Sporting Kansas City announced today that the club has signed 26-year-old defender Amadou Dia. The left back has been added to Sporting’s roster for the 2020 season with contract options through 2022.
Dia began his professional career with Sporting as the 20th overall pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft out of Clemson University. He made 37 appearances for the club in all competitions during a two-year stint highlighted by a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title and consecutive playoff appearances. Dia has spent the last three seasons with perennial USL Championship contender Phoenix Rising FC, where he was named the team’s Defender of the Year in both 2018 and 2019.
“Not many people are blessed with the opportunity to get a second chance at one of the top clubs in the country like I am getting,” Dia said. “We have some unfinished business to take care of and I’m excited to get going again.”
“We are excited to welcome Amadou back to the club as we begin preparations for the 2020 season,” Sporting Kansas City Manager and Sporting Director Peter Vermes said.
Dia earned his Sporting debut in Week 1 of the 2015 MLS campaign, becoming the club’s first rookie to start on opening day since 2011. He ended the season with 27 competitive appearances, including four starts in the team’s run to the U.S. Open Cup title. Dia started nine of 10 MLS matches in 2016 before joining the Montreal Impact for the latter half of the season.
Born in Nantes, France, and raised in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Dia was a leading contributor at Rising FC from 2017-2019. He started 87 of 90 USL Championship matches at the club—notching four goals and eight assists—and guided Phoenix to three straight playoff berths, winning the 2018 Western Conference Championship and helping the side to a historically dominant 2019 campaign.
Dia has culminated each of the last two seasons with Rising FC Defender of the Year honors as the club’s first-choice left back. Phoenix reached the 2018 USL Championship Final and ended 2019 with a 24-4-6 regular season mark, setting an all-time American professional soccer record with 20 straight league wins from May 10 to Sept. 14. Dia started in 18 games during the unprecedented stretch as Rising FC totaled a USL Championship record 78 points.
Dia, who represented the United States at the U-14, U-18 and U-20 international levels, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and his native France. As a youth, he was a United Soccer Coaches All-American and the 2010-11 Colorado Gatorade Boys Soccer Player of the Year at Mountain Vista High School, where he played alongside current Sporting center back Graham Smith.
In a successful four-year college career at Clemson, Dia logged 70 career appearances, four goals and six assists. As a senior in 2014, he led the Tigers to their first ACC soccer championship since 2001, also reaching the Round of 16 in the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship and a No. 11 national ranking in the final United Soccer Coaches poll.
For a full list of Sporting's offseason roster moves, visit SportingKC.com/tracker. Vermes' men will open the 2020 MLS regular season on Feb. 29 at Vancouver Whitecaps FC before hosting the Houston Dynamo on March 7 in their home opener at Children's Mercy Park.
The best way to guarantee tickets for 2020 home matches is to join the Sporting Kansas City family and become a Season Ticket Member. Several multi-game ticket packages for the 2020 campaign are also on sale now at SportingKC.com, including the limited-time Home Opener Pack that bundles the game on March 7 with two flex matches. Single-game tickets for the first half of Sporting’s home schedule will go on sale to the general public in the near term.
Transaction: Sporting Kansas City (MLS) signs defender Amadou Dia.
VITALS
Amadou Dia (AH-mah-doo DEE-uh)
Number: 13
Position: Defender
Born: 6/8/1993 (26 years old)
Height: 5-10
Weight: 150 lbs.
Hometown: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Birthplace: Nantes, France
Last Club: Phoenix Rising FC (USL Championship)
College: Clemson University
Citizenship: France, USA
Twitter: @Amadou_iT11
Instagram: @amadou_it11
