TUKWILA, Wash. — Zach Scott addressed the media on Thursday after announcing his intention to retire at the end of this season, and the 36-year-old defender both expressed his gratitude for his time with the club and made it clear he was ready to move on.
Scott has spent the last 15 years as a member of the Sounders organization, dating back to its USL-1 days and though nearly eight seasons of Major League Soccer. While he's leaving his pro career behind, he said he’s not walking away from the game entirely.
“I’m not retiring from soccer, I’m retiring from professional soccer,” Scott said. “Soccer will be a part of my life with my kids and my family. Now I’ll get the opportunity to be a part of their games and coaching them and watching them grow as players.”
Known fondly as “Mr. Sounder,” Scott played in nearly 350 matches for the club spanning the two divisions, including more than 8,000 MLS minutes, nearly all of which came after he turned 30.
During the initial USL days, Scott was student-teaching and spending entire weekends traveling with the team only to get back in the early hours on Monday and heading to class on little rest. He’s also started some of the biggest games in franchise history in front of more than 60,00 fans, and won seven titles with the club over the years.
“I wanted to make the jump so bad knowing that [the opportunity] was there, especially in Seattle,” Scott said of the team’s move to MLS in 2009. “You always knew that there was this underlying support for soccer in the Northwest…[but] I don’t think any of us as players or an organization were quite ready for the way the community embraced the team.”
Scott will miss the locker room camaraderie and being around the other players, but he is content with his decision to walk away and is excited about what the next steps in his life will bring. He will be working on the business side for a technology consulting company in Seattle, but he can’t fully write off the possibility of staying involved with the Sounders organization moving forward.
“I’d never close that door, but right now I don’t see that in my future,” Scott said. “I’d love to be a part of some of the stuff they’re doing off the field, the Rave Foundation and stuff they’re doing on the non-profit side, I always thought that was pretty cool.
“The team will always have a special place in my heart, and I’d never not answer a call if they need help.”
