Sporting Kansas City II announced today that the club has signed Academy products Edgar Bazan and Nati Clarke to Academy contracts. Both are United States Youth National team members, with Bazan joining up with the U.S. U17s as recently as Jan. 18, 2022.
Raised in Overland Park, Kansas, Bazan joined the Sporting KC Academy in August 2017. The following year, he helped the Sporting KC U-12s win two national championships as winners of the Generation adidas Cup in Frisco, Texas, and the Premier SuperCopa in Denver.
Bazan and the Sporting KC U-13s were runners up at the U.S. Youth Futsal National Championships in January 2019, months before he scored twice for the U-13s at the Central Regional Showcase in Waukegan, Illinois.
Bazan represented the U-15s throughout the latter half of 2019 and into 2020 as Sporting joined the newly launched MLS NEXT youth platform. He spent most of the 2020-21 MLS NEXT campaign with the U-15s before rising to the U-17 level at the start of the 2021-22 season.
Born in Ethiopia and raised in Topeka, KS, Clarke joined the Academy in 2016 and has been selected to the U.S. U15s. In 2019, he traveled to Poland with the USYNT to compete in the U-15 UEFA Development Tournament. While there he donned the captain's armband in two matches and converted his penalty in a shootout against Poland.
In January 2020, Clarke returned to Ethiopia, to the neighborhood he lived in with his grandma, and brought gifts including soccer equipment, Sporting KC jerseys and soccer shorts.
During the 2020-21 MLS NEXT cycle Clarke played with Sporting's U15s before joining the U17s ahead of the 2021-22 MLS NEXT season. He has spent the last several months rehabbing an injury and is ready to return to competitive action.
Led by first-year head coach Benny Feilhaber, Sporting KC II (6-6-2, 20 points) are in the midst of a three-match winning streak on the road. Last Saturday, they defeated first-place North Texas SC 4-2 in their final match at Rock Chalk Park in 2022.
Bazan, Clarke and SKC II are gearing up for their final 10 matches in the inaugural MLS NEXT Pro season. Tickets are available at SeatGeek.com for SKC II's final four home matches set to take place at Swope Soccer Village, and all matches can be streamed for free at mlsnextpro.com.
Transaction: Sporting Kansas City II signs M Edgar Bazan and D Nati Clarke to MLS NEXT Pro Academy contracts.
VITALS
Nati Clarke
Position: D
Number: 32
Birthdate: 1/29/2005 (17 years old)
Height: 5-6
Weight: 150
Hometown: Topeka, Kansas
Birthplace: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Edgar Bazan
Position: M
Number: 36
Birthdate: 2/1/2006 (16 years old)
Height: 5-8
Weight: 150
Hometown: Overland Park, Kansas
Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri
