As a player and coach, Brian Schmetzer has won over a dozen trophies with Seattle Sounders FC.
But with Seattle’s 3-0 takedown of Inter Miami CF in Sunday’s Leagues Cup 2025 final at Lumen Field, the longtime manager might have led the Sounders to their most impressive feat yet.
Taking on a Herons’ side rife with superstar talent, led by arguably the sport’s best-ever player in Lionel Messi, Seattle lifted their first-ever Leagues Cup title with a commanding performance.
“The success that [majority owner Adrian Hanauer] and I have built should not be discounted,” an emotional Schmetzer said at his postgame press conference. “Because when we came, we were a USL team and he had a vision to get the team into MLS, and we had big owners and an ownership group and things. But he’s the one who does the things behind the scenes, and it’s a credit to him.
“The organization from top to bottom, the coaches, everybody, they deserve this,” Schmetzer added. “The fans deserve this win. Because it’s been 20-some odd years since I’ve been with the club, and then you sprinkle in a couple years when I was 17, 19, 20 – so it might even be 25. I’ll have to do the math. But credit to everybody in the organization.”
