page_title: 2009 Seattle Sounders FC season
section_title: Signings and drafts
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 Seattle Sounders FC season / Background / Signings and drafts
caption_attribution_description: English: Fredrik Ljungberg, Swedish footballer, during the 2006 World Cup. Cropped from team photo.
context_page_description: The 2009 season was Seattle Sounders FC's debut in Major League Soccer. The inaugural game was on March 19, 2009 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington against the New York Red Bulls. Sounders FC beat the Red Bulls 3–0 in front of a sell-out crowd.
  On August 5, 2009, Sounders FC set a stadium and Washington record for most people watching a soccer game against FC Barcelona with an attendance of 66,848.
context_section_description: Seattle Sounders FC was given first negotiation rights to any player that was not drafted in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft and joined the USL Sounders for the 2008 season. The team was also allowed to promote as many players from the 2008 USL Sounders squad as they'd chose, as long as the player's rights were not controlled by another team. Seattle Sounders FC officially announced the 2007 USL First Division MVP and former USL Sounder Sébastien Le Toux as its first signing on May 7, 2008.  On August 14, 2008, the Sounders announced in a press conference their second signing for the 2009 season, former United States men's national team goalkeeper Kasey Keller, a Washington native.  On September 5, 2008, Seattle Sounders FC announced the third signee for the franchise to be Sanna Nyassi from Gambia. Nyassi, a 19-year-old midfielder, was a member of the Gambia U-20 national team at the 2007 FIFA Championship. Sanna's twin brother, Sainey Nyassi, was signed by the Revolution and is a regular starter in MLS this season. On October 28, 2008, it was officially announced that the Sounders had signed Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg using the Designated Player Rule. He signed a two-year contract reported to be worth $2.5 million per season.
  Team building continued with the 2008 MLS Expansion Draft and the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.  In the expansion draft, held on November 26, 2008, Seattle Sounders FC selected the following players from other MLS teams:  Nate Jaqua (Houston), Brad Evans (Columbus), Stephen King (Chicago), Jeff Parke (RBNY), James Riley (San Jose), Khano Smith (New England), Jarrod Smith (Toronto FC), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Peter Vagenas (LA Galaxy) and Tyson Wahl (Kansas City).  As the 2009 expansion team Sounders FC was given the first pick in each round of the SuperDraft.  With the number one pick of the first round of the draft, Seattle Sounders FC selected University of Akron forward Steve Zakuani.  As the first picks of the second round (16th overall), third round (31st overall), and fourth round (46th overall), Seattle selected Wake Forest University defender Evan Brown, Azusa Pacific University defender Jared Karkas, and Harvard University midfielder/forward Michael Fucito respectively.
  The team lineup was adjusted throughout.  Defender Jeff Parke was selected in the expansion draft, and reported for training camp after tryouts with teams in Belgium.  After training with the club for less than a week, Parke was unable to reach a contract agreement and left to train with the Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL. FC traded a conditional draft pick to Houston in order to acquire defender Patrick Ianni, who had worked with Seattle's coach Schmid on the under-20 US national team.  Seattle also traded allocation money to Toronto FC in exchange for Tyrone Marshall in order to increase their depth on defense.  The Sounders also traded away midfielder Khano Smith, another expansion draft selection, to Red Bull New York for allocation money.
caption: Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg was signed as Sounders FC's first Designated Player.
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