List of MLS Cup winning head coaches

The list of MLS Cup winning head coaches includes seven head coaches who have won multiple MLS Cup titles — Bruce Arena, who has won MLS Cup five times, and Sigi Schmid, Frank Yallop, Dominic Kinnear, Brian Schmetzer, Caleb Porter and Greg Vanney, who have each won MLS Cup twice.

To date, four head coaches have led two different clubs to win the MLS Cup: Sigi Schmid (with Los Angeles Galaxy in 2002 and Columbus Crew in 2008), Bruce Arena (with D.C. United in 1996 and 1997 and LA Galaxy in 2011, 2012 and 2014), Caleb Porter (with Portland Timbers in 2015 and Columbus Crew in 2020) and Greg Vanney (with Toronto FC in 2017 and LA Galaxy in 2024).

Only two head coaches have won the playoffs as both a player and head coach. Piotr Nowak played for Chicago Fire during their 1998 MLS Cup title (in which he was named the Man of the Match), and subsequently led D.C. United as a coach to their fourth MLS Cup title in 2004. Peter Vermes won the 2000 MLS Cup with Sporting Kansas City (then known as the Kansas City Wizards) as a player, then won MLS Cup with the same team as a coach in 2013. The next closest head coaches to such an achievement are Dominic Kinnear and Greg Vanney. Kinnear was on the Colorado Rapids squad that lost the 1997 MLS Cup final; however, he led the Houston Dynamo to two straight MLS Cup titles in 2006 and 2007. Vanney was on the LA Galaxy roster that finished as runners-up in 1996 and 2001, and coached Toronto FC and the LA Galaxy to victory in 2017 and 2024, respectively.

Wilfried Nancy led the Columbus Crew to an MLS Cup victory in 2023 and became the first Black manager of a cup-winning team.

Winning head coaches

FinalWinning head coachNationalityClub1996D.C. United1997 D.C. United1998Chicago Fire1999D.C. United2000Kansas City Wizards2001San Jose Earthquakes2002Los Angeles Galaxy2003 San Jose Earthquakes2004D.C. United2005Los Angeles Galaxy2006Houston Dynamo2007 Houston Dynamo2008 Columbus Crew2009Real Salt Lake2010Colorado Rapids2011 LA Galaxy2012 LA Galaxy2013Sporting Kansas City2014 LA Galaxy2015Portland Timbers2016Seattle Sounders FC2017Toronto FC2018Atlanta United FC2019 Seattle Sounders FC2020 Columbus Crew SC2021New York City FC2022Los Angeles FC2023Columbus Crew2024 LA Galaxy2025Inter Miami CF

Coaches with multiple MLS Cup victories

Wins Head coach Team(s) won with (years) MLS coaching career 5 Bruce Arena D.C. United (1996, 1997)LA Galaxy (2011, 2012, 2014) 1996–19982006–20162019–2023 2 Sigi Schmid Los Angeles Galaxy (2002)Columbus Crew (2008) 1999–20042006–2018 Frank Yallop San Jose Earthquakes (2001, 2003) 2001–20032006–2015 Dominic Kinnear Houston Dynamo (2006, 2007) 2004–2018Brian Schmetzer Seattle Sounders FC (2016, 2019) Caleb Porter Portland Timbers (2015)Columbus Crew SC (2020) 2013–20172019–2022Greg Vanney Toronto FC (2017)LA Galaxy (2024) 2014–present

By nationality NationHead coachesTotal 11 19 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

See also List of Major League Soccer head coaches

References