Sporting Kansas City opens up the 2025 season on Wednesday night when the team hosts Inter Miami CF in Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup with leg one taking place at Children’s Mercy Park. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT and and tickets are available via SeatGeek.com. FS2 will broadcast the game in English, while Spanish broadcasts will stream on the Concacaf YouTube page and VIX.
1. NEW ERA BEGINS IN 2025
Sporting Kansas City embarks on a new era in club history when the team takes the field on Wednesday night against Inter Miami CF in Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup at Children’s Mercy Park.
Sporting enters the new campaign with a new starting goalkeeper for the first time since 2015 and a new captain following the departures of Tim Melia and Johnny Russell in the offseason, joined by longtime team veterans Andreu Fontas, Remi Walter and Alan Pulido who all exited the club over the past four months. Nine players in total have departed SKC since the end of a disappointing 2024 season and eight players have been added, headlined by new Designated Players Manu Garcia and Dejan Joveljic.
Sporting is participating in the Concacaf Champions Cup for the seventh time in club history and first time since advancing to the semifinals of the 2019 tournament. Sporting’s best finishes in an international competition came in 2002 and 2019 when the club reached the semifinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Sporting has a 10-8-6 home record in international competitions, including an 8-5-2 record at Children’s Mercy Park, while SKC owns a 15-19-10 record in 44 international matches all-time. Sporting has a 12-10-6 record in the Concacaf Champions Cup, including a 6-2-2 record at Children’s Mercy Park.
2. OPENING WITH STAR-STUDDED MIAMI
Sporting Kansas City begins the new 2025 campaign with a mouth-watering fixture against star-studded Inter Miami CF in Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup this Wednesday night at Children’s Mercy Park.
Sporting and Miami have met only twice in the history of the two clubs - with Miami claiming narrow 3-2 victories on each occasion.
Sporting first visited Chase Stadium on Sept. 9, 2023 in MLS regular-season play and took the lead through Daniel Salloi only for Miami to score three unanswered goals to take a commanding lead before Alan Pulido struck a late consolation.
The two sides met again in a monumental occasion on April 13, 2024 as Sporting hosted Miami at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and a crowd of more than 72,000 witnessed a pulsating encounter, with Erik Thommy scoring twice for Sporting while Diego Gomez, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez tallied for the hosts.
Tuesday’s match marks the first game outside of MLS play between the two teams since Miami was founded in 2020. Sporting will head to Miami for the second and decisive leg on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Chase Stadium.
3. BACK IN CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP
Sporting Kansas City is set to participate in the Concacaf Champions Cup for the first time since 2019, facing off against Inter Miami CF in Round One of the continental competition with the first leg set for Wednesday night at Children’s Mercy Park.
The 2025 CCC is Sporting’s seventh involvement in the prestigious tournament, having also participated in the 2002, 2004, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2019 editions. Sporting’s semifinal appearances in 2002 and 2019 mark the club’s best-ever finish in the competition - falling to Mexican sides on each occasion: Monarcas Morelia in 2002 and CF Monterrey in 2019.
Sporting qualified for the 2025 Champions Cup as last year’s U.S. Open Cup Finalists. The spot is typically awarded to the U.S. Open Cup champions, but since LAFC had already qualified for the tournament via their finish in Leagues Cup, Sporting qualified as the next best team in the Open Cup.
The winner of the Round One matchup will advance to the Round of 16 where they will face Jamaican club and Concacaf Caribbean Cup champions Cavalier FC.
4. NEW DESIGNATED PLAYERS HEADLINE NEW-LOOK ROSTER
A new-look Sporting KC squad will take the field for the first time on Wednesday when the club hosts Inter Miami CF in Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
With nine players departing this offseason, Sporting has added eight new faces to the team with none more pivotal than new Designated Players Manu Garcia and Dejan Joveljic.
Joveljic joined Sporting in the first-ever cash-for-player trade in MLS history on the heels of a brilliant 2024 campaign with the LA Galaxy that saw the Serbian international record 21 goals and eight assists in all competitions, including six goals in the MLS Cup Playoffs as LA won MLS Cup. Joveljic has amassed 85 goals and 26 assists during an accomplished professional career that has spanned Serbia, Germany and MLS in addition to loan spells in Belgium and Austria.
Garcia, who signed in a transfer from Aris Thessaloniki in Greece, arrives in KC having amassed 21 goals and 40 assists in nearly 300 professional matches, playing in the top divisions of England, France, Netherlands, Spain and Greece while also representing the Spanish Men’s National Team and the U-16 through U-21 youth national teams.
5. INTRODUCING EIGHT NEW FACES IN 2025
Sporting Kansas City underwent some major roster surgery this past offseason, saying goodbye to nine players and welcoming eight new faces into the fold ahead of the 2025 campaign.
Headlining the departures were captain Johnny Russell and longtime veterans of the team Tim Melia, Andreu Fontas and Remi Walter, while the club also transferred DP forward Alan Pulido back to Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico.
With 13 roster spots open - almost half the roster - Sporting Director Mike Burns got to work and signed eight new players before the start of the 2025 season: a pair of new DPs in Manu Garcia and Dejan Joveljic, three Homegrown players in Jack Kortkamp, Ian James and Jacob Bartlett, free agent forward Mason Toye, TAM signing Shapi Suleymanov and MLS SuperDraft pick Jansen Miller.
- Dec. 6, 2024: SKC signs GK Jack Kortkamp and D Ian James as Homegrown Players (SKC Academy)
- Jan. 9, 2025: SKC signs M Jacob Bartlett as a Homegrown Player (Notre Dame)
- Jan. 13, 2025: SKC signs F Mason Toye as a free agent (Portland Timbers)
- Feb. 1, 2025: SKC acquires F Dejan Joveljic in cash-for-player trade (LA Galaxy)
- Feb. 3, 2025: SKC acquires M Manu Garcia & F Shapi Suleymanov in transfer (Aris FC)
- Feb. 13, 2025: SKC signs D Jansen Miller out of MLS SuperDraft (Indiana)
