The Heritage Cup is an annual cup rivalry between Major League Soccer (MLS) teams San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders FC. Both teams carried their names forward from their North American Soccer League (NASL) predecessors. However, the rivalry is also geographical as the two cities are based on the West Coast.
Club namesakes Major League SoccerNorth American Soccer LeagueSan Jose EarthquakesSan Jose EarthquakesSeattle Sounders FCSeattle Sounders
History Cup history The Heritage Cup trophy was conceived and designed by San Jose Earthquakes fan Rob Stevenson and was commissioned by San Jose's Soccer Silicon Valley Community Foundation in collaboration with Seattle Sounders FC supporters. The competition began in 2009 when the expansion Seattle began play, becoming the second MLS team named after their North American Soccer League counterpart – San Jose having been the first when they inherited the Earthquakes name in time for the 2000 season.
MLS times The original Earthquakes and Sounders sides did have a rivalry while playing in the NASL. However, it did not completely resurface during the 2009 season with fans of both teams viewing other clubs as bigger rivals. That season, the first MLS meeting of the teams was not considered for the competition due to the schedule consisting of two games in Seattle and only one in San Jose. Seattle won the initial meeting at home 2–0 and the second 2–1. The San Jose Earthquakes won the inaugural cup on goals scored after a 4–0 home victory on August 2, 2009.
Present and future MLS teams that carry on the name of their market's NASL predecessors are eligible to join the competition. However, when the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC became eligible to compete for the cup upon joining the league in 2011, both teams' supporters elected not to participate.http://forum.vancouversouthsiders.ca/index.php?p=/discussion/243/heritage-cup-our-position They left open the possibility of joining if a couple of additional eligible teams join MLS, thereby better differentiating the Heritage Cup from the Cascadia Cup.
The 2012 MLS Season brought an unbalanced schedule for the first time since 2009. The rules to the cup therefore reverted to counting only the last two matches between the teams, the way it will be counted in any season that has an unbalanced schedule.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 the organizers sent out the following proposal: Gentlemen, Here is the latest information for you about the 2020 Heritage Cup, the annual competition between San Jose and Seattle. The Quakes have not won the Cup since 2015, while Seattle displayed the Cup and used it in-stadium to promote their anniversary last year. As you know, the Heritage Cup is a joint operation between San Jose fans and some Sounders fans. This year presents a special challenge and we could only come up with one viable option, which is to use the July 10 San Jose vs Seattle game in Orlando as the Heritage Cup game for 2020. We delayed until now to arrange this, hoping to hear about the league schedule, but that didn't happen. So this will be a one-game competition, on neutral ground. We hope that this might also help the MLS Is Back tournament as well. If you can help us get information about this game and the Heritage Cup to MLS and especially to the ESPN producers and broadcast team as quickly as possible, this might be an additional storyline they can use in their telecast to add a little more drama to the game.
The match ended in a 0–0 draw and the San Jose Earthquakes, group B winners in the MLS is Back Tournament, were awarded the Heritage Cup for 2020.
For 2021 there was an unbalanced three-game regular season schedule between the two competing MLS teams. The Heritage Cup was awarded based on the results of the final two of three matches of each participating team, with each team hosting one match, namely the July 31 match hosted by Seattle Sounders FC and the September 29 match hosted by San Jose Earthquakes. Seattle regained the Cup with their 3–1 victory in San Jose.
Statistics
CompetitionMatchesWinsDraws San Jose SeattleNASL (1974–1983)249105WACS/WSA/WSL (1985–1988)8260MLS (2009–present)44151811League totals (regular season)76263416WSA playoffs2110League totals (playoffs)2110U.S. Open Cup6222U.S. Open Cup totals6222All-time totals84293718
MLS era honours San JoseCompetitionSeattleDomestic 2 MLS Cup 2 2 Supporters' Shield 1 — U.S. Open Cup 4 4 Aggregate 7Continental and Worldwide — `CONCACAF Champions League 1 — Leagues Cup 1 — Campeones Cup — 0 Aggregate 2 4 Total aggregate 9
Results Competitive matches only
NASL era For statistical purposes, matches that went to shootouts are counted as draws. Matches ending with a shootout are denoted with *.
