KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday signed Peter Vermes to a five-year contract extension that will keep his longtime head coach with the Major League Soccer club through the 2028 season.
Vermes, the fourth-winningest manager in MLS history, will begin his 15th season with the club when he takes on the Portland Timbers on Saturday. He led Sporting KC to 10 playoff appearances and the 2013 MLS Cup along with three US Open Cup titles, and his top four trophies are one behind Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley for the most in US soccer history.
“Peter is a superlative strategic thinker who loves to win and hates to lose,” said Sporting KC co-owner Mike Illig. “He continually demonstrates his commitment to our ownership goal of elevating Sporting KC as a perennial contender in a league that gets tougher every year. He is also fully dedicated to our long-term strategy of developing young, high-profile players. potential in the next generation of sports professionals.”
Vermes appeared in 67 games for the U.S. national team, including the 1988 Summer Olympics and 1990 World Cup, before ending his MLS career, where he led Sporting forward KC to the Fan Shield of the 2000 and the MLS Cup.
He became the Kansas City club’s technical director after retiring as a player, then took over as head coach in 2009, which makes him the longest-serving head coach in MLS history and one of the longest-serving head coaches in global soccer . He guided the club, renamed Sporting KC, through 516 matches in all competitions.
Vermes, who was inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame in 2013, has also assumed leadership positions within MLS, including helping the league establish return-to-play protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Peter has earned the recognition and respect of many in soccer regionally, nationally and throughout the MLS community,” Illig said. “We are confident that his intrepid leadership will help bring more titles to this club and this city.”
