Sporting KC expands technical staff with three leadership hires. Patrik Bergabo Monday, Oct 26, 2026, 08:00 AM Sporting Kansas City has expanded the club's technical staff with the appointment of three new Vice Presidents, the club announced today. Sebastian Stein has been named Vice President, Scouting & Recruitment, Kevin Geary has joined as Vice President, Human Performance and Francisco Belo has been appointed Vice President, Data & Analytics. The additions are the latest in an expansion of Sporting's technical staff under President of Soccer Operations & General Manager David Lee. "I am delighted that Sebastian, Kevin and Francisco have joined the organization, and we are excited to welcome them and their families to Kansas City," Lee said. "As MLS continues to grow, modernizing and evolving its soccer operations is essential, and these appointments are a critical part of that process. Sporting Kansas City conducted a worldwide search to identify the very best leaders for these important roles and all three impressed Sporting Kansas City with their expertise, enthusiasm and belief in what Sporting Kansas City can achieve at Sporting Kansas City. "Together, they will lead their respective departments and establish structures that support the Sporting KC first team, Sporting KC II and the SKC Academy. Their collaborative approach and shared ambition will help strengthen the club at every level, and I am excited about what we can build together." Sebastian Stein Vice President, Scouting & Recruitment Stein joins Sporting with 13 years of experience in the German Bundesliga at Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund. Stein most recently served as the Head of Scouting for Eintracht Frankfurt, having joined the club in 2021. The Germany native began his career with Borussia Dortmund in 2013 and spent eight years with the club, initially working as a match analyst before joining the scouting department and coordinating talent identification and recruitment for both the senior and youth levels. "Sebastian will be responsible for the talent identification and recruitment department from the first team through to the Academy," Lee said. "He will build out our scouting network across the globe as we seek to significantly increase our presence in Europe, South America and domestically to ensure that Sporting KC is a desirable destination for the best talent. Sebastian is an incredibly experienced and hugely respected figure in his field, having worked extensively in one of the top leagues in the world with a deep knowledge of both senior and youth soccer." Kevin Geary Vice President, Human Performance Geary arrives in Kansas City on the back of a 20-year professional career in sports performance at various rugby organizations. The Irishman spent the last seven years as the Head of Athletic Performance at Bristol Bears, while also serving as the Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach with England Rugby. Geary previously worked as a strength and conditioning coach with Irish Rugby, Ulster Rugby and Munster Rugby earlier in his career. "Kevin will oversee the work across our Human Performance department including Medical, Sports Science, Strength & Conditioning and Psychology, uniting our multi-disciplinary staff," Lee said. "Bringing his experience from a hugely successful career, Kevin's knowledge of best practices will allow him to work closely with the coaching staff to develop a clear plan to ensure optimal performance and periodization throughout the season, ensuring our team can meet the demands of MLS. Kevin will also be responsible for ensuring players within our Pro Player Pathway are equipped with physical development plans to ensure a successful transition into the professional game." Francisco Belo Vice President, Data & Analytics Belo brings over a decade of experience in the English Premier League and joins Sporting KC from Nottingham Forest where he worked as Head of Football Intelligence for the past three years. The Portugal native previously worked at Wolverhampton Wanderers from 2021-2024 as a First Team Football Research & Methodology Analyst and at Everton from 2015-2021 as a Technical Coaching Analyst. "Francisco will be responsible for building our analytics department from the ground up across engineering, analysis and data science while also leading our performance analysis division," Lee said. "Francisco has worked at the highest levels of the sport for 12 years and he will now help embed a data-driven and analytical approach to support the coaching, player recruitment and human performance staff which will be a critical component in the future of Sporting KC." Patrik Bergabo -

