The United Soccer League announced today Sporting Kansas City II’s revised schedule for the 2020 USL Championship regular season.
Sporting Kansas City II will return to action on July 18 at Indy Eleven and play 15 times over the course of a dozen weeks, rounding out a 16-game regular season campaign that began March 8 with a home loss to Charlotte Independence before the campaign was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every game of the 2020 USL Championship season will air on the ESPN family of networks, with broadcasts on ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ bringing all the excitement of the first league in the United States to return to play in home markets.
Led by third-year head coach and former Sporting Kansas City great Paulo Nagamura, Sporting Kansas City II will hit the road for 14 of their remaining 15 contests. Twelve of those away matches will come against the three other clubs in Group E, as Sporting KC II will travel to Indy Eleven, Louisville City FC and rivals Saint Louis FC four times each.
Sporting Kansas City II will also visit FC Tulsa on Aug. 29 and Austin Bold FC on Sept. 22. The club’s lone home match, slated for Aug. 22 against OKC Energy FC, will take place at Swope Soccer Village and will be closed to the public.
The USL Championship unveiled last month an updated format for the remainder of the 2020 season as all 35 clubs resume play after a four-month hiatus. Groups A-D consists of Western Conference teams, while groups E-F feature Eastern Conference sides. The top two teams from each group in the regular season will advance to the USL Championship Playoffs, producing a field of 16 teams in a regionalized, single-elimination bracket.
Group E contains four clubs that have combined four six league championship appearances and 11 playoff trips over the previous four seasons. Sporting KC II were crowned Western Conference champions in 2016 and 2017, notably falling to Louisville in the 2017 USL Championship Final. Louisville won consecutive USL Championship titles in 2017 and 2018 before finishing as runners-up last fall, while Indy Eleven has reached the playoffs for two straight seasons and reached the 2019 Eastern Conference Final. Saint Louis FC made its lone playoff appearance in 2018 prior to missing out by a single point last year.
Sporting KC II 2020 USL Championship Schedule
Dates subject to change; kickoff times TBD
<strong>DATE</strong> |
<strong>OPPONENT</strong> |
<div>Sunday, March 8</div> |
<div>CHARLOTTE INDEPENDENCE (L 2-1)</div> |
<div>Saturday, July 18</div> |
<div>at Indy Eleven</div> |
<div>Saturday, July 25</div> |
<div>at Louisville City FC</div> |
<div>Wednesday, July 29</div> |
<div>at Louisville City FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 1</div> |
<div>at Indy Eleven</div> |
<div>Wednesday, Aug. 5</div> |
<div>at Saint Louis FC</div> |
<div>Wednesday, Aug. 12</div> |
<div>at Louisville City FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 15</div> |
<div>at Saint Louis FC</div> |
<div>SATURDAY, AUG. 22</div> |
<div>OKC ENERGY FC</div> |
<div>Saturday, Aug. 29</div> |
<div>at FC Tulsa</div> |
<div>Friday, Sept. 4</div> |
<div>at Saint Louis FC</div> |
<div>Wednesday, Sept. 9</div> |
<div>at Indy Eleven</div> |
<div>Saturday, Sept. 19</div> |
<div>at Saint Louis FC</div> |
<div>Tuesday, Sept. 22</div> |
<div>at Austin Bold FC</div> |
<div>Wednesday, Sept. 30</div> |
<div>at Indy Eleven</div> |
<div>Saturday, Oct. 3</div> |
<div>at Louisville City FC</div> |
