Sporting Kansas City II
Nickname(s)Rangers, SPR, SKCII
FoundedOctober 22, 2015 (2015-10-22) as Swope Park Rangers
StadiumRock Chalk Park
Swope Soccer Village[1]
Capacity2,500
3,500
OwnerSporting Club
Head coachBenny Feilhaber
LeagueMLS Next Pro
20233rd, Western Conference
Playoffs: Conference Quarterfinals
WebsiteClub website

Sporting Kansas City II is a MLS Next Pro club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. For the 2022 season they will play their home games at Rock Chalk Park at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri. They were formerly known as the Swope Park Rangers. The club is headquartered alongside Sporting Kansas City at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.[1]

History

On October 22, 2015, the team was officially announced as the USL's 30th franchise, as were the Swope Park Rangers name, color scheme and logo. The Rangers replaced Oklahoma City Energy FC as SKC's USL affiliate, and was named after a nickname for SKC reserve squad in 2008.[2][3] The team is Sporting Kansas City's third USL affiliate in the team's history, after previously having partnered with Orlando City SC and Oklahoma City Energy FC.[4] Canadian Marc Dos Santos, who led Ottawa Fury FC to the NASL Soccer Bowl in 2015, was named the first head coach of the Rangers on November 20, 2015.[5]

The Rangers finished their inaugural season in 2016 with a 14–10–6 record and finished fourth in the Western Conference. The side advanced to the 2016 USL Cup Final, becoming just the second team in USL history to do so in its inaugural season. The Rangers beat LA Galaxy II, Orange County SC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 en route to the final where the side eventually fell 5–1 to New York Red Bulls II at Red Bull Arena. Goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas and winger Tyler Pasher were each signed by parent club Sporting Kansas City at the end of the season.

Following the conclusion of the 2016 season, Marc Dos Santos departed to take over at newly founded NASL club the San Francisco Deltas. His assistant for the 2016 campaign, Nikola Popovic, took the reins ahead of the 2017 season. The side continued to have success as Popovic led the team to a 17–8–7 record in the West and another fourth-place finish. Sporting KC also signed four more players from SPR during 2017 in Amer Didic, James Musa, Kharlton Belmar and Kevin Oliveira. Popovic resigned as head coach on November 17, 2017, after leading Swope Park to their second consecutive conference championship.[6]

On September 30, 2019, the club announced that it would re-brand as Sporting Kansas City II ahead of the 2020 USL Championship season.[7]

MLS Next Pro

The club announced on December 6, 2021, that it was joining the inaugural 21-team MLS Next Pro season starting in 2022.[8] Former Sporting Kansas City player Benny Feilhaber was named the team's head coach for the 2022 season.[9]

Location

The team is headquartered out of Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. For the 2022 season they will split matches between Rock Chalk Park at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as return to Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri.[2][3][1]

When the team was known as Swope Park Rangers they played at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri as permanent home venue for the 2016 and 2017 USL seasons, although occasional matches were played at Children's Mercy Park during those first two seasons. For the 2018 season, the Rangers moved to Shawnee Mission District Stadium in Overland Park, Kansas for home USL matches. The move to Shawnee Mission South District Stadium was in response to new USL stadium standards, requiring seating for at least 5,000 fans, that were not met by Swope Soccer Village. The 7,500-seat Shawnee Mission South District Stadium had received $6 million in improvements between fall 2016 and spring 2017. After just two home matches into the season, the Rangers announced that all home matches would be moved to Children's Mercy Park for the remainder of the 2018 USL season. The move came just days after allegations were reported that there had been issues with the quality of the artificial-turf field at Shawnee Mission South.[10][11][12][13]

Players and staff

Roster

As of December 22, 2023[14]
No. Pos. Player Nation
33 DF Nati Clarke  United States
39 MF Ethan Bryant  United States
49 DF Coby Jones  United States
67 FW Pau Vidal  Spain
98 MF Sebastian Cruz  United States
— MF Haris Ališah (on loan from FK Sarajevo)  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  1. ^
    Signed to first team contract with MLS affiliate Sporting Kansas City.
    2.
  2. ^
    Sporting Kansas City Academy player.
    3.