Owen Wolff named to MLS 22 Under 22 Rankings for fourth consecutive year. Sporting KC's Owen Wolff was ranked sixteenth on Major League Soccer's annual '22 Under 22' list released Oct. 20. The midfielder is recognized for consistent performance over four consecutive seasons. 5 days ago Wednesday, Oct 21 By KC Reporter Sporting Kansas City midfielder Owen Wolff has been named to Major League Soccer's annual 22 Under 22 list, the league announced on Oct. 20. Wolff is ranked 16th overall in the 2026 edition after being voted fourth in 2025, seventeenth in 2024, and eighteenth in 2023. Wolff joined Sporting Kansas City as a U22 initiative player this summer following a cash trade from Austin FC. Since starting his MLS career, he has recorded ten goals and twenty-three assists over one hundred forty-nine appearances. At age twenty-one, he is the only player selected to the MLS 22 Under 22 Rankings each of the last four seasons and one of just three players named to the rankings on four occasions. Wolff spent part of his youth in Kansas City playing for Sporting Blue Valley before joining academies at Columbus Crew and Atlanta United. He signed as a Homegrown Player with Austin FC in September 2021 and made his MLS debut at sixteen years old during Austin's win over Sporting KC on November 3, 2021. In the previous season, Wolff set career highs with seven goals and twelve assists across forty-one matches for Austin FC. His nineteen goal contributions helped lead Austin to a sixth-place finish and qualification for the MLS Cup Playoffs while also reaching their first U.S. Open Cup Final; these achievements earned him Austin Offensive Player of the Year honors. His father, Josh Wolff, played for Kansas City Wizards from two thousand three to two thousand six and again from two thousand eight to two thousand ten. Josh recorded forty-six goals and thirty assists during his tenure with Kansas City, which led to his induction into the Sporting Legends Hall of Honor in twenty nineteen. To be eligible for selection in this year's rankings, players must have been born after November eighth, two thousand four.

MLS's transfer window and the spending line that keeps going up. | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/08/mls-transfer-window-spending Version 0 of 1. Summer spending across the league's 30 clubs has ballooned. Here are three takeaways from the league's transfer window With the shadow of the 2026 World Cup hanging over the league and a potential set of rule changes looming, Major League Soccer's summer transfer window was one defined by uncertainty, diverse strategies and record spending. It was the fourth transfer window since MLS allowed clubs to purchase players from other clubs using traditional transfer fees rather than general allocation money (GAM), the intraleague currency system. The new rule, which is now being used more frequently, has helped account for rapid growth in league expenditure, as has increased GAM allotted to each club. These trends have been seen broadly over the last two seasons, but this past window took it to a new level, smashing the previous record for summer spending. This summer, MLS teams spent 65% more year-over-year, with a total of nearly $190m spent, accounting for 45% of the 2026 total. The above factors combined to create one of the most consequential transfer windows in MLS history, which may give a glimpse into the league's future trajectory. Record spending This summer brought MLS to more than $410m spent on trades and transfers in 2026, which is more than double the 2023 total. Much of this growth came between 2024 and 2025, with the cash-for-player system accounting for $41m in transfers that were not previously possible. The introduction of this rule has not replaced GAM spending, but rather complemented it. MLS allows clubs to convert up to $3m in eligible transfer revenue to GAM per year, and the introduction of the cash-for-player rule has made hitting that $3m mark significantly easier. The end result: there's much more GAM circulating the league now, enabling more teams to buy down cap hits, complete trades and do everything else a team can do with those funds. MLS has also seen growing income from outbound transfers. The league has now earned nearly $800m from player sales since 2022, with the departing players becoming younger and younger. This summer, six players aged 23 or younger left the league in deals worth $5m or more, with three of those players born in the United States. Lucas Herrington, a 19-year-old Australia international, left Colorado Rapids to join Hull City for a base fee of $17m. Zavier Gozo, meanwhile, joined Crystal Palace for $15m. Gozo, an American and a Real Salt Lake academy product, is the latest example of MLS's academy pipeline producing top talent that is in high demand in some of the world's largest leagues. Sporting KC go full rebuild Early last season, Sporting KC parted ways with Peter Vermes, the club's head