Peter Joseph Vermes (; born November 21, 1966) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach and former player. From 2009 to 2025, he was the manager of

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. 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. As a player, Vermes spent several seasons playing in Hungary, the Netherlands, before establishing himself as a defender in

, playing for MetroStars,

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

and the Kansas City Wizards. Vermes was also a regular member of the United States national team throughout the 1990s, and represented his country at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

, the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup. On April 4, 2013, Vermes was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

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 Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, 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 Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

of the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

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

. 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

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

. 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 Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, and would in all receive 66 caps for the team, playing in the 1988 Olympics, the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

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 Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

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

Coaching career

Kansas City

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

(changed from the Kansas City Wizards in 2010) to a penalty shootout win over three-time defending champions

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

to win the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The following year, Vermes led the club to the

, where they beat Real Salt Lake, also in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. This makes him the only person to ever win the

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. On March 31, 2025, amid a winless start to the season (0W-5L-1D), Sporting Kansas City announced that it had agreed to mutually part ways with Vermes.

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 Overland Park ( ) is the largest city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and the List of cities in Kansas#Highest population listing, second-most populous city in the state of Kansas. It is one of four principal city, principal cities in ...

, 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 Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

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 New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

after immigrating. Peter has two brothers and one sister. Peter married his wife Susan, who 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 *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

* Supporters' Shield:

;United States * CONCACAF Gold Cup: 1991

Coach

;Sporting Kansas City *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* U.S. Open Cup:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, 2015, 2017; runner-up: 2024 *Eastern Conference:

Individual

* National Soccer Hall of Fame Inductee: 2013 * U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 1988 * MLS Defender of the Year Award:

* MLS All-Star:

* MLS Best XI: 2000 *MLS Sporting Executive of the Year: 2019

Notes

References

External links

Profile
at US Soccer Players * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vermes, Peter 1966 births Living people All-American college men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players American Professional Soccer League players Colorado Rapids players Győri ETO FC players FC Volendam players Eredivisie players Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Segunda División players Sporting Kansas City head coaches Sporting Kansas City players Loyola Greyhounds men's soccer players Major League Soccer head coaches Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls players UE Figueres footballers New York Fever players Olympic soccer players for the United States Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer) Delran High School alumni People from Delran Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Willingboro Township, New Jersey Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's soccer players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1992 King Fahd Cup players 1993 Copa América players 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Men's association football forwards Men's association football defenders American people of Hungarian descent Sportspeople of Hungarian descent American men's soccer players Soccer players from Burlington County, New Jersey United States men's international soccer players American men's futsal players Major League Soccer All-Stars National Soccer Hall of Fame members Nemzeti Bajnokság I players American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands American expatriate sportspeople in Hungary American expatriate sportspeople in Spain American soccer coaches 20th-century American sportsmen