Kansas, March 31 (IANS) Sporting Kansas City announced on Monday that the club has mutually agreed to part ways with Manager Peter Vermes, ending his trophy-laden run as Major League Soccer’s longest-tenured head coach and one of the longest-serving managers in global soccer. Kerry Zavagnin has been appointed as Sporting’s interim head coach, effective immediately.
Vermes became Sporting’s technical director in November 2006 and assumed head coaching duties in 2009, building a winning culture and orchestrating one of the greatest turnarounds in MLS history. Sporting flourished into a perennial championship contender and a model MLS organization under Vermes’ visionary stewardship.
“It would be hard to list all of the people I want to thank after 20 seasons in managerial positions at Sporting Kansas City. I am thankful to everyone, especially ownership for giving me the opportunity of being a steward of this club for the past two decades. I wish the club nothing but the best in the future,” read the statement by Vermes.
In addition to hoisting the 2013 MLS Cup and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles in 2012, 2015 and 2017, Vermes guided the club to 11 playoff appearances—including eight straight from 2011-2018—and four first-place finishes in the regular season. He remains the only person to win MLS Cup as a player and a coach with the same team, having led Kansas City to the 2000 title as a standout central defender, and his three Open Cup championships were the most among active MLS coaches entering 2025. He ranks third on the all-time MLS chart with 203 regular season wins and concludes his tenure as the longest-serving head coach in Kansas City professional sports history.
Vermes coached 609 matches for Sporting in all competitions, more than half of the games in the club’s 30-year existence and the most ever for a manager at one MLS club. His 511 regular season matches coached are third-most all-time and his 17-season run at the helm of Sporting was at least seven seasons longer than any other active MLS head coach.
Inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 2013, Vermes was named the inaugural MLS Sporting Executive of the Year in early 2019 for his exemplary leadership, dedication and strategic vision in guiding Sporting to long-term success—including the development of the Sporting Kansas City Academy and Sporting KC
Vermes’ historic run as Kansas City’s head coach began on August 4, 2009, punctuating the start of a winning era as the club rebranded to Sporting KC and moved into Children’s Mercy Park ahead of the 2011 season.
The 2024 campaign saw Vermes lead his team to the U.S. Open Cup Final, where Sporting fell in extra time at LAFC to break the club’s run of four consecutive cup final victories.
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