The Seattle Sounders were an American professional soccer team that was founded in 1994 and played in several second-division leagues, beginning with the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

. They played in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

, later renamed the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

, from 1997 to 2008. The team was named for the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League (NASL), which folded in 1983. The Sounders folded after the 2008 season as part of a transition to a new

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

(MLS) team named

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

that debuted in 2009. The team used blue and white jerseys. They played at Memorial Stadium and various small venues from 1994 until their move to

Qwest Field Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, ...

(now Lumen Field) in 2003. The Sounders played their last season at the Starfire Sports Complex in

Tukwila, Washington Tukwila ( ) is a suburban city in King County, Washington, United States, located immediately to the south of Seattle. The population was 21,798 at the 2020 census. Tukwila is a community of communities, with residents of many diverse origi ...

, now the main training facility for the MLS team. Their head coach from 2002 to 2008 was Brian Schmetzer, who had played for the NASL Sounders and later coached the MLS team. A sister organization, the Seattle Sounders Women, played in the women's

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

from 2001 to 2015.

History

The club was founded in 1994 and named after the original Seattle Sounders team, which played from 1974 to 1983 in the North American Soccer League. Former coach

Alan Hinton Alan Thomas Hinton (born 6 October 1942) is an English former footballer who played at the top level of English football from 1961 to 1975. He famously wore white football boots. Playing career Wolverhampton Wanderers Hinton started his caree ...

had acquired rights to the Sounders name after the club folded and began a campaign to bring an

(APSL; later the A-League) team to the city in 1992. The league previously had another Seattle team, the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

, that played for one season in 1990 and later folded. A bid for a new APSL team, to be named the Sounders and owned by former

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

executives Scott Oki and Neil Farnsworth, was announced in September 1993. The bid's approval was announced by

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

secretary general Hank Steinbrecher on January 30, 1994, during a men's international

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

at the

Kingdome The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District (later SoDo) neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Owned and operated by King County, it was best known as the home s ...

that was attended by 43,651 spectators. The reborn Sounders competed with a rival group that aimed to create a Seattle franchise for

, the new top-level soccer league for the United States. Hinton was named club president and later appointed himself as head coach prior to the inaugural season. The Sounders played their inaugural season at the Tacoma Dome and Memorial Stadium. The Sounders finished the 1994 season with a 14–6 record, the best in the A-League, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Colorado Foxes. Hinton resigned as head coach and club president in 1996 and transferred the rights to the Sounders name to Oki. For the 1999 season, the team played at

Renton Memorial Stadium Renton School District 403 is a public school district headquartered in Renton, Washington, USA The district boundaries include the vast majority of Renton, all of Bryn Mawr-Skyway, and portions of the adjacent cities and communities of Bellevu ...

, a 6,500-seat suburban venue in Renton, while Memorial Stadium in Seattle underwent renovations. The Sounders had an average attendance of 6,132 in 1994, but declined to 2,100 by 1999; the club had also lost its profitability during this time. They attracted more spectators in Renton, but found group sales had declined and needed more locker room space for their various teams; in 2000, the Sounders returned to Memorial Stadium. The Sounders formed a partnership with the German side

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

in 1998 due to Sounders USL-PDL player Andrew Dallman's involvement with the German side via US indoor soccer legends Fernando Clavijo, Raffaele Ruotolo, and Jean Willrich. The team also formed a partnership with English side

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

in 2006 due to the shared involvement of Adrian Hanauer, who bought the Sounders in 2002. The Sounders earned four A-League championships, winning the league cup in 1995, 1996, 2005, and 2007. Seattle finished with the best regular season record in the league in 1994, 2002, and 2007. In addition to their titles, the Sounders finished as runners-up in the league cup to Montreal in 2004. In 2005, Seattle drew the

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

1–1 at

before claiming the championship 4–3 in penalty kicks. In 2007, the Sounders defeated the Atlanta Silverbacks 4–0 to claim their fourth championship title. The team primarily played at Memorial Stadium, which was aging and in need of repairs, and later Seahawks Stadium (Qwest Field) beginning in 2003 despite their low average attendance. Seahawks Stadium had been designed to be used by a future MLS team, but an expansion team had not been granted after it opened. In the early 2000s, the team considered plans to build a

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-p ...

with approximately 15,000 to 20,000 seats and a complex of fields in various suburbs, including

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In 2006, the Sounders proposed a stadium at the

Kitsap County Faigrounds Kitsap may refer to: * Kitsap County, Washington * Kitsap Peninsula, a peninsula in western Washington state, lying between Hood Canal and Puget Sound. *Chief Kitsap, a Suquamish Indian for whom the county was named * Naval Base Kitsap, a US Navy b ...

in Bremerton, one of Seattle's western suburbs in Kitsap County. A 6,500-seat stadium was proposed again in 2007 as the home of a possible Major League Soccer franchise. A move to Tacoma or folding the club were also considered in the event that a rival MLS bid won rights to an expansion team in Seattle, according to Hanauer.