coach since 2009, and sporting director since three years before that. In September, the club hired David Lee, New York City FC's sporting director, to the same position. They brought Raphaël Wicky in as head coach. And in January of this year, billionaire Peter Mallouk bought a controlling stake and became the club's new majority owner. A new head coach, GM or owner can each have massive ramifications on how a club operates, but changing all three in the span of a year is a completely different challenge. When Lee joined, he inherited an operation that had long been run almost entirely by Vermes. It's easy to paint the picture of Vermes as the old-guard veteran, skeptical of convoluted roster mechanisms and oblivious to analytics, while Lee represents the new-age GM, with City Football Group experience and a savvy understanding of MLS's roster regulations. Though that may be an oversimplification, the facts are these: prior to Vermes's dismissal, the club failed to spend a cent of GAM on trades between 2022 and 2025. In the three windows since then, they've spent $700,000 while also acquiring $6m through the sale of Dejan Joveljic via the cash-for-player mechanism. The club has also hired a new vice-president of data and analytics, Francisco Belo, from Nottingham Forest and is investing in their scouting operations. The new owner has helped things, too; Sporting KC, once one of the most frugal teams in MLS, have gone on a spending spree. Under Lee's tenure, the club's cumulative spending on player acquisitions since 2022 has skyrocketed, from $18m to $56m. On average, Sporting KC spend about $2.9m in secondary transfer windows, which ranks 23rd in MLS. This summer, they spent a total of $27.2m. The investment was sorely needed, too, with the club rostering just 14 senior roster players at the beginning of the year. Additionally, with the sale of Joveljic and Lee's decision to part ways with Spanish midfielder Manu García, the club spent part of the summer without a designated player (DP) or a U22-initiative player on the roster. These six coveted spots allow MLS teams to compete, and clearing every spot to make room for a complete rebuild is nearly unheard of. Lee did not fill all of them, despite that eye-popping expenditure. Instead, the club signed one DP in Andre Luiz for $18m and filled one of their U22 spots by signing Owen Wolff from Austin for $4.5m in cash. Despite in-progress data and scouting departments, the club still managed to add key pieces while retaining immense flexibility heading into next season. Sign up to Soccer Desk Jonathan Wilson and Guardian journalists bring expert analysis and reporting on the biggest stories in soccer. after newsletter promotion Unfortunately, the current on-field product is paying the price for this extended rebuild. Sporting are last in MLS and flirting with one of the worst defensive records in league history. It's not looking like it's going to get better soon. Sprint season shake-ups With MLS's schedule change right around the corner, club decision-makers are already beginning to plan for the 2027 sprint season and beyond. Transitioning to a fall-to-spring schedule means the summer transfer window will only become more important, and with Larry Berg set to assume the role of commissioner, teams are preparing for change. While little is known about the proposed rule changes that could overhaul MLS roster construction, it's clear some clubs are betting that relaxed restrictions are on the way - that would mean longer-term contracts and delayed pay structures in the short term. Conservative clubs, meanwhile, are taking care to not lock themselves into deals that could become an issue down the road. This divide in strategies can be seen in the aggressiveness of teams this summer. Sporting KC, St Louis City, and the Colorado Rapids all spent far above their usual budgets, with an average increase of $18.6m in expenditure. Others decided to play it safe. Los Angeles FC netted $14m this summer after spending just $525,000. Austin FC, another perennial high spender, are in the midst of their own rebuild and likewise decided to pursue flexibility over spending. Charlotte FC were the only side to spend nothing on transfer fees, but still managed to sign Allan Saint-Maximin while bringing in $6m from the sale of Kerwin Vargas. It remains to be seen which of these strategies proves most fruitful once the new season structure and rules go into place, but the disparity between approaches is stark. A near-equal amount of teams spent similar to their usual expenditures as those who spent above and those who spent below. It's perhaps remarkable that despite this divide between MLS clubs, the league's spending continues to grow so drastically. A year of change is surely ahead, but MLS has shown that increased investment is a given. |