Technical staff

Year-by-year

As of September 18, 2022
Year USL Championship Position Playoffs Top Scorer 1
P W L D GF GA Pts Conf. Overall Player Goals
2016 3014106453648 4th, Western 9th Runners-up Canada Mark Anthony Gonzalez 9
2017 321787553758 4th, Western 5th Runners-up United States Kharlton Belmar 15
2018 3415118525353 7th, Western 11th Conference semifinals Guinea Hadji Barry 17
2019 346208468026 18th, Eastern 36th Did not qualify United States Wilson Harris 12
2020 165101213016 12th, Eastern
4th, Group E		 23rd Did not qualify United States Wilson Harris 8
2021 324208316420 15th, Eastern 30th Did not qualify Democratic Republic of the Congo Enoch Mushagalusa 8
Year MLS Next Pro Position Playoffs Top Scorer 1
P W D L GF GA Pts Conf. Overall Player Goals
2022 2493123138318th, Eastern15thDid not qualifyGhana Rauf Salifu6

^ 1. Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches

  • Includes USL regular season, USL playoffs
CoachNationalityStartEndGamesWinLossDrawWin %
Marc Dos Santos  Canada November 20, 2015 November 21, 2016 34 17 11 6 050.00
Nikola Popovic[16][17]  Serbia November 21, 2016 November 17, 2017 36 20 9 7 055.56
Paulo Nagamura[18]  Brazil December 4, 2017 November 18, 2021 87 27 43 17 031.03
Benny Feilhaber  United States January 12, 2022 present 24 9 12 3 037.50

Average attendance

YearReg. SeasonPlayoffs
2016 1,753 2,329
2017 1,015 1,724
2018 881 —
2019 505
2020 N/A
2021
2022

Honors

References

  1. 1 2 3 Belzer, Jared (February 22, 2022). "Sporting KC II to play at Rock Chalk Park during 2022 MLS NEXT Pro season". Sporting Kansas City. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Sporting Kansas City Awarded USL's 30th Franchise". United Soccer League. October 22, 2015. Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "USL expands to Kansas City in 2016 with debut of Swope Park Rangers". October 22, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Vermes, Besler Excited By Rangers' Introduction". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Dos Santos Introduced as Swope Park Rangers' Coach". United Soccer League (USL). Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Swope Park Rangers and head coach Nikola Popovic mutually agree to part ways". Sporting Kansas City. November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Sporting Club's USL Championship team to become Sporting Kansas City II". Sporting Kansas City. September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  8. ↑ "MLS NEXT Pro Unveils 21 Clubs for Inaugural Season". sportingkc.
  9. 1 2 Kovzan, Sam (January 12, 2022). "Benny Feilhaber named Sporting KC II head coach". Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Swope Park Soccer Village Loses Both Its Marquee Tenants". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Swope Park Rangers to play 2018 home matches at Shawnee Mission South District Stadium | Sporting Kansas City". Sportingkc.com. January 18, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  12. ↑ Villanueva, Araceli (April 24, 2018). "Swope Park Rangers Home Games Moved to Children's Mercy Park". The Blue Testament. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  13. ↑ Smith, Chad C. (April 14, 2018). "Swope Park Rangers vs OKC Energy Postponed". The Blue Testament. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  14. ↑ "SKCII Players". SportingKC.com. Sporting Kansas City. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  15. ↑ Kovzan, Sam (January 14, 2022). "Former MLS Cup champion and MLS Defender of the Year Ike Opara named Sporting KC II assistant coach". SportingKC.com. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Nikola Popovic and Alec Dufty join Swope Park Rangers technical staff". Sporting Kansas City.
  17. ↑ "Nikola Popovic introduced as Swope Park Rangers head coach". Patrik Bergabo. Sporting Kansas City. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Paulo Nagamura named Swope Park Rangers head coach". Sam Kovzan. Sporting Kansas City. December 4, 2017.
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