Sporting Kansas City II has added the club’s current goalkeeper coach Mitch Hildebrandt to the playing roster for the remainder of the 2020 USL Championship season, pending league and federation approval. The former USL Championship Goalkeeper of the Year becomes a player-coach after 17-year-old Gavin Krenecki was ruled out for the final four games of the 2020 campaign through injury.
Hildebrandt, 31, joined Sporting II to launch his coaching career ahead of the 2020 season after retiring from professional soccer in 2019. Hildebrandt won the USL Goalkeeper of the Year title in 2016 with FC Cincinnati and earned an MLS Cup winner’s medal with Atlanta United at the conclusion of the 2018 season.
The Michigan native has coached a Sporting II goalkeeping group containing John Pulskamp, Brooks Thompson, Remi Prieur and Krenecki in 2020, with the team recording two shutouts and a 1.67 goals against average while remaining competitive among some of the USL Championship’s most elite teams in Group E.
VITALS
Mitch Hildebrandt
Position: Goalkeeper
Born: 11/12/1988 (31 years old)
Height: 6-1
Weight: 190 lbs.
Hometown: Livonia, Mich.
Birthplace: Livonia, Mich.
Citizenship: USA
Twitter: @mitchhilde
Instagram: @mitchhilde
