"By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals" is a season-long series that gives a statistical preview of every Sporting match. To visit the series archive, click here.
Sporting Kansas City's 2025 season will open on the grandest of stages as reigning MLS Supporters' Shield winner Inter Miami CF visits Children's Mercy Park on Wednesday in Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup. The first-leg fixture is slated for 7 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek.com. FS2 will broadcast the game in English, while Spanish broadcasts will stream on the Concacaf YouTube page and VIX.
The earliest match in club history will see Sporting host a star-studded Miami side that set the MLS single-season points record last year behind the prowess of international superstar Lionel Messi and a formidable supporting cast featuring Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and others. Kansas City, meanwhile, has assembled a new-look cast of characters with Designated Players Manu Garcia and Dejan Joveljic bolstering the attack alongside fellow newcomers Shapi Suleymanov and Mason Toye.
Sporting and Miami are on a Concacaf Champions Cup collision course, with the decisive second leg between the clubs taking place on Feb. 25 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The winner of the series will book a spot in the Round of 16 against Jamaican side Cavalier FC in early March.
As excitement and anticipation builds around this historic encounter pitting an MLS blueblood against an MLS newblood, we take a statistical look at the match in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting and Miami have met twice all-time, squaring off in each of the previous two MLS regular season campaigns.
- The inaugural meeting took place on Sept. 9, 2023, at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Miami earned a 3-2 home win behind a Leonardo Campana brace and a Facundo Farias strike. Sporting bookended the scoring with a first-half goal from Daniel Salloi and a late strike from Alan Pulido.
- The most recent meeting took place on April 13, 2024, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Erik Thommy scored two spectacular goals for Sporting, but Miami secured a 3-2 road win behind goals from Diego Gomez, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
- Sporting’s home match against Miami last April drew a club-record attendance of 72,610, the third largest for a standalone match in MLS regular season history and the largest crowd for a soccer game in Missouri history.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2024 MLS record: 8-19-7, 31 points (13th in West | 51 GF, 66 GA)
- 2024 MLS home record: 6-7-4 (33 GF, 32 GA)
- 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs: Did not qualify
- Champions Cup appearance: 7th
- 2025 Champions Cup qualification: 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup finalist
- Best Champions Cup finish: 2002 and 2019 (semifinals)
- Sporting is competing in the Concacaf Champions Cup for the first time since advancing to the semifinals of the 2019 tournament.
- Sporting is competing in the Concacaf Champions Cup for the seventh time in club history after doing so in 2002 (semifinals), 2005 (quarterfinals), 2013-14 (quarterfinals), 2014-15 (group stage), 2016-17 (group stage) and 2019 (semifinals).
- Sporting has a 12-10-6 record in the Concacaf Champions Cup, including a 6-2-2 record at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting is hosting an MLS team in an international competition for only the third time after previously welcoming Vancouver Whitecaps FC (2016-17 Concacaf Champions League) and Chicago Fire FC (2024 Leagues Cup).
- Of the 25 players on Sporting’s current roster, only four have previously played in the Concacaf Champions Cup: Daniel Salloi, Zorhan Bassong (Montreal in 2022), Memo Rodriguez (Houston in 2019) and Mason Toye (Montreal in 2020). Salloi is the only player who has previously represented Sporting in the competition, having featured in the 2019 edition.
- Sporting’s 1.5 goals per match during the 2024 regular season were the club’s fourth most since Peter Vermes became manager in 2009 (Sporting had more goals per match in 2018, 2020 and 2021).
- Newly acquired forward Dejan Joveljic joined Sporting on Feb. 1 in a $4 million move from the LA Galaxy, marking the first cash-for-player trade in MLS history. He had 21 goals and eight assists last season in all competition, including a league-best six goals in the MLS Cup Playoffs as he helped LA win MLS Cup.
- Joveljic, who has 85 goals and 26 assists in his club career, was tied for second in MLS last season with 21 goals (including playoffs).
- During the 2024 regular season, Joveljic ranked second in MLS behind current SKC teammate William Agada in expected goals per 90 minutes (0.74).
- Forward William Agada led Sporting in each of the following categories last season: regular season goals (10), total goals (12), regular season goal contributions (13) and total goal contributions (16). He was named the team’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2024.
- During the 2024 regular season, Agada led MLS in expected goals per 90 minutes (0.76) while ranking second in non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes (0.68) and sixth in shots per 90 minutes (4.31).
- Midfielder Erik Thommy had seven regular season goals and eight goals in all competitions last year, both second most on the team behind William Agada.
- Midfielder Jake Davis had a career-high 11 goal contributions (three goals, eight assists) in all competitions last season, including six goal contributions in his final seven appearances of the year.
