The Seattle Sounders have won the 2025 Leagues Cup, the last trophy they needed to complete a very prestigious collection.
In a landmark performance at Lumen Field, the Sounders thrashed Inter Miami 3-0, and not even Lionel Messi could stop them. A record crowd of 69,000 watched history being made, and it will be a night none of them will ever forget.
Why? Because the Sounders are now the first and only team in Major League Soccer to have won every major trophy in North America. A clean sweep. And people are quite rightly asking if this makes them the best team in MLS history.
I’m going to dig into this claim below and decide if it stands up next to the achievements of some of the league’s other most successful clubs.
The Sounders Trophy Cabinet
Since their inaugural season in 2009, the Seattle Sounders have been a benchmark for success. They won the US Open Cup in that first MLS season, for a start, but also did well in the league, coming 3rd in their conference and 4th overall.
Their good form continued, taking part in 5 out of 6 of the next Open Cup finals, winning 4 of them, and also winning the Conference Finals and the Supporter’s Shield in 2014.
They had to wait until 2016 to win the MLS Cup, but appeared in 4 out of 5 MLS Cup finals between 2016 and 2020, winning it twice, then adding a CONCACAF Champions Cup trophy to their tally in 2022.
This left only the Leagues Cup they were yet to win, but they didn’t have to wait long.
Here is what the Sounders trophy cabinet looks like as of 2025:
| Trophy | Years Won |
|---|---|
| MLS Cup | 2016, 2019 |
| Supporters’ Shield | 2014 |
| U.S. Open Cup | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 |
| CONCACAF Champions Cup | 2022 |
| Leagues Cup | 2025 |
That’s every trophy they are eligible to compete for. The full set. And no other MLS team can say the same. What’s more, most of the other teams that come close have been around since MLS began, whereas the Seattle Sounders achieved it in just 16 years.
You can understand then why Sounders fans are claiming to be supporters of the best team in MLS history.
Are the Seattle Sounders MLS’s Greatest Ever MLS Team?
Now that the Seattle Sounders have won every single trophy in North America, the conversation needs to be brought up.
Are they the best soccer organization in North America?#Sounders #MLS pic.twitter.com/8NjCetDiwv
— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) September 1, 2025
It’s a compelling argument. The Sounders have achieved something difficult and something unique, plus, they were the first to do it.
What’s more, their success is not built on isolated peaks or golden eras, but on sustained excellence from the moment they joined MLS to now. Seattle Sounders have only ever had one ‘bad’ year, and that was in 2022, when they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time ever, but won the CONCACAF Champions Cup. As bad years go, it’s not that bad, is it?
Under long time coach, Brian Schmetzer, the club has married tactical consistency with a strong sense of identity, drawing heavily on academy graduates and long-serving players while blending in high-quality signings. And they have won stuff with this approach. In many ways then, the Sounders are the perfect football team.
You can compare them with any other successful Major League Soccer team and argue their case. Alright, LA Galaxy have won more MLS Cups, but they just went 9 years without even reaching a final in any competition. Yes, DC United have won more trophies overall, but they won most of them donkeys years ago, and the league was much smaller and less competitive back then too. Toronto FC won that incredible treble in 2017 but that was one season and they have literally never won anything else. Columbus Crew have the same number of trophies but have never won the Champions Cup and again, have gone huge periods of time where they dropped off the pace and became also rans.
No other club in the league has been as consistently competitive as the Seattle Sounders. They have never gone more than 2 seasons without winning a major trophy and have only failed to reach the final of a major competition in 5 out of 17 seasons.
Their fans are so spoilt they don’t even realise.
Perspective
It’s unlikely that fans of other clubs will ever concede that the Sounders are the greatest team in MLS history, and even if it was declared to be true in some official capacity, it’s not a badge they could wear forever. They will undoubtedly go off the boil at some point.
In terms of completeness though, it’s undeniable that the Seattle Sounders are the best team the league has ever seen. In terms of number of trophies won, they are quite a ways off yet. They are also one of the better resourced and supported clubs in the league, which gives them an advantage. It’s all about perspective.
Nevertheless, their 2025 Leagues Cup win is historic. It is much more than just another trophy. No other team can ever be the first to have won all major competitions in North America. That honour will forever belong to the Seattle Sounders.
To you, that may or may not make them the greatest team in MLS history, but it firmly establishes them as one of the defining clubs of Major League Soccer.
Another club will eventually get there too, but for now at least, the Seattle Sounders stand alone.