Swope Park Rangers

Swope Park Rangers
Full name Swope Park Rangers KC
Nickname(s) Rangers, SPR
Founded October 22, 2015 (2015-10-22)
Stadium Children's Mercy Park
Capacity 18,467
Owner Sporting Club
Head Coach Paulo Nagamura
League United Soccer League
2017 4th, Western Conference
Playoffs: Championship Final
Website Club website

The Swope Park Rangers are a United Soccer League (USL) club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. The Rangers play their home games at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

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 are named after a nickname for SKC (then the Kansas City Wizards)'s reserve squad in 2008.[1][2] The team will be 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]

Location

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

The Rangers have also played matches at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri.

Current roster

As of April 4, 2018.[6]

No. Position Player Nation
1 Goalkeeper Adrián Zendejas ([A])  United States
2 Defender Amer Didic ([A])  Canada
4 Midfielder Brad Evans ([A])  United States
11 Forward Diego Rubio ([A])  Chile
13 Forward Gianluca Busio ([A])  United States
14 Forward Khiry Shelton ([A])  United States
15 Defender Seth Sinovic ([A])  United States
16 Defender Graham Smith ([A])  United States
19 Midfielder Cristian Lobato ([A])  Spain
23 Defender Colton Storm ([A])  United States
26 Defender Jaylin Lindsey ([A])  United States
33 Midfielder Bryam Rebellón  Colombia
36 Forward Tyler Blackwood  England
40 Midfielder Thierry Catherine  Martinique
44 Defender Parker Maher  United States
45 Forward José Barragán  Venezuela
48 Midfielder Kaveh Rad ([B])  United States
49 Midfielder Will Little  United States
58 Midfielder Dakota Barnathan  United States
66 Midfielder Jahon Rad ([B])  United States
70 Goalkeeper Darrin MacLeod  Canada
71 Midfielder Chase Minter  United States
72 Defender Justin Bilyeu  United States
75 Midfielder Wan Kuzain ([A])  Malaysia
77 Midfielder Camilo Benitez  Ecuador
79 Goalkeeper Christian Herrera  Mexico
80 Midfielder Sean Karani ([B])  United States
85 Midfielder Felipe Hernandez  United States
88 Defender Matt Lewis  United States
90 Forward Kharlton Belmar ([A])  United States
91 Forward Ethan Vanacore-Decker  United States
92 Forward Hadji Barry  Guinea
95 Midfielder Rassambek Akhmatov  Russia
96 Forward Wilson Harris  United States
97 Midfielder Matheus Silva  Brazil
98 Midfielder Sebastian Cruz ([B])  United States
  1. ^ Signed to first team contract with MLS affiliate Sporting Kansas City.
    2.
  2. ^ Sporting Kansas City Academy player.
    3.

Year-by-year

As of November 13, 2017
Year USL Regular season Position Playoffs Top Scorer 1 U.S.
Open Cup
P W L D GF GA Pts Conf. Overall Player Goals
2016 3014106453648 4th 9th Runners-up Canada Mark Anthony Gonzalez 9 Not eligible (MLS Reserve Team)
2017 321787553758 4th 5th Runners-up United States Kharlton Belmar 15 Not eligible (MLS Reserve Team)

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

Head Coaches

  • Includes USL Regular season, USL Play-offs and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
CoachNationalityStartEndGamesWinLossDrawWin %
Marc Dos Santos  Canada November 20, 2015 November 21, 2016 34 17 11 6 050.00
Nikola Popovic[7][8]  Serbia November 21, 2016 November 17, 2017 36 20 9 7 055.56
Paulo Nagamura[9]  Brazil December 4, 2017 Present 0 0 0 0 !—

Average Attendance

YearReg. SeasonPlayoffs
2016 1,753 2,329
2017 1,015 1,724

Staff

Honors

References

  1. 1 2 "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. 1 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. ↑ https://www.sportingkc.com/players/squad/spr
  7. ↑ "Nikola Popovic and Alec Dufty join Swope Park Rangers technical staff". Sporting Kansas City.
  8. ↑ "Nikola Popovic introduced as Swope Park Rangers head coach". Patrik Bergabo. Sporting Kansas City. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Paulo Nagamura named Swope Park Rangers head coach". Sam Kovzan. Sporting Kansas City. December 4, 2017.
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