- Davis was named Sporting’s Most Valuable Player in 2024, becoming the youngest team MVP in Sporting history (age 22) and the second SKC Academy product to earn the award after Daniel Salloi in 2021.
- Newly acquired midfielder Manu Garcia signed for Sporting as a Designated Player earlier this month in a transfer from Greek side Aris Thessaloniki. He has recorded 61 goal contributions (21 goals, 40 assists) in 290 club appearances.
- Newly acquired forward Shapi Suleymanov signed for Sporting earlier this month in a transfer from Greek side Aris Thessaloniki. He has recorded 101 goal contributions (55 goals, 46 assists) in 323 club appearances.
Inter Miami CF
- 2024 MLS record: 22-4-8, 74 points (1st in East | 79 GF, 49 GA)
- 2024 MLS away record: 11-2-4 (34 GF, 27 GA)
- 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs: Lost to Atlanta in Round One Best-of-3
- Champions Cup appearance: 2nd
- 2025 Champions Cup qualification: 2024 MLS Supporters' Shield champion
- Best Champions Cup finish: 2024 (quarterfinals)
- Miami has won a major trophy in each of the previous two seasons—the 2023 Leagues Cup and the 2024 MLS Supporters’ Shield.
- The 2024 campaign saw Miami set an MLS record with 74 regular season points (22-4-8 record).
- Miami led MLS in points (74), wins (22), away wins (11) and goals (79) during the 2024 regular season.
- Miami was 11-2-4 at home and 11-2-4 on the road during the 2024 regular season.
- Miami’s 22 wins during the 2024 regular season tied an MLS record for the non-shootout era (since 2000).
- From 2023 to 2024, Miami jumped from 27th to first in the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings.
- After winning Leagues Cup in 2023, Miami made its Concacaf Champions Cup debut in 2024 by eliminating Nashville SC in the Round of 16 and falling to CF Monterrey in the quarterfinals.
- Forward Lionel Messi was named the 2024 MLS MVP after leading the league in total goal contributions (36), ranking second in goals (20) and third in assists (16) despite playing only 19 games.
- Messi had 42 total goal contributions (23 goals and 19 assists) in 25 appearances for Miami last season across all competitions.
- Messi has scored 34 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions since joining Miami midway through the 2023 season.
- Forward Luis Suarez was tied with Messi for second in MLS with 20 goals during the 2024 regular season.
- Suarez had 38 total goal contributions (25 goals and 13 assists) in 37 appearances for Miami last season across all competitions.
- Last year Messi and Suarez became the first pair of teammates in MLS history to bag 20 goals in the same regular season.
- Defender Jordi Alba finished eighth in MLS with 14 assists during the 2024 regular season. Across all competitions, Alba led Miami last year with 21 total assists while also scoring five goals.
- Alba is suspended for Wednesday's first leg and will be available for the return leg at Miami on Feb. 25.
- Midfielder Sergio Busquets led Miami field players in regular season minutes played last year (2,484). Busquets had one goal and seven assists in 30 regular season appearances, including 27 starts.
- Messi, Suarez, Alba, Busquets and first-year Miami head coach Javier Mascherano all previously played for FC Barcelona, including a stint in which all five were teammates from 2014-2018. During that four-year window, they won three Spanish La Liga titles and the 2015 UEFA Champions League.
- Defender Julian Gressel and goalkeeper Drake Callender led Miami with 32 regular season appearances each in 2024.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Daniel Salloi has played in 11 competitive international matches for Sporting, tied for ninth most in club history and one shy of a tie for fifth most.
- Midfielder Nemanja Radoja is one shy of his 350th club appearance.
- The following nine SKC players are awaiting their club debuts: Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garcia, Ian James, Dejan Joveljic, Jack Kortkamp, Jansen Miller, Ryan Schewe, Shapi Suleymanov and Mason Toye.
- Manager Peter Vermes is the longest tenured head coach with one club in MLS history, having served as Sporting’s manager since 2009.
- Assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin has been with Sporting for 26 consecutive seasons, holding the MLS record for most seasons with one club as a player or coach.
- Sporting has won seven major championships in club history—two MLS Cups (2000, 2013), four Open Cups (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017) and one Supporters Shield (2000). Their seven trophies are fifth most in MLS behind LA Galaxy (13), D.C. United (13), Columbus Crew (nine) and Seattle Sounders FC (eight).
- Sporting is the only club to reach the Open Cup semifinals, MLS conference semifinals or Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals in each of the last eight seasons since 2017.
- Sporting’s home match against Inter Miami CF on April 13, 2024, drew a club-record crowd of 72,610 at Arrowhead Stadium, the third largest for a standalone match in MLS regular season history and the largest crowd for a soccer game in Missouri history.
