KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sporting Kansas City has tapped Raphael Wicky as the club’s newest head coach.
“I am really excited to get started and get to know the team, the staff and the players,” Wicky said in a news release.
The future starts now. Welcome to Kansas City, Rapha Wicky! pic.twitter.com/R4bd2wrLCn
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) January 5, 2026
Pending his P1 visa, Wicky, a Swiss native, will spend two and a half years with the club through the 2027-28 season, with a club option for the 2028-29 season.
While that may seem an odd amount of time to some, the MLS season is shifting.
After the 2026 season, there will be a mini winter/spring season in 2027 before the league syncs its calendar with most of the world’s other leagues, think Premier League, La Liga, etc.
Wicky, 48, said he feels he is aligned with Sporting “in terms of culture and style of play.”
“Sporting KC has always been a team that competed to win trophies, and I feel that the club has all the ingredients to get back to where it belongs — great ownership, amazing facilities, a talented academy and a beautiful stadium with fantastic fans,” Wicky said.
David Lee, Sporting’s president of soccer operations and general manager, said the team is “thrilled” to welcome Wicky’s domestic and international experience, which includes “success at the highest levels of the game,” making him a clear standout.
“He is a leader and a proven winner who will bring a humble, collaborative and hard-working approach to his role and strive to build strong relationships with our players and staff,” Lee said of Wicky. “Rapha’s teams are attack-minded, high-energy and possession-oriented — all qualities that represent the style of play we want to implement here in Kansas City.”
Wicky’s most-recent winning experience comes from the Swiss league.
From 2022-24, Wicky coached the BSC Young Boys. During his tenure, he led the team to the 2022-23 Super League and Cup double.
He also has experience coaching in the United States, where he led the U.S. Under-17 National Team to a second-place finish at the 2019 Concacaf U-17 Championship. Wicky was also in charge of the team’s 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup run, where the club says he coached Sporting KC Academy’s Gianluca Busio.
Wicky’s prior MLS experience includes spending 2020-21 as the head coach of the Chicago Fire.
Just as his coaching prowess extends over a decade, so does his time as a player.
Wicky’s 16-year career as a defensive midfielder included time with the Switzerland National Team, starting in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, playing in the 1996 and 2004 UEFA European Championships, winning the Swiss Super League and three Swiss Cups, multiple cups in Germany and more.
Wicky is Sporting’s fifth permanent head coach. The club and Peter Vermes mutually parted ways last spring, and Kerry Zavagnin served as the interim coach.
The club will introduce Wicky in a media conference Tuesday afternoon.
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