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Who Are the Best Seattle Sounders Soccer Players of All Time?

Seattle Sounders FC is one of the MLS’ most popular and recognizable clubs. Their unique light green and blue shirts aren’t all that sets them apart from the rest of the league: they’ve also found great success, with a Supporters’ Shield in 2014, two MLS Cups in 2016 and 2019, and a CONCACAF Champions League title in 2022. Who were the players who made these achievements possible? Listed below are the greatest Seattle Sounders players of all time.

Top 10 Best Seattle Sounders FC Players of All Time

Nicolás Lodeiro
Jordan Morris
Clint Dempsey
Osvaldo Alonso
Raúl Ruidíaz
Fredy Montero
Stefan Frei
DeAndre Yedlin
Cristian Roldan
Nouhou Tolo

1. Nicolás Lodeiro

Two-time MLS Cup Champion
2016 MLS Newcomer of the Year
Sounders all-time leader in assists

The Uruguayan Nicolás Lodeiro is the best player in Sounders history. He joined the team in 2016, following stints in the Netherlands, Brazil, and Argentina’s Boca Juniors, and the forward instantly turned the MLS club’s fortunes around. His penalty kick in the 2016 MLS Cup Finals kept the Sounders’ title chances alive, and they converted on their next penalty to win the championship. In a Sounders career lasting seven years and counting, he has the most assists of all Sounders players.

Lodeiro is especially lethal from the penalty mark, proving his penalty kick in the 2016 MLS Cup Finals was no fluke. He’s 18 for 18 in regular season penalties, by far the most goals among players, with a perfect penalty conversion rate. He attributes this strength of his to his focus and confidence, focusing on his brain, legs, and feet before the goalkeeper.

2. Jordan Morris

Two-time MLS Cup winner
2022 CONCACAF Gold Cup winner
2019 MLS Comeback Player of the Year

Jordan Morris is a current powerhouse winger and forward for his hometown team in Seattle. Following a decorated college career at Stanford, Morris took a lucrative Homegrown Player contract to join the Sounders in 2016, and like Nicolás Lodeiro, won the MLS Cup in his first season in light green. An ACL tear in 2018 shelved him for the season, but he returned in 2019 and won a second Cup, earning Comeback Player of the Year honors in the process.

Both on and off the field, Morris has contended against Type 1 diabetes, which he was diagnosed with at age nine. He’s learned to manage his diet on the team and control his adrenaline levels during big matches to overcome the challenges posed by his condition. His namesake foundation offers a soccer camp experience to kids living with Type 1 diabetes.

3. Clint Dempsey

2014 Supporters’ Shield
2016 MLS Cup
National Soccer Hall of Fame

U.S. men’s national team legend Clint Dempsey finished his illustrious career with the Seattle Sounders. The striker from Nacogdoches, Texas had spent most of his career to that point in London, playing for Fulham and then Tottenham, but came back across the pond to sign with Seattle in 2013. He made his living as a stealthy finisher, sneaking into open space to receive the ball near the goal and finish the play with his head or foot. His play style fit him better in Seattle’s system than in Tottenham, and he helped the club to the Supporters’ Shield in 2014. Injuries kept him out of Seattle’s run to the MLS Cup in 2016, but his influence on the team was felt.

The man nicknamed “Deuce” (after his rap name) redefined men’s soccer in America, in both international and later domestic play. He finished his Sounders career in 2018, with 57 goals to his name.

4. Osvaldo Alonso

Four-time MLS All-Star
2012 MLS Best XI
2016 MLS Cup
Leads all Sounders in appearances

The Cuban-born Osvaldo Alonso endeared Sounders fans with his fearless play and his constant presence in Seattle’s midfield. Nicknamed “Honey Badger” for his aggressive, often reckless pursuit of opposing forwards, Alonso’s style of play didn’t cut into his longevity. In fact, his 339 career appearances for the Sounders, from 2009 to 2018, rank first all-time.

During the first half of his Sounders career, Alonso was one of the best midfielders in the league. He got four consecutive All-Star selections from 2011 to 2014, including a special mention as one of the MLS Best XI in 2012. He and the Sounders won the MLS Cup in 2016, in part thanks to his feisty defense.

5. Raúl Ruidíaz

2019 MLS Cup
2022 CONCACAF Champions League Best XI
Two-time MLS Best XI
Second all-time in Sounders goals

Raúl Ruidíaz is a small striker who’s made a big scoring impact for the Sounders. The 5’7” Peruvian nicknamed “The Flea” has drawn comparisons to Lionel Messi ever since Ruidíaz’ time playing for Universidad de Chile in the early 2010s.

His time in the Pacific Northwest has met the lofty expectations placed on him when the Sounders signed him in 2018. Ruidíaz is second all-time in Sounders history with 77 goals. He was honored as one of the MLS Best XI for two consecutive years, from 2020 to 2021, a year after winning the 2019 MLS Cup.

