The 2022 season was Seattle Sounders FC's 14th in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top flight of American club soccer. It was the 39th season played by a professional team bearing the Sounders name. The team was under the management of Brian Schmetzer in his sixth full MLS season as head coach of the Sounders.
In early May, the Sounders won the CONCACAF Champions League title after defeating UNAM of the Liga MX 5–2 in aggregate scoring, becoming the first team in Major League Soccer to win the CONCACAF Champions League. The season ended with the team missing the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in the league, snapping a 13-year streak that was the longest active streak in MLS history. The Sounders last missed the playoffs in 2006 as a second-division club in the USL First Division. The team also failed to win in their final nine road matches from July through the end of the season.
Summary
During the offseason, the Sounders hired former player Andy Rose as an assistant coach, joining Freddy Juarez, who had been signed in August 2021, and Preki. The team opened their preseason camp in late January, with first scrimmages on January 20.
The Sounders won the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) with an undefeated record, including a 3–0 win in the second leg of the final against Pumas UNAM of Liga MX. The second leg of the final at Lumen Field broke a tournament attendance record with 68,741 spectators. During their concurrent MLS matches, the team had a 2–5–1 record and dropped to 13th place in the Western Conference. The Sounders missed the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since entering the league in 2009, breaking a 13-year streak; their performance was attributed to player injuries from the CCL run.
Roster
No.NameNationalityPositionDate of birth (age)Previous club 3 Xavier Arreaga DF Barcelona S.C. 5 Nouhou DF Tacoma Defiance 6 João Paulo MF Botafogo 7 Cristian Roldan MF Washington Huskies 9 Raúl Ruidíaz FW Atlético Morelia 10 Nicolás Lodeiro MF Boca Juniors 11 Albert Rusnák MF Real Salt Lake 12 Fredy Montero FW Vancouver Whitecaps FC 13 Jordan Morris FW Stanford Cardinal 14 Samuel Adeniran FW Tacoma Defiance 16 Alex Roldán MF Tacoma Defiance 17 Will Bruin FW Houston Dynamo FC 21 Reed Baker-Whiting MF Tacoma Defiance 22 Kelyn Rowe MF New England Revolution 23 Léo Chú MF Grêmio 24 Stefan Frei GK Toronto FC 25 Jackson Ragen DF Tacoma Defiance 26 Andrew Thomas GK Stanford Cardinal 28 Yeimar Gómez Andrade DF Unión de Santa Fe 30 Stefan Cleveland GK Chicago Fire FC 45 Ethan Dobbelaere MF Tacoma Defiance 73 Obed Vargas MF Tacoma Defiance 75 Danny Leyva MF Tacoma Defiance 84 Josh Atencio MF Tacoma Defiance 87 Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez FW Tacoma Defiance 92 Abdoulaye Cissoko DF Tacoma Defiance 94 Jimmy Medranda DF Nashville SC 99 Dylan Teves MF Washington Huskies
Coaching staff
Technical staff
Transfers
For transfers in, dates listed are when Sounders FC officially signed the players to the roster. Transactions where only the rights to the players are acquired are not listed. For transfers out, dates listed are when Sounders FC officially removed the players from its roster, not when they signed with another club. If a player later signed with another club, his new club will be noted, but the date listed here remains the one when he was officially removed from Sounders FC roster.
In No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource14 Tacoma Defiance Free Transfer 73 Tacoma Defiance Free Transfer 99 University of Washington Homegrown Signing 18 Real Salt Lake Designated Player 25 Tacoma Defiance College Protected Period February 14, 202236 Tacoma Defiance Short Term Extreme Hardship Contract March 20, 2022 45 MFK Vyškov Loan Recall
Draft picks
Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only those who are signed to a contract will be listed as transfers in. Only trades involving draft picks and executed after the start of 2022 MLS SuperDraft will be listed in the notes.
DatePlayerPositionSchoolNotesRefJanuary 11, 2022 Achille RobinDF University of WashingtonMLS SuperDraft 2nd Round Pick (#43)January 11, 2022 Hal UderitzMF Seattle UniversityMLS SuperDraft 3rd Round Pick (#76)
Out
No.Pos.PlayerTransferred toFee/notesDateSource20 Option declined 8 Option declined 37 Option declined 1 Loudoun United Option declined 27 Toronto FC Free transfer 18 Chicago Fire FC Free transfer 11 D.C. United Traded for $750,000 in GAM 45 MFK Vyškov Loan through May 31, 2022
Competitions
Preseason The Seattle Sounders announced their pre-season schedule on January 22, 2022. Seattle competed against its rival, the Portland Timbers, in a friendly match in Tuscan as part of the Desert Showcase which was hosted by FC Tucson. The club also participated in the Coachella Valley Invitational with its host, LA Galaxy.
