This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Seattle Sounders FC article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.
Q: I added something to the article but it got removed. Why?
A: In all probability what you added was unsourced information or information cited to an unreliable source; such information is usually removed quickly because of the article's Featured Status. Featured Articles on Wikipedia require reliable sources for an independent verification of the facts presented, consequently any information added to a Featured Article without a reliable source is subject to removal from the article at any Wikipedian's discretion.
Q: Isn't the club's official name "Seattle Sounders Football Club"?
A: Short answer: no, it's "Seattle Sounders FC". For the long answer please read these archived discussions: first and second.
Q: Why does the format of the current roster list look different than all the other MLS club articles?
A: This form of the list complies with WP:FLAG, is sortable, and provides a key for abreviations. Further discussion and explanation can be found in the talk page archives: first and second.
This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (center, color, defense, realize, traveled) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Football, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Association football on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.FootballWikipedia:WikiProject FootballTemplate:WikiProject Footballfootball
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Microsoft, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.MicrosoftWikipedia:WikiProject MicrosoftTemplate:WikiProject MicrosoftMicrosoft
The following reference(s) may be useful when improving this article in the future:
Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
The Sounders don't refer to their jerseys as home and away. They prefer the terms primary and secondary since the color they wear does not depend on their location. Although looking through the team store and press releases they seem to shy away from the term "secondary" preferring to call it purple or Hendrix.[1][2]76.175.64.189 (talk) 21:30, 28 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Just going to stick some notes here that would be useful in developing a "Club culture" section (which would probably encompass the Supporters and Rivalries sections as well).
Latest comment: 1 year ago3 comments2 people in discussion
We love our club and our history, which I believe legitimately dates back to our 1974 founding as a NASL club. I never really questioned splitting the wiki accounting of our history into 3 top level pages, until I started looking closely at the pages of other clubs. Primarily the Rangers of Glasgow Scotland. The Rangers famously went bankrupt in 2012, and ceased being a football club. They were reformed and entered the Scottish football pyramid at the very bottom, and have progressed back up to the top level. I do not begrudge the Rangers their singular page, but I do envy it, as they are as much a "new entity" as the Sounders are from the NASL days to the present. When we get our Supersonics back, will they suffer the same indignity of a "lost history" as the Sounders, relegated to a new but seperate wiki history? Or will the wiki sporting gods recognize the continuity of fandom and records? (Almost?) everyone recognizes the modern Sounders as the spiritual continuation of the club established in 1974. It is time it (and the ASL/USL Sounders) were included on the same page as the MLS iteration. Wasn't Adrian Hanuar (our current owner) also the owner of the ASL/USL Sounders?
I would also point out that in the wiki telling of the Sounders-Timbers rivalry, the 3 legal entities are treated as one, as are the 3 legal Portland entities. bgix (talk) 18:34, 1 August 2025 (UTC)Reply
They are separate entities and treated as such. Most teams that move between closed leagues have separate articles for each incarnation, and the differences in rules and norms for each of the leagues are wide enough to cause issues when merging the histories together. For example, the season lists that I have been working on have to explain the mechanics of six different points systems used by the NASL, A-League/APSL, USL, and MLS. SounderBruce18:39, 1 August 2025 (UTC)Reply
You make a good point about the points system, and I agree that it would be non-trivial. Even the pre-Sounder MLS hockey style shootout muddles the records. But then we also have to account for histories that bridge the gap, like our supporters and rivalries. Are the rivalries of the earlier iterations relevent to the current iterations? I would argue yes. Does it matter to modern Sounder fans that our earlier iteration competed against Pele in his final competitive match? I argue yes. Are the titles won by earlier iterations relevent? That our coach was once a player? That the literal fandom of past iterations is largely responsible for voting our stadium into existance? At the end of the day, I do not believe Wiki should be beholden to MLS. We defy the "history begins at MLS" in so many different official and unofficial ways. Our newest 3rd jersey speaks to that defiance. The very fact that we must accommodate "different points systems" and have effectively done so, seems to eliminate that as an arguement *against* merging the history. bgix (talk) 19:02, 1 August 2025 (UTC)Reply
Recent press releases still use "FC". . It would be one thing if there was statement from the club discouraging the use of FC in favor of "football club" but that doesn't seem to be the case. OhNoitsJamieTalk17:01, 29 August 2025 (UTC)Reply
I think there’s a misunderstanding here: full name doesn’t mean exclusive use or the only variant being permissible to be used. Abbreviations are common in sports. Thus, Sounders FC or Seattle Sounders may be what is normally in use, but it’s not the full name - WP:COMMONNAME and WP:OFFICIALNAMES are two different things.
A Statement »discouraging the use of the FC abbreviation«? Are you saying that is a requirement to include the full name in the info box or the article? How does that make sense? By that token, »football club« as part of a club’s or organization’s name would be virtually non-existant, as the overwhelming majority uses abbreviations, e.g. FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC et al.
The club’s website says: »[…] the Rave Green celebrate 50 years of Seattle Sounders Football Club […]«;
The club’s official Facebook page says: »The Official Facebook Page of Seattle Sounders Football Club«;
The club’s official Twitter page/status says: »We are Seattle Sounders Football Club«;
The MLS refers to them as Seattle Sounders Football Club;
The official supporters’ organization calls itself »Seattle Sounders Football Club Alliance« (in line with the first source I listed, mentioning both club and the supporter group spelled out)
James Woollard, the club’s public announcer, says Seattle Sounders Football Club
So does Stoel Rives, the law firm responsible for drafting and setting up the contracts pertaining to the construction of the club’s hq and training facilities:
The opposite makes sense: Unless there is an official statement from the club discouraging the use of »football club«, it has to be included in the article, either in the info box or in the lead, possibly like this: »Seattle Sounders Football Club, commonly known as Seattle Sounders FC or just Sounders FC, […]«.
Add-on: I have just found a press release from 2009, introducing the website: »Welcome to the new SoundersFC.com, the official online home of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders Football Club! […] The Digital Media Team, Seattle Sounders Football Club«
The claim that FC does not stand for »football club« has been false from the beginning, then - either inadvertently or deliberately.