The 2009 season was Seattle Sounders FC's first in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top flight of American soccer. It was the 29th season played by a professional team bearing the Sounders name, which was chosen for the MLS expansion team by a fan vote. An MLS franchise was awarded to a group from Seattle in 2007, including Adrian Hanauer, the owner of the second-division incarnation of the Sounders.

The Sounders hired head coach Sigi Schmid, who had won the MLS Cup with the Columbus Crew in 2008, and retained Hanauer as general manager. The club made their home debut on March 19, 2009, at Qwest Field against MLS Cup runners-up New York Red Bulls and won 3–0. During their inaugural season, the Sounders set MLS records for attendance, averaging 30,943 per match; the highest attendance of 66,848—a Washington state record for soccer—was recorded on August 5 during a friendly against FC Barcelona.

Seattle won the U.S. Open Cup, defeating D.C. United 2–1 in the final in Washington, D.C. The club finished third in the Western Conference and became the first MLS expansion team to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs since 1998. In the first round of the playoffs, they were defeated in the Conference Semifinals by the Houston Dynamo. Colombian forward Fredy Montero scored 12 goals and was the team's top goalscorer; four Sounders players were also named to the All-Star Game roster.

Background In a press conference on November 13, 2007, MLS awarded an expansion franchise to an ownership group based in Seattle. In 2008, Sounders FC developed the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila and the USL team played most of the 2008 season at the updated facility. At the time, the USL team's management thought that practicing and playing at Starfire could provide more continuity and a smoother transition for those hoping to play for the new MLS franchise.

In late 2008, Seattle Sounders FC interviewed several head coach candidates, including Columbus Crew manager Sigi Schmid, New England assistant Paul Mariner, and Kansas City technical director Peter Vermes. The club offered a contract to Schmid, who had led the Crew to an MLS Cup title that season, but the ownership of the Columbus Crew filed a tampering complaint with the MLS that put the offer on hold. The Crew's ownership complained that Schmid had communicated with Sounders FC during the 2008 season, despite being denied permission to do so, and that he shared confidential information with Sounders FC after leaving the Crew. The MLS ruled that no tampering occurred, but ordered Sounders FC to financially compensate the Crew before signing Schmid. Sounders FC officially introduced Schmid as their first coach on December 16. Former USL Sounders player and head coach Brian Schmetzer was retained as the top assistant coach, and Tom Dutra was selected as goalkeeper coach. Retired Major League Soccer veteran defender Ezra Hendrickson joined the Sounders as an assistant coach in January, 2009. Former MLS player and Everett, Washington, native Chris Henderson was named technical director on January 24, 2008. Joining Henderson in the front office is longtime Seattle Seahawks VP Gary Wright as the senior vice president of business operations. Drew Carey was named the chairman of the Membership Association.

Signings and drafts

Seattle Sounders FC was given first negotiation rights to any player that was not drafted in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft and joined the USL Sounders for the 2008 season. The team was also allowed to promote as many players from the 2008 USL Sounders squad as they'd chose, as long as the player's rights were not controlled by another team. Seattle Sounders FC officially announced the 2007 USL First Division MVP and former USL Sounder Sébastien Le Toux as its first signing on May 7, 2008. On August 14, 2008, the Sounders announced in a press conference their second signing for the 2009 season, former United States men's national team goalkeeper Kasey Keller, a Washington native. On September 5, 2008, Seattle Sounders FC announced the third signee for the franchise to be Sanna Nyassi from Gambia. Nyassi, a 19-year-old midfielder, was a member of the Gambia U-20 national team at the 2007 FIFA Championship. Sanna's twin brother, Sainey Nyassi, was signed by the Revolution and is a regular starter in MLS this season. On October 28, 2008, it was officially announced that the Sounders had signed Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg using the Designated Player Rule. He signed a two-year contract reported to be worth $2.5 million per season.

Team building continued with the 2008 MLS Expansion Draft and the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. In the expansion draft, held on November 26, 2008, Seattle Sounders FC selected the following players from other MLS teams: Nate Jaqua (Houston), Brad Evans (Columbus), Stephen King (Chicago), Jeff Parke (RBNY), James Riley (San Jose), Khano Smith (New England), Jarrod Smith (Toronto FC), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Peter Vagenas (LA Galaxy) and Tyson Wahl (Kansas City). As the 2009 expansion team Sounders FC was given the first pick in each round of the SuperDraft. With the number one pick of the first round of the draft, Seattle Sounders FC selected University of Akron forward Steve Zakuani. As the first picks of the second round (16th overall), third round (31st overall), and fourth round (46th overall), Seattle selected Wake Forest University defender Evan Brown, Azusa Pacific University defender Jared Karkas, and Harvard University midfielder/forward Michael Fucito respectively.

