Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse and practice facilities are located in Kansas City, Kansas. The team has played its home matches at Sporting Park since 2011.
Sporting Kansas City began play in 1996 as a charter team in the league, then named Kansas City Wiz. The team was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1995. Starting in 1997, the franchise was named Kansas City Wizards. The team was forced to change its name due to corporate buyout in November 2010, coinciding with its move to its new home stadium, Sporting Park. Since moving across the state line, they have been the only major professional sports league franchise to play their home games in Kansas. The franchise has won the MLS Cup in 2000 and 2013, the Supporters' Shield in 2000, and the U.S. Open Cup in 2004, 2012, 2015, and 2017.
The club also has a reserve team, Sporting Kansas City II, that began play in the second-tier USL Championship in 2016 before switching to MLS Next Pro in 2022.
History Early years (1996–1999) The Kansas City MLS franchise was founded by Lamar Hunt, who was also the founder of the American Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs, the United Soccer Association (which merged with the NPSL to form the North American Soccer League, or NASL), and Major League Soccer. The Kansas City Wiz played their first game on April 13, 1996, defeating the Colorado Rapids at Arrowhead Stadium with a score of 3–0. The Wiz players included Preki, Mo Johnston, Digital Takawira, and were coached by Ron Newman. The team finished third in the Western Conference (fifth overall) in the 1996 regular season with a 17–15 record, qualifying for the first-ever MLS Playoffs. In the 1996 conference semi-finals, the Wiz beat the Dallas Burn in three games, won the final game in a shootout, and lost the conference final to the LA Galaxy.
Following the 1996 season, the Wiz changed names, becoming the "Wizards," following legal action from the now-defunct electronics retailer The Wiz. For the 1997 MLS season, their record was 21–11, sufficient for the Western Conference regular season championship. Preki was named 1997 MLS MVP. In the first round of the playoffs, the Wizards lost to the last-seeded Colorado Rapids. The Wizards had losing records for the 1998 and 1999 seasons, finishing last in the Western Conference both years. The Wizards fired Ron Newman early during the 1999 season, and replaced him with Bob Gansler. The Wizards finished the 1999 season with a record of 8–24, which put them in last place in the Western Conference once again.
Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup (2000) In 2000, their first full season under Bob Gansler, the Wizards opened the season on a 12-game unbeaten streak. Goalkeeper Tony Meola recorded an MLS record shutout streak at 681 minutes and 16 shutouts and won MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and MLS MVP. Peter Vermes was named 2000 MLS Defender of the Year. The Wizards finished the 2000 regular season 16–7–9, the best record in the league, winning the MLS Supporters' Shield.
In the 2000 playoffs, they fell behind 4 to 1 to the LA Galaxy, but Miklos Molnar scored a penalty kick in game three to send the series into a tiebreaker, where he scored again to send the Wizards to their first MLS Cup. At RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., the Wizards, with the league's best defense, faced the team with the league's best offense, the Chicago Fire. The Wizards took the lead on an 11th-minute goal by Miklos Molnar. The Fire put ten shots on goal, but Tony Meola and the defense held, and the Wizards claimed their first MLS Cup Championship. Tony Meola was named 2000 MLS Cup MVP.
Post-championship struggles (2001–2002) After the loss of Preki to the Miami Fusion, the team struggled to defend their championship in 2001, making the playoffs as the 8th seed with a record of 11–13–3. In the first round, the Wizards' reign as champion ended with a 6-points-to-3 loss to Preki and the Miami Fusion. Despite getting back Preki, the Wizards sat in last place in the Western Conference in 2002. They made the playoffs with a record of 9–10–9. The last two teams in the East, the MetroStars and D.C. United, missed the playoffs, which propelled the Wizards into the playoffs. In the first round, the team would fall, 6 points to 3, to eventual champions, the Los Angeles Galaxy.
More success (2003–2004) The Wizards returned to the top half of the West in 2003 with a record of 11–10–9. In the first round of the playoffs, the Wizards defeated the Colorado Rapids in the aggregate goal series, 3–1. That set up a one-game showdown with the San Jose Earthquakes; the winner would advance to the 2003 MLS Cup. The Wizards took the lead, but the Earthquakes battled back and forced a golden goal in overtime by Landon Donovan in the 117th minute, which sent his team to the 2003 MLS Cup and the Wizards home.
The Wizards started 2004 mediocre and improved mid-year. The Wizards finished the season on a six-game unbeaten streak to finish 14–9–9 for the Western Conference regular season championship. Goalkeeper Tony Meola went down with an injury, and backup Bo Oshoniyi filled in as a replacement.
In the first round of the 2004 playoffs, the Wizards lost the first game to the San Jose Earthquakes, 2–0. In the second game, however, the Wizards scored 2 goals before Jack Jewsbury scored in stoppage time to move KC onto the conference final. In the conference final, the Wizards held off the Los Angeles Galaxy to reach their second MLS Cup. In the 2004 MLS Cup final, the Wizards went up against D.C. United at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The Wizards' Jose Burciaga scored in the sixth minute, but D.C. United replied with three goals in the first half. KC was given a lifeline in the 58th minute as Josh Wolff scored the first penalty kick in MLS Cup history, but KC lost the 2004 MLS Cup final 3–2.
