Sporting Kansas City II announced today that the club has signed 22-year-old forward and Indiana University standout Maouloune Goumballe to an MLS NEXT Pro professional contract ahead of the 2024 season.
Goumballe enjoyed a prolific five-year college career with the national powerhouse Hoosiers, amassing 11 goals and 12 assists in 108 appearances for Indiana from 2019-2023. During his time in Bloomington, Goumballe was a three-time Big Ten regular season champion (2019, 2020, 2023), a three-time Big Ten Tournament champion (2019, 2020, 2023) and a two-time NCAA College Cup participant (2020, 2022). He was also a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Goumballe developed in the Columbus Crew academy as a teenager. He notably helped the Columbus U-19s finish third at the 2018 U.S. Soccer Development Academy National Championship as one of the team’s top goal scorers.
Goumballe began his trophy-laden journey at Indiana in 2019, appearing in 21 matches as a freshman with two goals and three assists as the Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles while advancing to the Elite Eight. During the Covid-impacted 2020-21 campaign, he started in 12 of his 16 appearances and added two goals and two assists with Indiana continuing its Big Ten dominance with regular season and tournament titles. Goumballe and Indiana also progressed to the NCAA Men’s College Cup, where they took a 1-0 extra-time loss to Marshall in the national championship game.
After logging 22 more appearances for Indiana in 2021, Goumballe had a career-high 25 games played in his penultimate college season in 2022. He tallied a goal and two assists as part of a surging Indiana side that collected four straight shutout wins in the NCAA Tournament before suffering a heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to Syracuse following a 2-2 draw in the national final.
Goumballe’s fifth and final season at Indiana was his best. The forward hit career-highs in goals (five), assists (four) and starts (18), helping Indiana win the Big Ten regular season and tournament double for the third time in his college tenure. Indiana also made the Elite Eight for the fourth time in Goumballe’s career, where it fell to Notre Dame on penalty kicks.
Led by head coach and Sporting Kansas City great Benny Feilhaber, Sporting KC II will open the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro campaign on March 17 by visiting Houston Dynamo 2 for the first of 28 regular season matches. The club is looking to go a step further in 2024 after reaching the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs for the first time last fall. Tickets for Sporting KC II home games are on sale now at SeatGeek.com, with 10 fixtures to be played at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kansas, and four at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri.
- Defenders (5): Nati Clarke, Kortne Ford, Demarre Montoute, Jonathan Robinson, Mason Visconti
- Midfielders (4): Haris Alisah, Ethan Bryant, Sebastian Cruz, Jake Swallen
- Forwards (5): Beto Avila, Maouloune Goumballe, Kamron Habibullah, Roberto Hategan, Pau Vidal
Transaction: Sporting Kansas City II signs forward Maouloune Goumballe to an MLS NEXT Pro professional contract.
VITALS
- Maouloune Goumballe
- Position: Forward
- Birthdate: 6/21/2001 (22 years old)
- Height: 6-1
- Weight: 170 lbs.
- Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
- College: Indiana (2019-2023)
- Instagram: @Maouloune
