Sporting Kansas City II has announced the club’s 34-game schedule for the 2020 USL Championship regular season, highlighted by 17 home matches at world-class Children’s Mercy Park.
Tickets for Sporting KC II home games at Children’s Mercy Park will be available to purchase at SeatGeek.com at a later date. Additionally, Sporting Kansas City Season Ticket Members will once again have access to complimentary Sporting II tickets and can contact their Membership Services Executive for more information.
Led by third-year head coach and former Sporting Kansas City midfielder Paulo Nagamura, Sporting II will compete in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference for the second straight season. The 34-game slate will see Sporting II play Atlanta United 2 and Indy Eleven three times each and every other Eastern Conference side twice, once home and once away.
Every Sporting KC II match will stream live on ESPN+ as the USL Championship celebrates its 10th anniversary season and its fifth full year in partnership with ESPN. Kickoff times for all games will be announced in the near term.
The 2020 USL Championship campaign will feature 35 clubs, with 17 members of the East joined by 18 Western Conference teams. The league will welcome two newcomers as Miami FC enters the East and San Diego Loyal SC, coached by MLS legend Landon Donovan, enters the West. The regular season will span 33 weeks, running from March 6 to Oct. 17. The top 10 finishers in each conference will advance to the 2020 USL Championship Playoffs, which will once again unfold in single-elimination fashion through the USL Championship Final in mid-November.
2020 USL Championship Key Dates
- March 6 – Regular season begins
- Oct. 17 – Regular season concludes
- Oct. 21 – Eastern and Western Conference Wild Card Round
- Oct. 24-25 – Eastern and Western Conference Quarterfinals
- Oct. 30-Nov. 1 – Eastern and Western Conference Semifinals
- Nov. 6-8 – Eastern and Western Conference Finals
- Nov. 12-16 – 2020 USL Championship Final
Sporting II will enjoy a home-heavy start to 2020 with five of their first six matches at Children’s Mercy Park, including the club’s season opener against Charlotte Independence on March 8 and a date with 2019 Eastern Conference finalist Indy Eleven on March 14.
After opening the campaign with a slew of home fixtures, Sporting II will hit the road for 10 of their next 14 games from April 20 through July 25. The challenging stretch is punctuated by an inaugural meeting with Miami FC on May 1 and a trip to rivals Saint Louis FC eight days later. Amidst this spell of away games, Sporting II will host three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Louisville City FC on June 7 in the team’s lone home game of the month.
Sporting II will play on all five Saturdays in August, with home tilts against Philadelphia Union II (Aug. 8) and Saint Louis FC (Aug. 22) coming between visits to Louisville, North Carolina FC and Pittsburgh Riverhounds, all three of which finished in the top seven of the East last year.
Nagamura’s side will play five of six at home from early September to early October, hosting Miami FC for the first time on Sept. 6 and welcoming Atlanta on both Sept. 20 and Oct. 3. The club’s final regular season home game will take place on Oct. 7 versus Hartford Athletic.
Playoff participants from 2016-2018 before missing out in 2019, Sporting II will conclude the 2020 regular season with consecutive Saturday road fixtures, facing Indy on Oct. 10 and Charlotte Independence on Oct. 17. The stretch run will set the stage for the USL Championship Playoffs, with Sporting II hopeful of going a step further than in 2016 and 2017 when the club was crowned conference champion and advanced to the USL Championship Final.
Sporting II is set to return seven players from the 2019 squad, including 22-year-old Portuguese winger Ze Pedro and Sporting Kansas City Academy products Wilson Harris, Will Little and Brooks Thompson. Ze Pedro joined the club midway through last season, tallying five goals and three assists in just 12 appearances. Harris, meanwhile, led the side with a team-best 12 goals—bagging 10 in his final 11 games—as one of the top-scoring teenagers in American soccer. Sporting II is also likely to field multiple MLS players on loan from Sporting Kansas City and several rising talents from the club’s Academy.
Sporting KC II 2020 Regular Season Schedule
Match dates subject to change; all games to stream live on ESPN+.
Kickoff times to be announced at a later date.
<strong>DATE</strong> |
<strong>OPPONENT</strong> |
<div>Sunday, March 8</div> |
<div>CHARLOTTE INDEPENDENCE</div> |
<div>Saturday, March 14</div> |
<div>INDY ELEVEN</div> |
<div>Sunday, March 22</div> |
<div>MEMPHIS 901 FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, April 4</div> |
<div>at Tampa Bay Rowdies</div> |
<div>Saturday, April 11</div> |
<div>PITTSBURGH RIVERHOUNDS SC</div> |
<div>Wednesday, April 15</div> |
<div>NORTH CAROLINA FC</div> |
<div>Monday, April 20</div> |
<div>at Philadelphia Union II</div> |
<div>Saturday, April 25</div> |
<div>at Atlanta United 2</div> |
<div>Friday, May 1</div> |
<div>at Miami FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, May 9</div> |
<div>at Saint Louis FC</div> |
<div>Sunday, May 17</div> |
<div>NEW YORK RED BULLS II</div> |
<div>Sunday, May 24</div> |
<div>LOUDOUN UNITED FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, May 30</div> |
<div>at Birmingham Legion FC</div> |
<div>Sunday, June 7</div> |
<div>LOUISVILLE CITY FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, June 13</div> |
<div>at Indy Eleven</div> |
<div>Saturday, June 20</div> |
<div>at Charleston Battery</div> |
<div>Thursday, July 2</div> |
<div>at New York Red Bulls II</div> |
<div>Sunday, July 12</div> |
<div>TAMPA BAY ROWDIES</div> |
<div>Friday, July 17</div> |
<div>at Loudoun United FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, July 25</div> |
<div>at Hartford Athletic</div> |
<div>Wednesday, July 29</div> |
<div>CHARLESTON BATTERY</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 1</div> |
<div>at Louisville City FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 8</div> |
<div>PHILADELPHIA UNION II</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 15</div> |
<div>at North Carolina FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 22</div> |
<div>SAINT LOUIS FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 29</div> |
<div>at Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC</div> |
<div>Sunday, Sept. 6</div> |
<div>MIAMI FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Sept. 12</div> |
<div>BIRMINGHAM LEGION FC</div> |
<div>Sunday, Sept. 20</div> |
<div>ATLANTA UNITED 2</div> |
<div>Saturday, Sept. 26</div> |
<div>at Memphis 901 FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Oct. 3</div> |
<div>ATLANTA UNITED 2</div> |
<div>Wednesday, Oct. 7</div> |
<div>HARTFORD ATHLETIC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Oct. 10</div> |
<div>at Indy Eleven</div> |
<div>Saturday, Oct. 17</div> |
<div>at Charlotte Independence</div> |
