 | |||
| Nickname(s) | Rangers, SPR, SKCII | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | October 22, 2015; 9 years ago (2015-10-22) asSwope Park Rangers | ||
| Stadium | Swope Soccer Village Kansas City, Missouri | ||
| Capacity | 3,500 | ||
| Owner | Sporting Club | ||
| Head coach | István Urbányi | ||
| League | MLS Next Pro | ||
| 2023 | 3rd, Western Conference Playoffs: Conference Quarterfinals | ||
| Website | www | ||
 Current season | |||
Sporting Kansas City II is aMLS Next Pro club affiliated withSporting Kansas City ofMajor League Soccer. For the 2022 season they will play their home games atRock Chalk Park at theUniversity of Kansas inLawrence, Kansas, as well asSwope Soccer Village inKansas City, Missouri. They were formerly known as theSwope Park Rangers. The club is headquartered alongside Sporting Kansas City atChildren's Mercy Park inKansas City, Kansas.[1]
On October 22, 2015, the team was officially announced as theUSL's 30th franchise, as were the Swope Park Rangers name, color scheme and logo. The Rangers replacedOklahoma City Energy FC as SKC's USL affiliate, and was named after a nickname for SKC reserve squad in 2008.[2][3] The team isSporting Kansas City's third USL affiliate in the team's history, after previously having partnered withOrlando City SC andOklahoma City Energy FC.[4] CanadianMarc Dos Santos, who ledOttawa Fury FC to theNASLSoccer Bowl in 2015, was named the first head coach of the Rangers on November 20, 2015.[5]
The Rangers finished their inaugural season in 2016 with a 14–10–6 record and finished fourth in the Western Conference. The side advanced to the 2016 USL Cup Final, becoming just the second team in USL history to do so in its inaugural season. The Rangers beatLA Galaxy II,Orange County SC andVancouver Whitecaps FC 2 en route to the final where the side eventually fell 5–1 toNew York Red Bulls II atRed Bull Arena. GoalkeeperAdrian Zendejas and wingerTyler Pasher were each signed by parent club Sporting Kansas City at the end of the season.
Following the conclusion of the 2016 season,Marc Dos Santos departed to take over at newly foundedNASL club theSan Francisco Deltas. His assistant for the 2016 campaign, Nikola Popovic, took the reins ahead of the 2017 season. The side continued to have success as Popovic led the team to a 17–8–7 record in the West and another fourth-place finish. Sporting KC also signed four more players from SPR during 2017 inAmer Didic,James Musa,Kharlton Belmar andKevin Oliveira. Popovic resigned as head coach on November 17, 2017, after leading Swope Park to their second consecutive conference championship.[6]
On September 30, 2019, the club announced that it would re-brand as Sporting Kansas City II ahead of the 2020 USL Championship season.[7]
The club announced on December 6, 2021, that it was joining the inaugural 21-teamMLS Next Pro season starting in 2022.[8] Former Sporting Kansas City playerBenny Feilhaber was named the team's head coach for the 2022 season.[9]
The team is headquartered out ofChildren's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. For the 2022 and 2023 seasons, they split matches between Rock Chalk Park at theUniversity of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, as well asSwope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri.[2][3][1]
When the team was known as Swope Park Rangers they played atSwope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri as permanent home venue for the 2016 and 2017 USL seasons, although occasional matches were played at Children's Mercy Park during those first two seasons. For the 2018 season, the Rangers moved toShawnee Mission District Stadium inOverland Park, Kansas for home USL matches. The move to Shawnee Mission South District Stadium was in response to new USL stadium standards, requiring seating for at least 5,000 fans, that were not met by Swope Soccer Village. The 7,500-seat Shawnee Mission South District Stadium had received $6 million in improvements between fall 2016 and spring 2017. After just two home matches into the season, the Rangers announced that all home matches would be moved to Children's Mercy Park for the remainder of the 2018 USL season. The move came just days after allegations were reported that there had been issues with the quality of the artificial-turf field at Shawnee Mission South.[10][11][12][13]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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István Urbányi - head coach[9]
Ike Opara – assistant coach[15]| Year | USL Championship | Position | Playoffs | Top Scorer1 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | L | D | GF | GA | Pts | Conf. | Overall | Player | Goals | |||
| 2016 | 30 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 45 | 36 | 48 | 4th, Western | 9th | Runners-up |  Mark Anthony Gonzalez | 9 | |
| 2017 | 32 | 17 | 8 | 7 | 55 | 37 | 58 | 4th, Western | 5th | Runners-up | Kharlton Belmar | 15 | |
| 2018 | 34 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 52 | 53 | 53 | 7th, Western | 11th | Conference semifinals |  Hadji Barry | 17 | |
| 2019 | 34 | 6 | 20 | 8 | 46 | 80 | 26 | 18th, Eastern | 36th | Did not qualify | Wilson Harris | 12 | |
| 2020 | 16 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 21 | 30 | 16 | 12th, Eastern 4th, Group E | 23rd | Did not qualify | Wilson Harris | 8 | |
| 2021 | 32 | 4 | 20 | 8 | 31 | 64 | 20 | 15th, Eastern | 30th | Did not qualify |  Enoch Mushagalusa | 8 | |
| Year | MLS Next Pro | Position | Playoffs | Top Scorer1 | |||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Conf. | Overall | Player | Goals | |||
| 2022 | 24 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 31 | 38 | 31 | 8th, Eastern | 15th | Did not qualify |  Rauf Salifu | 6 | |
| 2023 | 28 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 59 | 41 | 49 | 3rd, Western | 7th | Conference quarterfinals |  Pau Vidal | 11 | |
^ 1.Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.
| Coach | Nationality | Start | End | Games | Win | Loss | Draw | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marc Dos Santos | Canada | November 20, 2015 | November 21, 2016 | 34 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 050.00 |
| Nikola Popovic[16][17] |  Serbia | November 21, 2016 | November 17, 2017 | 36 | 20 | 9 | 7 | 055.56 |
| Paulo Nagamura[18] |  Brazil | December 4, 2017 | November 18, 2021 | 87 | 27 | 43 | 17 | 031.03 |
| Benny Feilhaber | United States | January 12, 2022 | November 14, 2024 | 24 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 037.50 |
| Year | Reg. Season | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,753 | 2,329 |
| 2017 | 1,015 | 1,724 |
| 2018 | 881 | — |
| 2019 | 505 | |
| 2020 | N/A | |
| 2021 | ||
| 2022 |
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