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It’s a pivotal year for Sporting Kansas City and not just because they have a new coach, a new general manager and a roster in flux — but also because the FIFA World Cup 26 is going to bring a lot of eyes to Kansas City.
“That’s something that we all know we have to take advantage of,” Sporting KC’s new President of Soccer Operations and General Manager David Lee said Tuesday at the club’s annual Media Day at Sporting Park.
The 1994 World Cup, which was the global soccer tournament’s debut in the U.S., is the reason Sporting KC exists.
“The league (MLS) was founded because of that, right?” said Sporting KC President and CEO Jake Reid. “That was a stipulation from FIFA, you had to have a first-division league, and MLS came in ’96. So, I don't think we'd be here today if that hadn't been part of the deal for ’94.
Originally called The Wiz, Sporting KC was one of the 10 original MLS clubs, but the league has tripled in size in the last 30 years.
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If the first World Cup gave birth to the club, Sporting KC wants to make sure FIFA World Cup 26 — the largest in FIFA’s history, with an expanded field of 48 teams and more than 100 games — is the reason the club enjoys a renaissance.
GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium will host six games — beginning with Argentina opening defense of its 2022 crown and ending with two knockout stage games, including a quarterfinal.
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Four teams — Argentina, England, the Netherlands and Algeria — also have announced base camps in Kansas City, which has dubbed itself the Soccer Capital of America. But the city has even bigger ambitions.
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“How do we take advantage of that in town? With all these guys here, all their agents here, all these people from our sport,” Reid said. “We want to make sure we're exposing them to who we are, so when they leave, they're saying the same thing, ‘Wow, you won't believe what they have in Kansas City.’”
Toronto native Zorhan Bassong, who starts at left back for Sporting KC and the Canadian Men’s National Team, already knows. The 26-year-old has established himself as a defensive stalwart for club and country during the last two years.
Bassong is expected to make Canada’s roster for the World Cup.
“It's the biggest dream a football player, a soccer player, can actually dream about,” Bassong said. “Knowing that you're this close to making it, it's so huge. I don't even know how to describe the feelings that are going through me at the moment.”
Bassong is recovering from a strained hamstring and trying to focus on Sporting KC’s season, which got rolling with a loss last weekend in San Jose and continues with the home opener on Saturday against the Columbus Crew at Sporting Park.
“Sometimes I just go on walks and try to recenter myself and think about everything I had to go through to be able to achieve this,” Bassong said.
Most Sporting KC fans will be cheering for the U.S. Men’s National Team, of course, but Sporting KC is eager to support Bassong’s journey, too.
“Anytime you can have guys in your roster that are part of the national team competing in the World Cup is fantastic, right?” Reid said. “So, I think Zo’s going to do a great job for them and, for us, it's, how do we put him out front and how do we make sure that our fans are watching him compete?”
The World Cup is less than four months away. While it’s seemed like a far-fetched dream for a long time, Sporting KC knows it’s a chance to build something tangible.
“It is on us to take advantage of that, and I'm really excited to see the sort of tailwinds we will get out of having so many of the international soccer community in Kansas City,” Lee said.
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