Though his height is rather small for a player in the #9 role, Raúl Ruidíaz has excellent balance and the ability to slow down the game in and around the box. His technique also sets him apart in the MLS, as he generates huge power with his hips and then can finish with either of his feet.

6. Fredy Montero

2009 MLS Newcomer of the Year Award
2022 CONCACAF Champions League
Leads all Sounders in career goals

Fredy Montero played on various teams in his home country of Colombia before being loaned to the Sounders in 2009. The Sounders saw talent in Montero, and took a gamble on him. He proved himself by scoring the franchise’s first-ever goal and sprinkled in its third-ever goal later in the match. Montero would go on to win MLS Newcomer of the Year in his first Seattle campaign.

Across his two turns of duty on the Sounders, he’s proven himself as one of the team’s best ever forwards, his 79 career goals making him the all-time leader, two ahead of his now-teammate Raúl Ruidíaz. It’s fitting that the career of Montero, a scoring threat from long-range, has taken him all across the world, making stops in Colombia, Portugal, China, and Canada. He was still a fan favorite when he returned to Seattle in 2021, after nine years away, and in 2022 he helped them to a CONCACAF Champions League title.

7. Stefan Frei

2022 CONCACAF Champions League Player of the Tournament
Leads all Sounders goalkeepers in games started, saves, wins, and shutouts
Top 10 in MLS history in shutouts, wins, and saves

Stefan Frei is the Sounders’ most accomplished goalkeeper. There aren’t many other Sounders keepers who pose much competition, but that’s because Frei’s been Seattle’s go-to option between the goalposts for a full decade, two-thirds of their existence as a club.

Hailing from Switzerland but moving to the U.S. for high school, Frei’s whole career has been in America. He started as goalkeeper for UC Berkeley and began his professional career for Toronto F.C. in 2009 before joining the Sounders in a 2013 trade. He holds the all-time record for Sounders saves, wins, and shutouts, also putting him in the top 10 in MLS history. In the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League, he rose to a whole new level, recording four clean sheets in eight matches en route to the Sounders’ title.

8. DeAndre Yedlin

2014 MLS Supporters’ Shield
Three-time MLS All-Star
U.S. Soccer Young Athlete of the Year: 2014

Although his Sounders career lasted just two seasons, DeAndre Yedlin established himself as one of the league’s best defenders in that time. Yedlin, who was born in Seattle to a Black and Native American father and a Latvian Jewish mother, was the first Homegrown Player signed by Seattle: three years before Jordan Morris.

He was a prodigy, becoming the youngest ever Sounder to record an assist in 2013 and, later that year, becoming the youngest Sounder to score a goal. Yedlin got All-Star nods for both of his seasons in Seattle, and further boosted his profile with a memorable 2014 World Cup. The global attention he got drew him to Tottenham, and he played in Europe until his 2022 return to the MLS with Inter Miami. In his third season in the MLS, nine years after his last, he got his third All-Star honor. Sounders fans won’t soon forget where his career began.

9. Cristian Roldan

Two-time MLS Cup Winner
2022 CONCACAF Champions League Best XI
2021 MLS All-Star

As a holding midfielder controlling the center of the field, Cristian Roldan is the glue that’s held the Sounders’ offensive and defensive structure together. The American Roldan wins most of his tackles and duels in the midfield. Since Seattle drafted him in 2015, he’s also shown his versatility, able to play a scoring or set-up role if his team asks it of him.

Cristian Roldan is also known for how well he gels with Jordan Morris; fans refer to them together as “Jorstian Mordan.” Playing for the Washington Huskies in college, Roldan got PAC-12 Freshman of the Year over Morris, who played for the Stanford Cardinal. But once they joined the same team, they became inseparable. The two played well together on the field, got called up to the USMNT together in 2016, then were named to the World Cup squad in 2022.

10. Nouhou Tolo

2019 MLS Cup
2021 MLS All-Star
2022 CONCACAF Champions League Best XI

Nouhou Tolo is a Cameroonian defender capable of shutting down the sport’s most feared offensive players. Nouhou began his professional career with Cameroon’s Rainbow FC in Bamenda before he transferred to the USA in 2016. After debuting with the Sounders in 2017, the left-back became a folk hero in Seattle, thanks to his one-liners, dance moves, and flashy techniques on the pitch.

But beyond his buoyant personality, Nouhou remains focused on defending at an elite level. He locks down opponents one-on-one, dominates aerial duels (where the ball is contested up in the air), and avoids costly turnovers. Ever since he debuted for Seattle in 2017, Nouhou’s been a reliable defender who doesn’t attack very much. But when he does, such as when he got his first MLS goal in his 137th appearance, it’s all the more electrifying.