Preview: Sporting KC kicks off MLS campaign on Saturday at Austin FC

Sporting Kansas City at Austin FC
2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 1
Saturday, Feb. 22 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:40 kickoff)
Q2 Stadium | Austin, Texas

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Sporting Kansas City will kick off the club’s 2025 MLS regular season campaign at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday when the team takes on Austin FC at Q2 Stadium in the Texas capital city.

The Western Conference match-up will be available to watch live on Apple TV for MLS Season Pass subscribers with English (Tyler Terens and Kyndra de St. Aubin) and Spanish (Alejandro Figueredo and Tony Cherchi) commentary. MLS Season Pass is available through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes and game consoles as well as on the web at tv.apple.com.

Fans can sign up for MLS Season Pass for $14.99 per month or $99 for the full season and Apple TV+ subscribers can sign up at a special price of $12.99 per month or $79 for the full season. Through Family Sharing, up to six family members can share the subscription using their own Apple ID and password.

Sporting KC Season Ticket Members receive a free subscription to MLS Season Pass. T-Mobile customers can also redeem a complimentary subscription to MLS Season Pass for a limited time via the T-Life app, while Xfinity and DIRECTV customers can enjoy a free preview of MLS Season Pass during MLS is Back opening weekend.

Saturday’s showdown features a pair of teams aiming for a return to the MLS Cup Playoffs in 2025 with revamped rosters after missing out on the postseason last year.

Sporting Kansas City added a pair of Designated Players with the signing of Spanish playmaker Manu Garcia in a transfer from Greek side Aris Thessaloniki and a $4-million move for Serbian striker Dejan Joveljic in the first cash-for-player trade in MLS history. Joveljic scored 21 goals last season, second most in MLS, including a league-best six goals in the playoffs as he helped the LA Galaxy win MLS Cup. Garcia brings experience from playing in the top divisions of England, France, Netherlands, Spain and Greece while also representing the Spanish Men’s National Team.

After scoring the fewest goals in the Western Conference last season, Austin FC also bolstered their attack with two new Designated Players arriving in the offseason. Myrto Uzuni set the club’s record transfer acquisition after scoring 49 goals with Spanish side Granada from 2022-2025. He is joined by fellow forward Brandon Vazquez, who returns to MLS after scoring 14 goals for Mexican powerhouse CF Monterrey in 2024.

Defensively, Austin is anchored by Brad Stuver in net. The veteran goalkeeper has started in 80 consecutive regular season matches dating back to July 2022 – a streak that began against Sporting Kansas City – and he has recorded the most saves of any MLS goalkeeper each of the last two seasons.

Led by new head coach Nico Estévez, Austin FC features several familiar faces with ties to Sporting KC. Assistant coach Davy Arnaud spent 10 seasons in Kansas City from 2002-2011 and was inducted as a Sporting Legend in 2022. Austin FC captain Ilie Sanchez played his first five MLS seasons for Sporting KC from 2017-2021, while forward Diego Rubio spent three years with Sporting KC from 2016-2018.

On the opposite side, midfielder Memo Rodriguez spent the second half of the 2023 season with Austin FC before leading Sporting Kansas City with six assists during the 2024 regular season.

Sporting opened the 2025 campaign on Wednesday with a frigid 1-0 loss to Inter Miami CF in the first leg of Round One in the Concacaf Champions Cup with the second leg set for Tuesday in south Florida. The mid-week match was the coldest in club history with a temperature of five degrees at kickoff inside Children’s Mercy Park.

Newly signed Homegrown midfielder Jacob Barlett made his club debut with a 90-minute performance on Wednesday. The 19-year-old Kansas City native has become the first player to rise from Sporting’s Center of Excellence (pre-Academy) to Academy to Sporting KC II to the first team.

Sporting Kansas City and Austin FC split the season series in 2024 with SKC winning the most recent meeting between the clubs by a 2-0 scoreline on June 29, 2024. Defender Tim Leibold scored in the first half and forward Stephen Afrifa scored in the second half as Sporting earned its first shutout against Austin in nine meetings.

Sporting will now seek the team’s first result at Q2 Stadium, which has sold out all 70 MLS matches in its history – the league’s longest active sellout streak – and which will host the MLS All-Star Game this summer. Austin FC is 4-0-0 all-time at home against Sporting KC and has scored more goals (17) against SKC than any other opponent.

Pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network will show all of the action on Saturday, including a watch party at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power & Light district featuring $4 domestic drafts, $5 wells and 50% off chicken nachos for fans in SKC gear starting at 5:30 p.m.