Peter Vermes has built quite the resume as one of American soccer’s most accomplished players and coaches.
The 1988 Olympian and 1990 World Cup veteran plied his craft in Hungary, Netherlands and Spain before ending his playing career in Major League Soccer, notably guiding Kansas City to its first MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield title in 2000.
Vermes, who became Sporting KC’s technical director in 2006 and added head coaching duties in 2009, has steered the club to four major championships over the last half-dozen years and cemented his name among the league’s most successful managers of all time.
And in Saturday’s matchup between Sporting KC and the New York Red Bulls — a trip that brought Vermes back to his native New Jersey — the 51-year-old added another feather to his highly decorated cap.
Saturday marked Vermes’ 300th regular season game in charge of Sporting KC, making him the seventh head coach in MLS history to coach 300 regular season matches.
Of the seven managers to reach the milestone, only two have done so with a single club — Vermes with Sporting KC and Steve Nicol with the New England Revolution. This respectable sign of longevity pairs neatly with the fact that Vermes and Nicol are the only MLS coaches who have spent 10 consecutive seasons with the same club.
MOST MLS MATCHES AS HEAD COACH
(ALL-TIME, MLS REGULAR SEASON)
<strong>Coach</strong> |
<strong>Matches</strong> |
<strong>Seasons</strong> |
<strong>Clubs (games coached)</strong> |
Sigi Schmid |
539 |
1999-2004, 2006 - present |
Seattle Sounders FC (250)<br>
LA Galaxy (197)<br>
Columbus Crew SC (92) |
Dominic Kinnear |
435 |
2004-2017 |
Houston Dynamo (288)<br>
San Jose Earthquakes (147) |
Bruce Arena |
412 |
1996-1998, 2006-2016 |
LA Galaxy (274)<br>
D.C. United (96)<br>
New York Red Bulls (42) |
Frank Yallop |
371 |
2001-2003, 2006-2015 |
San Jose Earthquakes (257)<br>
Chicago Fire (63)<br>
LA Galaxy (51) |
Jason Kreis |
316 |
2007-2013, 2015-2018 |
Real Salt Lake (218)<br>
New York City FC (34)<br>
Orlando City SC (64) |
Steve Nicol |
301 |
1999, 2002-2011 |
New England Revolution (301) |
Peter Vermes |
300 |
2009 - present |
Sporting KC (300) |
Sporting KC announced in May that Vermes has signed a contract extension with the club through the 2023 season. He is Kansas City’s all-time winningest coach and the sixth winningest coach in MLS history.
Sporting KC will look to bounce back from Saturday’s 3-2 loss to New York when they continue their Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title defense against rivals Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night at BBVA Compass Stadium. The quarterfinal showdown will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT and stream live on SportingKC.com.