MLS expansion and final season

The Sounders looked to earn an MLS

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in the 1990s and 2000s while also competing with other prospective ownership groups. In 2000, the club announced plans to pursue a MLS team that would play in the then-unbuilt Seahawks Stadium (now Lumen Field) and keep the A-League franchise as a developmental team named "Sounders Premier". USL Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer also made a bid for a 2005 expansion slot that was instead awarded to

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in ...

. On November 13, 2007, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that it had selected Seattle as the recipient of an

that would begin play at

in 2009. USL Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer would become one of the team's owners, along with

Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, he gained stardom in his own sitcom, '' The Drew Carey Show'', an ...

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which h ...

and majority owner

Joe Roth Joseph Emanuel Roth is an American film executive, producer and director. He co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in 1988 and was chairman of 20th Century Fox (1989–1993), Caravan Pictures (1993–1994), and Walt Disney Studios (1994–200 ...

. The team's name,

, was unveiled on April 7, 2008, continuing the Sounders name into MLS. The USL team would play their last season in 2008, mostly at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. The Sounders made their second consecutive appearance in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, where they lost to fellow USL-1 club

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

in a penalty shootout. Following a regular season that finished with a 10–10–10 record, the second-division team were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Montreal Impact and played their last competitive match on September 28, 2008. The Sounders played a series of exhibition matches in Argentina against the reserve squads of local clubs as part of a farewell tour in late October 2008. They won all six matches, which also served as a tryout for the MLS team for the existing members of the USL team.

Year-by-year

This is a complete list of seasons for the A-League/USL club. For a season-by-season history including the current

MLS franchise, see List of Seattle Sounders FC seasons. 1. Avg. Attendance include statistics from league matches only.
2. Top Goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in League,

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

, U.S. Open Cup,

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Amer ...

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

, and other competitive continental matches.
3. Points and PPG have been adjusted from non-traditional to traditional scoring systems for seasons prior to 2003 to more effectively compare historical team performance across seasons.

Honors

Team honors

League Championship :* Winner (4): 1995, 1996, 2005, 2007 :* Runner-up (1): 2004 Commissioner's Cup (Top of the Regular Season Table) :* Winner (3): 1994, 2002, 2007 Pacific Division Champion :* Winner (3): 2000, 2002, 2003 :* Runner-up (2): 1997, 1998 Western Conference Champion :* Winner (1): 2004 Cascadia Cup :* Winner (2): 2006, 2007

Individual player honors

MVP * 1995 – Peter Hattrup * 1998 –

Mark Baena Mark Baena (born November 27, 1968) is an American former professional soccer player. Baena is the highest goalscorer in the history of USL First Division, where he amassed eighty-six goals. He also holds the record for most goals in a season and ...

* 2002 –

Leighton O'Brien Leighton O'Brien (born March 14, 1976 in Tacoma, Washington) is an American soccer player who is serving as the Technical Director for the Pacific Northwest Soccer Club. O'Brien is noted most significantly for his tenure with the Seattle Sounde ...

* 2007 – Sebastian Le Toux Leading scorer * 1995 – Peter Hattrup * 1998 –

* 1999 – Niall Thompson * 2006 –

Cam Weaver William Cameron "Cam" Weaver (born June 10, 1983) is a retired American soccer player. Career High school and college Weaver attended Kentwood High School in Covington, Washington, and played four years of college soccer at Skagit Valley Colle ...

* 2007 – Sebastian Le Toux (tied) Goalkeeper of the Year * 1994 – Marcus Hahnemann * 1995 – Marcus Hahnemann * 1997 – Dusty Hudock Defender of the Year * 2005 – Taylor Graham Coach of the Year * 1994 –

* 2000 – Neil Megson * 2002 – Brian Schmetzer Rookie of the Year * 1994 – Jason Dunn * 2000 –

Greg Howes Greg Howes (born March 26, 1977 in Tacoma, Washington) is an American soccer player, most recently coach for Las Vegas Legends in the Professional Arena Soccer League. Career In 1995, Howes graduated from Franklin Pierce High School. He play ...

* 2006 –

First team All Star * 1994 – Marcus Hahnemann, Neil Megson, Shawn Medved, Chance Fry * 1995 – Marcus Hahnemann, Peter Hattrup * 1996 – Wade Webber * 1997 – Dusty Hudock,

Mark Watson Mark Andrew Watson (born 13 February 1980) is a British comedian and novelist. Early life Watson was born in Bristol to a Welsh mother and English father. He has younger twin sisters and a brother, Paul. He attended Bristol Grammar School, ...

