Sporting Kansas City II

Sporting Kansas City II is a USL Championship club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. SKC II play their home games at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. They were formerly known as the Swope Park Rangers.

Sporting Kansas City II
Nickname(s)Rangers, SPR, SKCII
FoundedOctober 22, 2015 (2015-10-22), as Swope Park Rangers
StadiumChildren's Mercy Park
Kansas City, Kansas
Capacity18,467
OwnerSporting Club
Head CoachPaulo Nagamura
LeagueUSL Championship
201918th, Eastern Conference
Playoffs: DNQ
WebsiteClub website

History

On October 22, 2015, the team was officially announced as the USL's 30th franchise, as were the Swope Park Rangers name, color scheme and logo. The Rangers replaced Oklahoma City Energy FC as SKC's USL affiliate, and was named after a nickname for SKC reserve squad in 2008.[1][2] The team is Sporting Kansas City's third USL affiliate in the team's history, after previously having partnered with Orlando City SC and Oklahoma City Energy FC.[3] Canadian Marc Dos Santos, who led Ottawa Fury FC to the NASL Soccer Bowl in 2015, was named the first head coach of the Rangers on November 20, 2015.[4]

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 beat LA Galaxy II, Orange County SC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 en route to the final where the side eventually fell 5–1 to New York Red Bulls II at Red Bull Arena. Goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas and winger Tyler 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 founded NASL club the San 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 in Amer Didic, James Musa, Kharlton Belmar and Kevin Oliveira. Popovic resigned as head coach on November 17, 2017 after leading Swope Park to their second consecutive conference championship.[5]

On September 30, 2019, the club announced that it would re-brand as Sporting Kansas City II ahead of the 2020 USL Championship season.[6]

Location

The team plays at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.[1][2]

The Rangers used the Swope 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 to Shawnee Mission District Stadium in Overland 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.[7][8][9][10]

Players and staff

Roster
As of February 5, 2021[11]
No. Position Player Nation
32 Midfielder Christian Duke  United States
34 Forward Dominik Rešetar (on loan from Dinamo Zagreb II)  Croatia
39 Defender Petar Čuić (on loan from Dinamo Zagreb II)  Croatia
42 Goalkeeper Remi Prieur  United States
46 Midfielder Jake Davis  United States
48 Defender Kaveh Rad  United States
77 Forward Enoch Mushagalusa  DR Congo
84 Defender Jahon Rad  United States
— Forward Preston Judd  United States
— Forward Ropapa Mensah  Ghana
— Defender Travian Sousa  United States
— Defender Aedan Stanley  United States
  1. ^
    Signed to first team contract with MLS affiliate Sporting Kansas City.
    2.
  2. ^
    Sporting Kansas City Academy player.
    3.

Technical staff

Year-by-year
As of October 3, 2020
Year USL Championship Position Playoffs Top Scorer 1
P W L D GF GA Pts Conf. Overall Player Goals
2016 3014106453648 4th, Western 9th Runners-up Mark Anthony Gonzalez 9
2017 321787553758 4th, Western 5th Runners-up Kharlton Belmar 15
2018 3415118525353 7th, Western 11th Conference Semifinals Hadji Barry 17
2019 346208468026 18th, Eastern 36th Did not qualify Wilson Harris 12
2020 165101213016 12th, Eastern
4th, Group E		 23rd Did not qualify Wilson Harris 8

^ 1. Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches
  • Includes USL Regular season, USL Play-offs
CoachNationalityStartEndGamesWinLossDrawWin %
Marc Dos Santos  Canada November 20, 2015 November 21, 2016 34 17 11 6 050.00
Nikola Popovic[12][13]  Serbia November 21, 2016 November 17, 2017 36 20 9 7 055.56
Paulo Nagamura[14]  Brazil December 4, 2017 present 87 27 43 17 031.03

Average attendance
YearReg. SeasonPlayoffs
2016 1,753 2,329
2017 1,015 1,724
2018 881 —
2019 505 —
2020 N/A —

Honors

References
  1. "Sporting Kansas City Awarded USL's 30th Franchise". United Soccer League. October 22, 2015. Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  2. "USL expands to Kansas City in 2016 with debut of Swope Park Rangers". October 22, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  3. "Vermes, Besler Excited By Rangers' Introduction". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  4. "Dos Santos Introduced as Swope Park Rangers' Coach". United Soccer League (USL). Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  5. "Swope Park Rangers and head coach Nikola Popovic mutually agree to part ways". Sporting Kansas City. November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  6. "Sporting Club's USL Championship team to become Sporting Kansas City II". Sporting Kansas City. September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  7. "Swope Park Soccer Village Loses Both Its Marquee Tenants". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  8. "Swope Park Rangers to play 2018 home matches at Shawnee Mission South District Stadium | Sporting Kansas City". Sportingkc.com. January 18, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  9. Villanueva, Araceli (April 24, 2018). "Swope Park Rangers Home Games Moved to Children's Mercy Park". The Blue Testament. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  10. Smith, Chad C. (April 14, 2018). "Swope Park Rangers vs OKC Energy Postponed". The Blue Testament. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  11. "SKCII Players". Sportingkc.com. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  12. "Nikola Popovic and Alec Dufty join Swope Park Rangers technical staff". Sporting Kansas City.
  13. "Nikola Popovic introduced as Swope Park Rangers head coach". Patrik Bergabo. Sporting Kansas City. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  14. "Paulo Nagamura named Swope Park Rangers head coach". Sam Kovzan. Sporting Kansas City. December 4, 2017.
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