Longtime Sporting Kansas City midfielder Roger Espinoza has joined the club’s technical staff as a Professional Development Coach and first team assistant coach ahead of the 2025 season.
In his new role, Espinoza will serve as an assistant coach for Sporting KC while also working with players on all three levels of the club’s professional player pathway—the first team, Sporting KC II and the Sporting KC Academy.
Espinoza joins Manager Peter Vermes, assistant Kerry Zavagnin, assistant Ash Wallace and goalkeeper coach Alec Dufty on Sporting’s first team coaching staff. In addition, the former MLS All-Star and World Cup veteran will play a leading role in the development of young players at the MLS, MLS NEXT Pro and Academy levels through individual training programs and ongoing mentorship off the field.
Espinoza, 38, steps into professional coaching after retiring as a player last summer. He enjoyed a phenomenal 16-year playing career highlighted by 14 seasons in Kansas City, from 2008-2012 and 2015-2023. He helped Sporting to three Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles and 10 appearances in the MLS Cup Playoffs as one of the most accomplished players in club history and one of the longest-serving midfielders in MLS.
Across all competitions, Espinoza ranks second in club history with 399 appearances while placing third in starts (330) and minutes (29,162), sixth in assists (49) and 10th in total goal contributions (63). Espinoza, who scored 14 goals in a Kansas City uniform, is Sporting’s all-time leader with 26 games played in the U.S. Open Cup—a prestigious domestic tournament he helped the team win in 2012, 2015 and 2017—and sits third on club charts with 21 playoff appearances.
From 2013-2014, Espinoza had a two-year stint at English side Wigan Athletic. He scored three goals in 57 appearances for Wigan while gaining experience in the English Premier League, English Championship and UEFA Europa League, playing in multiple midfield positions as well as left back. In his crowning moment with Wigan, Espinoza guided the Latics to a famous 1-0 upset win over European powerhouse Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in London.
On the international stage, Espinoza played 52 times for Honduras from 2009-2017. He represented Honduras at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, making five starts across the two tournaments. Espinoza also starred for Los Catrachos at the 2012 Summer Olympics in England—leading Honduras to the quarterfinals of the competition and scoring against Brazil at Wembley Stadium—and competed at the 2009 and 2011 editions of the Concacaf Gold Cup.
Sporting KC is continuing its search for an additional first team assistant coach. Furthermore, the club has announced two new hires to its first team technical staff—Performance Scientist Casey Metoyer and Assistant Team Administrator Kate Deakins. Sports Performance Coach Colby Fell and Assistant Athletic Trainer Payton Jensen have also earned promotions to the first team technical staff after working with SKC II and the SKC Academy, respectively.
Sporting KC will open the 2025 season against Inter Miami CF tonight at 7 p.m. CT in the first leg of a home-and-away series in Round One of the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup. The match at Children's Mercy Park will be nationally televised on FS2 in English and will stream in Spanish in the United States via ViX and Concacaf's YouTube channel. Tickets for the game are available on SeatGeek, including Supporters' Stand tickets with access to the Budweiser Brew House as well as tickets with access to the Huhtamaki Shield Club and UMB Field Club.
