Craig Waibel, Seattle Sounders GM & Chief Soccer Officer, Named VenuesNow 2026 All-Star Honoree

Craig Waibel General Manager / Chief Soccer Officer Seattle Sounders

DECORATED CHAMPION Craig Waibel has won four championships, which is tied fifth among players for the most MLS Cups won in league history.

Becoming general manager and chief soccer officer of the Seattle Sounders was a huge milestone for Craig Waibel, something he had dreamed about for years.

Waibel took the job in November 2022, after spending 20 years in professional soccer. He played for 12 years, won four MLS Cups, and later spent four years as Real Salt Lake’s general manager.

A University of Washington graduate, Waibel now leads all of the club’s soccer operations, from the First Team to Tacoma Defiance and the Sounders FC Academy. He is the third general manager in Sounders FC’s MLS history, following Adrian Hanauer and Garth Lagerwey, who moved on to become Atlanta United’s president and CEO.

Waibel has strong ties to the Pacific Northwest. He grew up in Spokane, played soccer at UW from 1995 to 1998, and began his pro career with the Sounders in the A-League before spending 11 years in MLS. “I’m a native of the Northwest,” he said, and he is “ridiculously proud” to be a UW graduate.

He has been open about the high expectations he stepped into, describing Lagerwey’s legacy as “just shy of perfect” and pointing out that the club has “won every trophy.”

That high standard has continued. With Waibel in charge, Seattle made it to the 2024 Western Conference Final, played in the expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, and won the 2025 Leagues Cup with a perfect record. They beat Inter Miami 3-0 in front of a club-record 69,314 fans, making the Sounders the first MLS club to win all five major North American trophies. Waibel has also brought in key players like Pedro de la Vega and Jesús Ferreira, helped 19 Tacoma Defiance players move up to the First Team, and sent Obed Vargas to Atlético Madrid.

Even after several years, Waibel still remembers how much this job means to him. “Sports just don’t take you home very often,” he told T he Spokesman-Review in 2026.

VenuesNow 2026 All-Star Hub

_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/09/21/venuesnow-2026-all-star-honoree-craig-waibel/)._