MLS is set to kick off its 26th season on Friday, April 16th,and every team will have their eye on one prize, the MLS Cup at season’s end. A total of 13 teams have lifted the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy and have been led by a total of 16 coaches over the years.
The teams to have won the most cups are the Los Angeles Galaxy with five and DC United with four, and some prestigious coaches have won the cup in Atlanta United’s Tata Martino in 2018 and former Polish international Piotr Nowak way back in 2004.
While the list of coaches is long only 6 have won two or more titles, here we will review who are the MLS coaches to have won the most MLS Cups.
Bruce Arena – 5 MLS Cups
Bruce Arena (Getty)
The one and only, Bruce Arena won 5 MLS Cups in his coaching career, coaching the league’s two best dynasties, DC United and LA Galaxy. At DC United Arena coached Marco Etcheverry and company to back-to-back MLS Cups in 1996 and 1997 along with winning the US Open Cup and two international championships.
At Los Angeles it was David Beckham, Robbie Keane, and Landon Donovan who helped the Brooklyn native to three championships in 2011, 2012, and 2014. Arena coaches the New England Revolution and has turned that club’s fortunes around as well.
Coaches with 2 MLS Cups
Caleb Porter (Getty)
Five coaches have won the MLS Cup twice in their careers, most recently it was Caleb Porter who won the title with the Portland Timbers and last season with the Columbus Crew. The late Sigi Schmid won the championship with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2002 and later in 2008 with the Columbus Crew.
Frank Yallop won two titles with the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001 and 2003, while Dominic Kinnear won back-to-back titles with the Houston Dynamo in 2006 and 2007. Brian Schmetzer has taken the Seattle Sounders to the finals in four of the last five seasons and won two titles in 2016 and 2019.