SeasonDateCompetitionStadiumHome teamResultAway teamAttendance SeriesRef 1974 May 19 NASL Memorial Stadium Seattle Sounders 3–1 San Jose Earthquakes 12,463 SEA 1–0–0 June 30 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 2–2* Seattle Sounders 13,638 SEA 1–0–1 1975 June 21 NASL Memorial Stadium Seattle Sounders 5–1 San Jose Earthquakes 16,710 SEA 2–0–1 July 12 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 2–2* Seattle Sounders 18,672 SEA 2–0–2 August 9 Memorial Stadium Seattle Sounders 1–2 San Jose Earthquakes 17,925 SEA 2–1–2 1976 June 4 NASL Kingdome Seattle Sounders 1–2 San Jose Earthquakes 20,774 Tied 2–2–2 June 20 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 2–1 Seattle Sounders 18,637 SJ 3–2–2 1977 April 23 NASL Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 2–0 Seattle Sounders 17,047 SJ 4–2–2 May 21 Kingdome Seattle Sounders 0–1 San Jose Earthquakes 23,647 SJ 5–2–2 1978 April 30 NASL Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 1–0 Seattle Sounders 13,421 SJ 6–2–2 May 13 Kingdome Seattle Sounders 3–1 San Jose Earthquakes 24,273 SJ 6–3–2 1979 May 12 NASL Kingdome Seattle Sounders 2–1 San Jose Earthquakes 16,564 SJ 6–4–2 May 19 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 0–1 Seattle Sounders 16,109 SJ 6–5–2 1980 April 19 NASL Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 0–1 Seattle Sounders 12,875 Tied 6–6–2 May 3 Kingdome Seattle Sounders 4–0 San Jose Earthquakes 19,360 SEA 7–6–2 1981 June 20 NASL Kingdome Seattle Sounders 1–0 San Jose Earthquakes 17,586 SEA 8–6–2 August 8 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 3–0 Seattle Sounders 13, 472 SEA 8–7–2 1982 April 11 NASL Kingdome Seattle Sounders 0–0* San Jose Earthquakes 4,954 SEA 8–7–3 July 3 Kingdome Seattle Sounders 5–4 San Jose Earthquakes 9,549 SEA 9–7–3 August 7 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 1–2 Seattle Sounders 11,471 SEA 10–7–3 1983 June 15 NASL Kingdome Seattle Sounders 1–1* Golden Bay Earthquakes 6,346 SEA 10–7–4 July 6 Spartan Stadium Golden Bay Earthquakes 2–2* Seattle Sounders 9,970 SEA 10–7–5 July 13 Kingdome Seattle Sounders 2–5 Golden Bay Earthquakes 6,058 SEA 10–8–5 September 3 Spartan Stadium Golden Bay Earthquakes 2–1 Seattle Sounders 14,721 SEA 10–9–5
Alliance era SeasonDateCompetitionStadiumHome teamResultAway teamAttendance SeriesRef 1985 July 7 WACS Memorial Stadium F.C. Seattle 3–1 San Jose Earthquakes 1,773 SEA 1–0–0 August 2 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 1–0 F.C. Seattle 3,212 Tied 1–1–0 1986 June 27 WSA Memorial Stadium F.C. Seattle 1–0 San Jose Earthquakes 1,124 SEA 2–1–0 August 15 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 1–3 F.C. Seattle 1,300 SEA 3–1–0 1987 March 21 WSA Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 3–1 F.C. Seattle Storm SEA 3–2–0 May 17 Memorial Stadium F.C. Seattle Storm 3–0 San Jose Earthquakes SEA 4–2–0 June 7 WSA Playoffs Memorial Stadium F.C. Seattle Storm 0–3 San Jose Earthquakes SEA 4–3–0 1988 July 1 WSA Memorial Stadium Seattle Storm 3–0 San Jose Earthquakes SEA 5–3–0 July 17 Spartan Stadium San Jose Earthquakes 1–3 Seattle Sounders 2,804 SEA 6–3–0 July 30 WSA Championship Memorial Stadium Seattle Storm 5–0 San Jose Earthquakes 5,600 SEA 7–3–0
1996–2008 Results from when the two teams played each other between 1996 and 2008. SeasonDateCompetitionStadiumHome teamResultAway teamAttendance SeriesRef 2002 July 17 U.S. Open Cup Interbay Stadium Seattle Sounders 3–4 San Jose Earthquakes 1,275 2003 August 5 U.S. Open Cup Husky Soccer Stadium Seattle Sounders 1–0 San Jose Earthquakes 2,510
MLS era For statistical purposes, matches that went to shootouts are counted as draws. Matches ending with a shootout are denoted with *. Heritage Cup match