Major League Soccer
League tables
Western Conference
Overall
Results
Match results
MLS regular season
The MLS schedule was released on December 15, 2021. Several matches were later rescheduled to accommodate CONCACAF Champions League fixtures.
U.S. Open Cup The Sounders entered the 2022 U.S. Open Cup in the Round of 32 on May 11, 2022, by virtue of finishing second in the 2021 Western Conference. The draw occurred on April 22, 2022.
CONCACAF Champions League
The Sounders qualified to the round of 16 of the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League by virtue of their second-place finish in the 2021 Western Conference. The round of 16 draw occurred on December 15.
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred/loaned out during the season
Top scorers {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" |- !width=30|Rank !width=30|Position !width=30|Number !width=175|Name !width=75| !width=75| !width=75| !width=75| !width=75|Total |- |rowspan="2"|1 |FW |9 |align="left"| Raúl Ruidíaz |9 |0 |0 |3 |12 |- |MF |10 |align="left"| Nicolás Lodeiro |7 |0 |0 |5 |12 |- |rowspan="1"|3 |FW |13 |align="left"| Jordan Morris |7 |0 |0 |3 |10 |- |rowspan="1"|4 |FW |12 |align="left"| Fredy Montero |4 |0 |1 |3 |8 |- |rowspan="1"|5 |MF |7 |align="left"| Cristian Roldan |4 |0 |0 |1 |5 |- |rowspan="1"|6 |MF |11 |align="left"| Albert Rusnák |3 |0 |0 |1 |4 |- |rowspan="1"|7 |FW |17 |align="left"| Will Bruin |3 |0 |0 |0 |3 |- |rowspan="1"|8 |MF |22 |align="left"| Kelyn Rowe |1 |0 |0 |1 |2 |- |rowspan="8"|9 |DF |3 |align="left"| Xavier Arreaga |1 |0 |0 |0 |1 |- |MF |6 |align="left"| João Paulo |1 |0 |0 |0 |1 |- |DF |16 |align="left"| Alex Roldan |1 |0 |0 |0 |1 |- |MF |99 |align="left"| Dylan Teves |1 |0 |0 |0 |1 |- |DF |28 |align="left"| Yeimar Gómez Andrade |1 |0 |0 |0 |1 |- |DF |5 |align="left"| Nouhou |1 |0 |0 |0 |1 |- |FW |23 |align="left"| Léo Chú |0 |0 |0 |1 |1 |- |MF |94 |align="left"| Jimmy Medranda |0 |0 |1 |0 |1
Top assists {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" |- !width=30|Rank !width=30|Position !width=30|Number !width=175|Name !width=75| !width=75| !width=75| !width=75| !width=75|Total |- |rowspan="1"|1 |MF |7 |align="left"| Cristian Roldan |1 |0 |0 |4 |5 |- |rowspan="1"|2 |MF |10 |align="left"| Nicolás Lodeiro |1 |0 |0 |1 |2 |- |rowspan="3"|3 |DF |5 |align="left"| Nouhou |0 |0 |0 |1 |1 |- |MF |11 |align="left"| Albert Rusnák |0 |0 |0 |1 |1 |- |DF |16 |align="left"| Alex Roldan |1 |0 |0 |0 |1
Honors and awards
MLS Team of the Week WeekPlayerOpponentPositionRef3 Xavier Arreaga LA Galaxy Bench4 Cristian Roldan Austin FC MF5 João Paulo Minnesota United FC MF
MLS Goal of the Week WeekPlayerOpponentRef5 João Paulo Minnesota United FC11 Cristian Roldan Minnesota United FC12 Raúl Ruidíaz Houston Dynamo FC
CONCACAF Champions League Best XI LegPlayerOpponentPositionRefRound of 16 2nd leg Cristian Roldan Motagua MFQuarterfinals 1st leg Fredy MonteroClub León FW Cristian Roldan MFQuarterfinals 2nd leg Fredy MonteroClub León MFSemifinals 1st leg Raúl Ruidíaz New York City FC FW Nicolás Lodeiro MF Jordan Morris MF Albert Rusnák MF Jackson Ragen DF Alex Roldan DF Stefan Frei GKSemifinals 2nd leg Raúl Ruidíaz New York City FC FW Cristian Roldan MF Xavier Arreaga DF Nouhou DF Stefan Frei GK
References