Former Sporting Kansas City defender Andreu Fontas has announced his retirement from professional soccer. The 35-year-old center back enjoyed a 17-year career at the highest levels of the sport, including a decade in his native Spain, seven MLS seasons in Kansas City and 369 total club appearances.
Fontas will be formally honored during a halftime ceremony at Sporting’s MLS home opener against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Kickoff at Children’s Mercy Park is set for 7:30 p.m. CT with tickets available via SeatGeek.
Fontas made 147 appearances for Sporting in all competitions from 2018-2024, helping the club to four playoff appearances as one of Major League Soccer’s best ball-playing defenders. In three combined regular seasons from 2021-2023, he led MLS in total passes, successful passes and touches while leading SKC in interceptions and clearances. In four combined seasons from 2021-2024, Fontas also led all MLS center backs in goals added, an advanced metric that measures a player’s total on-ball contribution in attack and defense.
A native of Banyoles, Spain, Fontas developed in FC Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth academy. He split time between Barcelona and Barcelona B from 2008 to 2012, during which time the club won three La Liga titles and two UEFA Champions League titles under manager Pep Guardiola. He scored on his UEFA Champions League debut in December 2010—six months before Barcelona won the tournament title—and one year later played in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup Final as Barcelona earned a resounding 4-0 victory over Santos. During his time with the European powerhouse, Fontas competed alongside world-class players such as Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and David Villa as well as former Sporting teammate Ilie Sanchez.
After spending the 2012-13 campaign on loan from Barcelona at Mallorca, Fontas had a five-year spell with La Liga side Celta Vigo from 2013-2018, where he had three goals and two assists in 121 matches across all competitions.
Fontas left his native Spain in 2018 to join Sporting as a mid-season addition to the backline, helping the club finish atop the Western Conference that fall. He became a regular starter the following season as Sporting advanced to the 2019 Concacaf Champions League semifinals, matching the club’s best ever performance in the tournament.
After missing most of the 2020 campaign through injury, Fontas bounced back emphatically as Sporting’s 2021 Defender of the Year. He started in all but one of Sporting’s 34 regular season matches that season, setting Opta-era MLS records in passes, successful passes and touches as SKC came within three points of another first-place finish in the West. Fontas earned Sporting’s Defender of the Year award for the second straight season in 2022, finishing the campaign with starts in 31 of 32 appearances across all competitions. He helped the club reach the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals, starting in all four matches of the tournament run, and bagged goals in consecutive matches for the first time in his professional career by scoring at Austin FC on Aug. 13 and against the Portland Timbers on Aug. 21.
In 2023, Fontas set a Sporting KC career-high with 36 appearances in all competitions, including four starts in the MLS Cup Playoffs as Kansas City swept top-seeded archrival St. Louis City SC in the first round and advanced to the conference semifinals for the third time in four years. His final professional season in 2024 saw Fontas start in 19 of 21 matches across all competitions.
Away from the field, Fontas has engaged supporters at fan events across Kansas City and participated in numerous endeavors tied to The Victory Project, the club’s philanthropic foundation dedicated to helping children affected by cancer and all of life’s challenges. At the end of 2018, he opened a free-use soccer field in his hometown of Banyoles, which is part of the Johan Cruyff Foundation’s initiative to serve disadvantaged areas throughout Spain’s Catalonia region. Last year, he partnered with several former Sporting teammates to open La Casa del Padel, the first padel club in Kansas City. Fontas and his wife Clara have two daughters, Andrea (7) and Alexandra (4).
