Sporting Kansas City announced today that the club has signed Sporting KC II winger Julian Vazquez to a Short-Term Agreement, making him available for Sunday’s MLS regular season road match against the San Jose Earthquakes at 6:30 p.m. CT.
A combination of injuries and suspensions have made Sporting eligible for Extreme Hardship, which exists when a team has less than 16 outfield players available or has fewer than two goalkeepers available. As a result, Sporting has signed Vazquez to a short-term loan for the second straight match after the 21-year-old was an available substitute in a 2-1 home win over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday.
Vazquez has enjoyed a strong start to the 2022 MLS NEXT Pro campaign under Sporting KC II head coach Benny Feilhaber, starting in all eight matches with two goals and a team-best three assists. He opened his SKC II scoring account in a dramatic 4-2 comeback win over Real Monarchs on May 8 at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kansas, before bagging a second-half equalizer in Sunday’s 2-1 road victory over Portland Timbers 2. He leads the team with 17 shots and ranks second with 11 chances created.
A native of Brigham City, Utah, Vazquez developed as a youth in the Real Salt Lake Academy and signed an MLS contract as the club’s 16th Homegrown Player in 2018. He spent most of the 2019 and 2020 seasons on loan with Real Monarchs in the USL Championship, helping the team win a league title in 2019 with a goal and two assists that year. Vazquez made his Real Salt Lake first team debut on June 11, 2019, in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup defeat to LAFC.
Vazquez left Real Salt Lake at the end of 2020 and spent the 2021 USL Championship campaign with Las Vegas Lights, where he tabbed a goal and an assist while playing primarily as a left winger.
At the youth international level, Vazquez featured for the Mexico U-18s in the spring of 2019—playing in a pair of friendlies against England—and for the Mexico U-20s in January 2020, starting one of two appearances against Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp and the United States.
Transaction: Sporting Kansas City (MLS) signs forward Julian Vazquez to Short-Term Agreement from Sporting Kansas City II (MLS NEXT Pro).
Julian Vazquez
Number: 30
Position: Forward
Born: 3/30/2001 (21 years old)
Height: 5-11
Weight: 160 lbs.
Hometown: Nibley, Utah
Birthplace: Brigham City, Utah
Citizenship: USA, Mexico
