With the 2020 MLS season on temporary hold, SportingKC.com is taking daily strolls down memory lane with an "On This Day" web series that celebrates memorable moments in team history. As one of Major League Soccer's proud charter members, Sporting has a decorated past full of thrilling victories, amazing goals, momentous off-the-field developments and more. "On This Day" pays tribute to these specific instances, turning back the clocks while treating fans to nostalgia and club history lessons. To catch up on the series as it unfolds, visit SportingKC.com/OnThisDay.
On May 7, 2018, one of the most successful coaches in the history of Major League Soccer pledged his long-term future to Sporting Kansas City. It was on this day that Peter Vermes signed a contract extension through 2023 as the club's manager and sporting director.
Vermes' exceptional service to the sport of soccer spans more than three decades, highlighted by a standout playing career at the MLS and international levels and a historic, trophy-laden coaching career in Kansas City.
Since ending a storied playing career that included a 1990 FIFA World Cup appearance with the U.S. Men's National Team and a 2000 MLS Cup title with the Wizards, Vermes has embraced a leading role in helping transform Kansas City into an American soccer hotbed.
In November 2006, two months after Sporting Club purchased the Wizards from the Hunt Sports Group, Vermes was named the club's Technical Director to oversee all soccer operations. In 2009, he became Kansas City’s manager and began what is now the longest coaching tenure at a single club in MLS history. Among his biggest coaching accolades at Sporting, Vermes has hoisted one MLS Cup and three Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles en route to becoming the league’s fifth-winningest coach all-time with 145 regular season victories. Sporting’s eight-year playoff streak under his guidance, spanning from 2011-2018, is the fourth-longest run in MLS history.
Vermes led Sporting to first-place finishes in the Eastern Conference in 2011 and 2012 as well as their first trophy in eight years with the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title. An MLS Coach of the Year finalist in 2011 and 2012, Vermes enjoyed a banner year in 2013. He was selected into the National Soccer Hall of Fame and coached the MLS All-Stars during the 2013 MLS All-Star Game at Children’s Mercy Park, all before leading his team to the 2013 MLS Cup championship with a penalty shootout win over Real Salt Lake on home soil. This accomplishment made Vermes the only person to win MLS Cup as a player and a coach with the same club.
After guiding his side to the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title, Vermes became an inaugural recipient of the U.S. Soccer Federation Pro Coaching License in 2016. Sporting were dominant defensively in 2017—securing another U.S. Open Cup while conceding the fewest goals in MLS—before enjoying a historic offensive campaign in 2018. Vermes’ team set club records for goals (65), assists (69) and goal differential (+25) en route to a first-place finish in the Western Conference and a run to the Western Conference Championship.
At the end of 2018, Vermes won the inaugural MLS Sporting Executive of the Year award for his exemplary leadership, dedication and strategic vision in guiding Sporting to success as well as his role in the development of the world-class Compass Minerals National Performance Center, the new training home of Sporting. Under his guidance, Sporting also received 2018 MLS Academy of the Year accolades for exemplary player development. Last spring, he led Sporting to the Concacaf Champions League Semifinals, the club’s best-ever finish in North America’s premier club tournament.