Move east (2005–2010) Following MLS expansion, the Wizards moved to the Eastern Conference in 2005. By the end of the 2005 season, despite the solid play of 2005 MLS Defender of the Year Jimmy Conrad, the Wizards found themselves outside the playoffs with a record of 11–9–12. After the season, the team's veteran leader, Preki, announced his retirement.
In the 2006 season, the Wizards just missed out on a playoff berth with a loss to the New York Red Bulls on the final day of the regular season, finishing with a 10–14–8 record. Lamar Hunt sold the club in August 2006 to OnGoal, LLC, a six-man ownership group led by Cerner Corporation co-founders Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig, a local group committed to keeping the Wizards in Kansas City.
The club dedicated its 2007 season to Lamar Hunt, who had died in December 2006. A good start earned them four wins in the first seven weeks of the season. The club picked up goalkeeper Kevin Hartman from the LA Galaxy to help with that position. Despite winning just four games after the All-Star break, Kansas City managed to finish fifth in the East at 11–12–7 and qualify for the playoffs. The club shifted over to the West as a result of a playoff format change; the Wizards played against Chivas USA. With the Wizards Davy Arnaud's goal in the first game to win the series, the defense and Kevin Hartman did the rest and kept Chivas USA off the scoreboard. In the conference final, the Wizards came up short to the Houston Dynamo, 2–0.
In 2008, the Wizards played their home games at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas and ended a four-year playoff drought by posting an 11–10–9 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Facing the Columbus Crew, the Wizards earned a 1–1 tie in Game 1 of the first-round series, but with a 2–0 loss in Game 2, the Wizards lost the aggregate series 3–1.
In the 2009 season, the Wizards remained at CommunityAmerica Ballpark but struggled to score. They went 426 minutes without scoring a goal, the longest streak of the season. In August 2009, with the team holding a 5–7–6 record, KC fired Head Coach Curt Onalfo and named general manager Peter Vermes the head coach. The Wizards finished with the worst home record in the league and, at 8–13–9, were third to last in the league standings. Top players were Claudio López (8 goals & 7 assists) and Josh Wolff (11 goals), who sparked the Wizards offense.
The Wizards hosted Manchester United F.C. in a friendly on July 25, 2010, and won the match by a score of 2–1. The announced attendance of 52,342 was a record for a professional soccer match in the Kansas City area. In the 2010 regular season, the Wizards finished third in the Eastern Conference and narrowly missed qualifying for the playoffs.
Sporting Corporate takeover (2011–2012) With the corporate takeover (of Wizards to Sporting), the team followed a recent trend in MLS of adopting European-style names, such as Toronto FC, D.C. United, and Real Salt Lake. The title "Sporting" has its origins in Iberia, where it is used only by multi-sports clubs with a history of having multiple departments fielding teams across different sports, the most notable being Portugal's Sporting CP. Kansas City's use of the term has been criticized for inaccuracy and cultural appropriation. At the rebrand announcement, Kansas City's president announced they had planned to add a rugby club and lacrosse club. Since then, a partnership with the Kansas City Blues Rugby Club has been announced, but the two sides are not part of one "Sporting Club," and no lacrosse team has been established. The rebranding was met with disdain by long term fans when originally announced. With the opening of the new Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas, Sporting became the first major-league team to have played in stadiums on both sides of the state line in Kansas City, while Kansas City became the only U.S. metropolitan area other than New York City to have major professional sports teams playing in different states.
Because Sporting Park was not ready for the beginning of the 2011 season, Sporting Kansas City played its first ten games on the road, only winning one game. Once the road trip was over, the team found more success and ended the regular season with the most points of any Eastern Conference team. After defeating the Colorado Rapids on a 4–0 aggregate in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Sporting lost to the Houston Dynamo 2–0 in the Eastern Conference finals.
KC began the 2012 season with seven consecutive wins, in the process setting an MLS record for 335 minutes without allowing a shot on goal. The team finished the regular season first in the East with an 18–7–9 record. KC was led by Graham Zusi, who delivered a league-leading 15 assists and was a named finalist for the 2012 MLS MVP; Jimmy Nielsen, who notched a league-leading 15 shutouts and was named the 2012 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year; and Matt Besler, who was named MLS Defender of the Year. KC lost to the Houston Dynamo in the conference semifinals. KC won the 2012 U.S. Open Cup, defeating Seattle Sounders FC in the finals, to qualify for the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League.
MLS Cup champions (2013)
In 2013, Kansas City took advantage of MLS's newly created retention funds to renew contracts with U.S. national team players Graham Zusi and Matt Besler. Sporting had finished second in the Eastern Conference and overall with 17 wins, 10 losses, and 7 ties in the regular season. In the 2013 MLS Playoffs, Sporting KC defeated NE Revolution in the conference semifinals and Houston Dynamo in the conference finals, advancing to MLS Cup 2013. SKC defeated Real Salt Lake on penalties (7–6) after the match was tied 1–1 in regulation and overtime. It was the coldest MLS Cup game on record.
Return west (2014–present)