Sporting Kansas City, Peter Vermes reach contract extension through 2028

Vermes is the club’s manager and sporting director; His previous contract expired after the 2023 season. He is by far the longest-serving head coach in MLS, taking over from SKC in the 2009 season. Vermes is approaching his 15th season and is among the longest-serving head coaches in men’s top-flight football in the world.

“Peter is a superlative strategic thinker who loves to win and hates to lose,” SKC co-owner and chief executive Mike Illig said in a statement from the club. “He continually demonstrates his commitment to our ownership goal of making Sporting KC an enduring favorite in a league that gets tougher and tougher every year.”

Vermes has managed Kansas City as technical director since 2006 – back when they were Wizards – and assumed coaching responsibilities in August 2009. He spent the last three years of his playing career (2000-02) with Kansas City, winning the MLS Cup and the Supporters’ Shield in 2000. He had 67 caps with the US men’s national team.

During Vermes’ tenure as head coach, SKC has won one MLS Cup (2013) and three US Open Cups (2012, ’15, ’17). You’ve made it to the playoffs of the Audi MLS Cup in 10 of the last 12 years. He also played a key role in the dramatic expansion of Sporting’s infrastructure, which has expanded to include new training facilities, MLS NEXT Pro team Sporting KC II and one of the league’s most ambitious youth academies. He was named MLS Sporting Executive of the Year in 2019, the first time that honor has been presented.

Vermes is the fourth-winning head coach in MLS history with 183 regular-season wins. He has been head coach for more than half of the games in the history of SKC, a club that is an MLS original and dates back to the 1996 season.

“Over the past 14 seasons, Peter has earned the recognition and respect of many footballers regionally, nationally and across the MLS community,” said Illig. “We are confident that his undaunted leadership will help bring more trophies to this club and city.”

SKC missed out on the play-offs last year as two designated players (club-record signing Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda) missed a single appearance through injury.

The club head into 2023 with momentum as the final months of last season brought dramatically improved performances and results as new signings Willy Agada and Erik Thommy helped re-energize the group. With Agada and Thommy here for a full pre-season and Pulido and Kinda recovering from injury, as well as key figures like Dániel Sallói and Johnny Russell, SKC is reloading.