Giovanni Savarese will coach Portland for at least three more season. (Joy Rubenstein/FrontRowSoccer Photo)

The Portland Timbers Wednesday announced that they signed head coach Giovanni Savarese to a multi-year contract extension.

Heading into his sixth season at the helm for Portland, Savarese’s contract extension will see him through 2025 with a club option year in 2026.

“Gio has a proven track record of success in MLS, and we are excited to officially announce his extension as the head coach of the Portland Timbers,” Timbers technical director Ned Grabavoy said in a statement. “We are thrilled that he’ll continue to be our on-field leader for years to come and he will certainly play a major role in helping the club continue to progress.”

Since joining the club in 2018 after directing the Cosmos to three North American Soccer League titles, Savarese has guided Portland to two MLS Cup appearances (2018, 2021), winning two Western Conference championships in five seasons.

He also helped the Timbers claim the 2020 MLS is Back Tournament title and became the only manager in the club’s MLS-era to guide Portland to the MLS Cup Playoffs in four out of his five seasons as the head coach. Notably, the Caracas, Venezuela native has qualified for a league final five times in his seven seasons as a head coach at the professional level, including his time with the Cosmos. With the contract extension, Savarese is on path to become the longest-tenured head coach in club history with six seasons at the helm.

“This is something that has been in the works since the MLS Cup last season, and for me, what felt right was to stay in Portland,” Savarese said in a statement. “I love the passion and the energy that our fans bring, and I believe in Portland as a soccer city. I’m honored to lead this team and plan to continue to help the team be competitive and build something bigger so we can make the fans very proud.”

In five seasons, Savarese has coached the Timbers to 68 victories, which is tied for the most victories of any head coach in club history dating back to 2011. Savarese’s 68 wins since the start of the 2018 season are also tied for the third most amongst MLS coaches in that span. Under Savarese in the 2022 season, the Timbers finished the campaign with a 11-10-13 record, tallying 46 points. In 2021, Savarese directed Portland to a club-record 17 wins in the regular season. Savarese became one of three head coaches since 2000 to register 18 or more wins, including playoffs, in his first year as a head coach in the league in 2018, while also becoming just the second head coach in the last 14 seasons to advance to MLS Cup in his first year in the league.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.