Vancouver Whitecaps sign head coach Jesper Sorensen to two-year extension

By Canadian Press on February 20, 2026.

VANCOUVER — Choosing to stay in Vancouver was an easy decision for Jesper Sorensen.

After all, the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps still has work to do.

Now he’ll have time to accomplish his goals — the Major League Soccer team announced Friday that it has signed Sorensen to a two-year extension through the 2027-28 season.

“From both sides, I think it was obvious that it has functioned very well from last year. And for me, it was an easy choice,” he said. “There’s always considerations, but it was easy for me to commit longer term to the Whitecaps.”

The deal follows a season where the 52-year-old Dane piloted the Whitecaps through their best-ever MLS showing as a rookie head coach.

Vancouver finished the regular season with a 18-7-9 record, good for second in the Western Conference, and smashed club records for points (63), wins (18) and goals scored (66) in the process.

The group went on a 15-game unbeaten run across all competitions between March and May, earned a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup final, and won the Canadian Championship for the fourth year in a row. The Whitecaps also sent a league-high four players to the MLS all-star game, and Sorensen was a finalist for coach of the year.

Success continued in the playoffs with the ‘Caps winning the Western Conference title and earning the team’s first appearance in the MLS Cup final, where Vancouver ultimately fell to Inter Miami.

Through it all, Sorensen navigated a series of injuries and absences to key players, including captain Ryan Gauld, who missed more than six months with a knee injury. He also tinkered with tactics and personnel when the Whitecaps signed German soccer legend Thomas Muller in August.

“Jesper has done an oustanding job developing our team and establishing a clear, modern playing identity,” Axel Schuster, the club’s sporting director and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“His work with our players, both individually and collectively has been instrumental to our progress. … He is the right person to lead this group forward and continue building a competitive, resilient team that reflects who we are as a club.”

The 2025 campaign was a good foundation, Sorensen said.

“Last year we took it far,” he said. “And we’d like to take it even farther, but it’s not something that we can just plan for. But you can definitely put yourself in positions. And that’s what I think we’ll see if we can do going forward in the future.”

A former midfielder in Denmark’s top league, Sorensen was a relative unknown for many North American soccer fans before he was named head coach of the Whitecaps.

He joined the club following two years as head coach of Brondby IF in the Danish Superliga, and two and a half more as assistant. He also spent more than a year in charge of Denmark’s under-21 national squad.

Sorensen’s knowledge of MLS, though, was minimal. Over the year, he learned the ins and outs of the league, of his new club, of how the sport is played and celebrated in North America.

“I also learned a lot about the challenges of stepping into a completely new situation … a completely different football culture than I was used to,” he said. “And not trying to do too much to begin with, but trying to build something the way we want to see it. And I think we did that well last year.”

Coming in, Sorensen believed the Whitecaps had good players who had been coached well, but thought maybe they needed “new inspiration.”

He implemented a possession-based, attack-minded playing style that seemingly unlocked new strengths across the roster.

The tactics stem from Sorensen’s core belief about the sport.

“You cannot affect the game if you do not have (the ball),” he said, noting that his players have bought into the way he wants them to play.

“If you want to be a top team, you have to play like a top team. If you look around in this game, top teams, they usually play not all the time similar but they have some similarities. They often have the ball, they take more chances than their opponents do.”

One aspect of North American soccer Sorensen hasn’t quite adjusted to is the travel.

The Whitecaps pinged around the continent last year, playing Champions Cup games in Mexico, then following up with a league match at home just days later.

This season will have a similar start.

The team’s first game of 2026 was a 0-0 draw with C.S. Cartagines in Costa Rica on Wednesday, the first half of an opening-round Champions Cup series.

On Saturday, the Whitecaps will be back in Vancouver, hosting Real Salt Lake to kick off the MLS season.

The travel is taxing, Sorensen admitted on a phone call as ventured back from Costa Rica.

“But it’s also interesting,” he said. “I think we forget sometimes that we’re very fortunate that we get to see some parts of the world that we would never see if it wasn’t for my job. That’s something I also have to appreciate.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2026.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press