all aspects of the business. As lead advisor and CPA for SMG, Lewis specializes in taxation, negotiation and estate planning.
Christian Jordan

ADVISOR + SCOUT
Christian graduated from Michigan State University where he worked for the Athletic Department assisting with the Men’s Soccer and Men’s Basketball teams, as well as for Lansing United. He has worked with and coached teams on the men’s and women’s side from club to the collegiate level. At SMG, Christian specializes in evaluating talent and helping athletes to navigate their careers.
Edward Gonzalez

DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT
Edward graduated from St. Lawrence University with a Bachelor of Science in both Psychology and Business. Eddy focused on Sports Psychology because he wanted to understand athletes and the things that motivated them to ﬁnd success in their respective sports. This passion to work with players allowed him to coach at the youth and collegiate level. Eddy joined SMG to help with the recruitment of our youth players, and focuses on each individual to understand how they can improve on and off the ﬁeld.