The team lineup was adjusted throughout. Defender Jeff Parke was selected in the expansion draft, and reported for training camp after tryouts with teams in Belgium. After training with the club for less than a week, Parke was unable to reach a contract agreement and left to train with the Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL. FC traded a conditional draft pick to Houston in order to acquire defender Patrick Ianni, who had worked with Seattle's coach Schmid on the under-20 US national team. Seattle also traded allocation money to Toronto FC in exchange for Tyrone Marshall in order to increase their depth on defense. The Sounders also traded away midfielder Khano Smith, another expansion draft selection, to Red Bull New York for allocation money.

Summary

Preseason

Seattle's preseason was broken up into four stages. The team started in southern California, then moved back to the Northwest, then to Argentina, and then finished back in Seattle. On February 9, 2009, in their first ever exhibition game, Sounders FC beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 3–1 on a practice field beside The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Fredy Montero, Roger Levesque and Sanna Nyassi all scored goals in the win. The next day, Sounders FC had their second training match in Ventura, California against Chinese club Shandong Luneng. They won 2–0 with both goals provided by midfielder Sanna Nyassi. The following day, February 11, Sounders FC defeated the Ventura County Fusion of the USL Premier Development League 6–1 in their third preseason match in three days. Steve Zakuani and Nate Jaqua both scored two goals while Fredy Montero and Roger Levesque added one each. On February 14, Sounders FC experienced their first loss of the preseason falling 3–2 to the San Jose Earthquakes while playing on the campus of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. Fredy Montero scored both of the Sounders FC goals in the loss.

Following their activities in southern California, Sounders FC's returned to the Pacific Northwest to continue their training. On the evening of February 20, 2009, Sounders FC defeated the University of Portland Pilots 4–1. Nate Jaqua and Kasey Keller received a pregame ovation because they both had played collegiate soccer with the Pilots. Jaqua, along with trialist Jeff Clark, Fredy Montero, and Brad Evans scored goals for Seattle. Two days later, the club played their first preseason match at Qwest Field as they defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 4–0. Forwards Nate Jaqua and Fredy Montero scored two goals apiece.

Next the club traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina where they continued training and played 4 more preseason matches. Seattle played the first of these matches against Estudiantes de La Plata on February 27, who they lost to 1–3. On February 28, Sounders FC had their first tie of the preseason, 1–1 against CED, a team made up of local free agent players. The club defeated Argentine second division opponents Tristán Suárez 5–0. Michael Fucito, Fredy Montero, Brad Evans and Zach Scott and Sebastian Le Toux all scored in the victory. One day later, due to heavy rain, an exhibition match against Gimnasia La Plata was canceled. In the club's final preseason match in Argentina, they faced reserve players of River Plate on March 5. They were held scoreless by River Plate with a final score of 1–0.

After completing training exercises in Argentina, the club returned to Seattle for the remainder of the preseason. On March 9, Designated Player Freddie Ljungberg joined practice for the first time. Ljungberg had missed most of the preseason due to hip surgery he had undergone in December. On March 12, Sounders FC played their final preseason match against the Colorado Rapids of the MLS at Qwest Field. Seattle lost 1–0 on a penalty kick by Colorado's Conor Casey. Seattle finished their preseason with a record of 7 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie.

March

Prior to the first game of the season, all 22,000 season ticket packages offered by the team were sold, giving the team the most season ticket holders in Major League Soccer. On March 19, Seattle Sounders FC began their first regular season with a 3–0 win over the New York Red Bulls. Fredy Montero scored the first regular season goal in team history, finishing a movement from Sebastien Le Toux and Osvaldo Alonso in the 12th minute. Montero assisted Brad Evans' goal, and also scored the team's third goal. Kasey Keller, a veteran American goalkeeper who had played his entire career abroad, made his MLS debut at 39 years of age, and made two saves to register the team's first regular season shutout.

On March 24 Seattle signed Kevin Forrest as a Senior Developmental player after he was released by Colorado. On March 28 Sounders FC continued the success of their fast start with a second consecutive home shutout, defeating Real Salt Lake 2–0. Designated player Freddie Ljungberg made his first regular season appearance as a substitute in the 61st minute of play. Nate Jaqua scored in the 17th minute, and Fredy Montero scored his league leading third goal of the season in the 77th minute.

March saw Montero winning Player of the Week honors for week 1 and Keller for week 2. Montero won Goal of the Week for the first two games and was named the Player of the Month.

April After their first two victories at home, Sounders FC played their first away game in history against Toronto FC. The Sounders expected a challenging away environment but were victorious were able to win in another 2–0 shutout. Montero missed the match due to illness. Soon after, reports out of Seattle linked Montero to a sexual assault case with an unidentified woman. In a statement made by Sounders publicist, Montero asserted that the allegations stemmed from a disagreement in which he sought to end the relationship. and a police inquiry resulted in no charges being filed.

After winning their first three games, Seattle Sounders FC suffered their first competitive loss at home against the Kansas City Wizards. Kasey Keller was sent off in the 29th minute for a handball outside the 18-yard box, as the Sounders fell 1–0 to the Wizards. The following week they lost at Chivas USA. Chris Eylander was scored on twice while covering the goal during Keller's suspension. The Sounders again failed to score.

The Sounders returned to their winning ways in a 2–0 home win against the San Jose Earthquakes.