Peter Vermes

Peter Joseph Vermes (; born November 21, 1966) is an American professional soccer coach and former player. From 2009 to 2025, he was the head coach of Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer.

Entering the 2025 MLS season, Vermes was the longest-tenured head coach in MLS and has won four major trophies as a manager, the second most of all active coaches in MLS.

Youth and college Vermes was born in Willingboro, New Jersey. He grew up in Delran Township, New Jersey and played high school soccer at Delran High School. He graduated in 1984, having scored 109 goals. In 1999, he was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1980s.

Vermes played his first year in college on the men's soccer team at Loyola College in Maryland under head coach Bill Sento. Vermes then transferred and played three years of college soccer at Rutgers University, from 1985 to 1987. In his final season, Vermes scored 21 goals and 10 assists for the team, finishing a first-team All-American, as well as runner-up for the National Player of the Year Award. During that season, Vermes led Rutgers to their first victory in the NCAA Tournament in 26 years, scoring the winning goal in a contest against Seton Hall University.

Playing career Professional After graduating, Vermes went to Europe, where he played with Rába ETO FC of Hungary in 1989 and Volendam of the Dutch Eredivisie in 1990. In May 1991, Vermes returned to the United States and played three games, scoring a single goal against the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the American Professional Soccer League. He then moved to Spain where he played for Spanish Second Division club Figueres from 1991 to 1995.

Like many American players, Vermes returned to the United States to join the recently founded domestic league Major League Soccer. In January 1995, he signed with the new league that would not begin league play until 1996. Therefore, MLS loaned Vermes to the New York Fever of the USISL where he played 25 games, scoring 16 goals in the 1995 season. In 1996, Vermes was drafted by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in the third round of the MLS Inaugural Draft (29th overall) and captained the team in its first season. Although he played the most minutes of any MetroStar that year, the MetroStars traded Vermes on February 3, 1997, to the Colorado Rapids for Kerry Zavagnin. Vermes would play three years for the Rapids before being traded again, this time to the Kansas City Wizards with Matt McKeon for Scott Vermillion and a player allocation.

With the Wizards, Vermes helped the Wizards finish the season first in the league with a 16–7–9 record, having allowed only 29 goals in 32 games, and eventually winning the MLS Cup. Vermes was recognized as the MLS Defender of the Year, while his teammate Tony Meola won both the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and MLS MVP awards. Vermes played two more seasons with the Wizards, struggling with injuries but playing every game he was healthy for, before announcing his retirement at the end of the 2002 season.

International Vermes received his first cap May 14, 1988, against Colombia, and would in all receive 66 caps for the team, playing in the 1988 Olympics, the 1990 World Cup and the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup. In the 1990 World Cup, he nearly bagged a goal against Italy with a shot against Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga. After seeing his playing time wane with the team in late 1993 and early 1994, Vermes was one of the final cuts from the 1994 U.S. World Cup team. He later said he thought that his outspoken comments had doomed him politically. A forward early in his career, his performance in defense in MLS led to his comeback to the National team in that position after years of absence, but he was cut again from the U.S. roster in January 1998.

Vermes was named the 1988 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year and U.S. Olympic Player of the Year.

In 1989, he scored six goals for the U.S. futsal team which took third place at the FIFA Futsal World Championship in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He ended his futsal career with 11 caps and 7 goals.

International goals Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 March 28, 1990 East Berlin, East Germany 2–1 3–2 Friendly 2 May 9, 1990 Hershey, Pennsylvania 2–1 3–1 Friendly 3 May 30, 1990 Eschen, Liechtenstein 1–0 4–1 Friendly 4 September 15, 1990 High Point, North Carolina 1–0 3–0 Friendly 5 October 10, 1990 Warsaw, Poland 1–1 3–2 Friendly 6 2–1 7 May 5, 1991 Denver, Colorado 1–0 1–0 Friendly 8 July 3, 1991 Los Angeles, California 1–0 3–2 1991 Gold Cup 9 July 5, 1991 Los Angeles, California 2–0 2–0 1991 Gold Cup 10 September 3, 1992 Saint John, Canada 2–0 2–0 Friendly 11 April 17, 1993 Costa Mesa, California 1–1 1–1 Friendly

Coaching career

Kansas City Vermes was the first person to win MLS Cup with the same club as player (2000) and head coach (2013). Vermes was appointed as the technical Director for the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer in November 2006.

He was named interim coach of the Wizards on August 4, 2009, one day after predecessor Curt Onalfo was fired by the team. The team was in sixth place in the MLS Eastern Conference with a 5–6–7 record. Vermes would lead to the Wizards to a 3–7–2 record down the stretch. Following the season, the Wizards removed the interim tag from his title.

In 2012, Vermes won his first piece of silverware as a head coach, leading the renamed Sporting Kansas City (changed from the Kansas City Wizards in 2010) to a penalty shootout win over three-time defending champions Seattle Sounders FC to win the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The following year, Vermes led the club to the MLS Cup, where they beat Real Salt Lake, also in a penalty shoot-out. This makes him the only person to ever win the MLS Cup as both a player and a coach with the same team.

Vermes won his third trophy as Sporting KC coach when his side won the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup by defeating the Philadelphia Union on penalties at Talen Energy Stadium. Two years later, Vermes added the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup to his trophy haul when Sporting KC beat the New York Red Bulls 2–1 at Children's Mercy Park.

On August 4, 2018, Vermes coached his 302nd regular-season match – a 1–0 victory over the Houston Dynamo – becoming the all-time leader in games coached with one club in MLS history.

On October 3, 2020, Vermes won his 150th regular-season match, with a 2–1 victory over the Houston Dynamo, becoming only the 5th coach in MLS history to do so.

In February 2023, Vermes signed a five-year extension with Sporting Kansas City through the 2028 MLS season.

Other coaching and activities Vermes worked as a broadcaster for the San Jose Earthquakes. Vermes serves as the technical Director of Coaching for the Blue Valley Soccer Club in Overland Park, Kansas, and was an assistant coach for the U.S. Under-20 National Team.

Personal life

Vermes's parents immigrated to the United States from Hungary as refugees during the 1956 revolution. His father, Michael, was a professional footballer for Budapest Honvéd FC and operated an indoor soccer training center in New Jersey after immigrating. Peter has two brothers and one sister.

Peter married his wife Susan, whom he met in high school, in 1990. The couple have two children.

Vermes was arrested for a suspected DUI on August 24, 2010, by police in Gardner, Kansas. He accepted one year of probation and the charge was dropped. The incident was mocked by Philadelphia Union supporters during a match in September 2010, with the Sons of Ben singing the entire folk song "99 Bottles of Beer" during the team's match against Kansas City.

Coaching statistics

Honors Player Kansas City Wizards MLS Cup: 2000 Supporters' Shield: 2000

United States CONCACAF Gold Cup: 1991

Coach Sporting Kansas City MLS Cup: 2013 U.S. Open Cup: 2012, 2015, 2017; runner-up: 2024 Eastern Conference: 2013

Individual National Soccer Hall of Fame Inductee: 2013 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 1988 MLS Defender of the Year Award: 2000 MLS All-Star: 2000 MLS Best XI: 2000 MLS Sporting Executive of the Year: 2019