* 1998 –

* 1999 –

* 2000 –

Darren Sawatzky Darren Sawatzky (born February 22, 1973 in Seattle, Washington) is an American soccer coach and former player who is currently the head coach of the Richmond Kickers in USL League One. He spent four seasons in Major League Soccer, one season in ...

* 2001 –

* 2002 –

Andrew Gregor Andrew Gregor (born November 22, 1975) is a retired United States, American soccer midfielder who played professionally in Major League Soccer, the USL First Division, the USL Premier Development League and Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008 ...

, Brian Ching * 2003 –

Danny Jackson Danny Lynn Jackson (born January 5, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1983 to 1997. He played for the Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirate ...

* 2005 – Taylor Graham * 2008 – Taylor Graham

Head coaches

Stadiums

* Tacoma Dome, Tacoma (1994) * Memorial Stadium,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

(1994–1998) *

, Renton, Washington (1999), due to construction at Seattle Center *

Interbay Stadium Interbay may refer to: * Interbay, Seattle, a neighborhood within the City of Seattle, Washington, United States * Interbay (Tampa), a neighborhood within the City of Tampa, Florida, United States {{Geodis ...

, occasional matches (2002) * Memorial Stadium, Seattle, Washington (2000–2003) * Huskies Soccer Field, U.S. Open Cup match (2003) *

(formerly Seahawks Stadium and CenturyLink Field; now Lumen Field), Seattle, Washington (2003–2007) * Starfire Sports Complex,

(2005–2006 occasional games, 2008) The Sounders originally played at Memorial Stadium, with select matches at other venues such as the Tacoma Dome, and moved to

(originally Seahawks Stadium) in 2003. The Sounders and the Sounders Select Women played the first-ever sporting event at the stadium on July 28, 2002, before 25,515 fans. After opening the 2008 season at Qwest Field, the Sounders played their remaining 14 league home fixtures at Starfire Sports Complex. Various exhibition matches against A-League and MLS opponents were played at local high schools, including Marysville Pilchuck in 1998 and

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is ...

in 1999.

Affiliated teams

The Sounders founded a developmental

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league sy ...

(PDL) team, named Seattle Sounders Select, in 1999. They replaced the Seattle BigFoot, an independent team who had been considered an unofficial development squad. In the second round of the

2001 U.S. Open Cup The 2001 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup ran from June through October 2001, open to all soccer teams in the United States. The Los Angeles Galaxy won the tournament with a 2–1 victory over the New England Revolution in extra time in the final at Tita ...

, they eliminated MLS side

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wit ...

and advanced further than their parent club, losing to the

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

in the third round. The team had financial troubles and folded after the 2002 season after failing to pay for its $85,000 budget. The Sounders later formed a relationship with a new PDL franchise, the Tacoma Tides, which was established in 2006. A women's team, named Seattle Sounders Select Women, began play in 2000 and moved to the

the following year. The team was rebranded as Seattle Sounders Women in 2003 and was sold in 2008 to Tacoma Tides owner Mike Jennings as part of preparations for the USL–MLS transition. The Sounders Women was temporarily home to several national team players in 2012 following the collapse of

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

. The Sounders Women left the W-League when it folded in 2015 and moved to the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) ...

, where they won their first national championship in 2018. The team terminated their branding agreement with the MLS Sounders in January 2020 and were renamed Sound FC.

Rivalries

The Sounders had two rivals—the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at ...

to the south and the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

to the north. All three teams were successors to their respective NASL teams that competed in the 1970s and 1980s. They competed in the annual Cascadia Cup, which was established by fan organizations in 2004 and has been contested by the teams' MLS successors since 2011. The Sounders won the trophy in 2006 and 2007.

Supporters

The original Seattle Sounders were supported by the Seattle Sounders Booster Club in the 1970s and early 1980s. A small group named "The Pod", named for the Sounders'

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

mascot, formed to support the second incarnation of the club in the 1990s. The Emerald City Supporters were formed in 2005 to organize fans and perform songs, chants, and displays during matches. They remained with the club when the Sounders moved to MLS in 2009. The Sounders organization created an official

fan club A fans club is an organized group of fans, generally of a celebrity. Most fans clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to support them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the p ...

, named the Sounders Legion, in 2007.

References

External links

Seattle Sounders FC
on

HistoryLink HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organization History Ink prod ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seattle Sounders (1994-2008) American Professional Soccer League teams Association football clubs established in 1994 Association football clubs disestablished in 2008 USL First Division teams U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Champions' Cup A-League (1995–2004) teams 1984 establishments in Washington (state) 2008 disestablishments in Washington (state)