MLS Announces Opening Matches on Sporting KC's 2022 Schedule
November 22, 2021 - Major League Soccer (MLS) - Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City will kick off the 2022 Major League Soccer regular season on Sunday, Feb. 27 at Atlanta United FC before hosting the club's home opener on Saturday, March 5 against Houston Dynamo FC at Children's Mercy Park.
Major League Soccer announced on Monday the home openers for all 28 clubs in a highly anticipated 2022 season slated to begin on Feb. 26. The regular season will come to a close with Decision Day on Oct. 9, setting the stage for postseason play with MLS Cup to be held on Nov. 5.
2022 Sporting KC Regular Season Schedule (Weeks 1 and 2)
Sunday, February 27: Sporting KC at Atlanta United FC (2:00 p.m. CT)
Saturday, March 5: Sporting KC vs. Houston Dynamo FC (2:30 p.m. CT)
Season tickets for Sporting Kansas City's 2022 campaign are available and include exclusive Season Ticket Member benefits. Fans interested in securing season tickets can visit SportingKC.com or call 888-4KC-GOAL to learn more and place a deposit in one of 10 different seating sections inside Children's Mercy Park.
Sporting's 2022 MLS campaign will commence on Feb. 27, with the earliest regular season game in club history set to take place indoors at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Sporting have split the three previous meetings with Atlanta United FC - notably winning 2-0 in the team's only away match in the series during a 2018 season in which Atlanta United went on to win MLS Cup - and the two perennial postseason participants will go head-to-head for the first time since 2019, when Atlanta won the U.S. Open Cup and Campeones Cup.
Historically, Sporting's 15 season-opening wins and 10 victories in road openers are most in MLS history. The cross-conference clash will also feature two of the top attacking players in Major League Soccer with Atlanta United FC's Josef Martinez (70 goals, 11 assists) and Sporting KC captain Johnny Russell (40 goals, 31 assists) among the top three players with the most goal contributions in the past four MLS seasons.
After the regular season opener in Atlanta, Sporting Kansas City will return home to host longtime rivals Houston Dynamo FC at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 5 at Children's Mercy Park. Sporting have faced Houston 39 times in all competitions since 2011, more than any other opponent over the last decade. During that time, the clubs have met in four editions of the MLS Cup Playoffs and five times in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with Sporting owning a 7-3-2 record in the last 12 regular season meetings.
Sporting KC are 15-3-8 all-time in regular season home openers, including just one loss in the 11 held at Children's Mercy Park since the state-of-the-art stadium opened in 2011. Houston Dynamo FC, two-time MLS Cup winners and the 2018 U.S. Open Cup champions, recently appointed club legend Pat Onstad as the team's new general manager and parted ways with head coach Tab Ramos earlier this month after missing the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
The full 2022 Major League Soccer regular season schedule, including broadcast details, will be announced later this year. All teams will play a 34-game regular season and will face each of their conference opponents two times while also playing eight non-conference opponents once. Both conferences will feature 14 teams with expansion side Charlotte FC joining the Eastern Conference and Nashville SC moving to the Western Conference in 2022.
The 2022 calendar year will be highlighted by several exciting events and moments for the sport both domestically and internationally, headlined by the FIFA World Cup from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18. FIFA is also expected to announce host cities for the 2026 World Cup next year with Kansas City vying to bring World Cup matches to the Midwest.
In addition to the MLS regular season, Sporting Kansas City will also participate in the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and will compete in international competition through either the Concacaf Champions League or Leagues Cup pending the outcome of the Audi 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Major League Soccer will host the 2022 MLS All-Star Game at Allianz Field in Minnesota on Aug. 10 and will once again host Campeones Cup between the 2021 MLS Cup champion and Liga MX's Campeon de Campeones winner. MLS will also launch a new professional league to further invest in player development following the creation of MLS NEXT in 2020.
Locally, the Kansas City Current will call Children's Mercy Park home for the team's 2022 National Women's Soccer League season while also opening a $15 million training facility in Riverside, Mo. In addition, Sporting Kansas City is currently constructing the $36 million Central Bank Sporting Complex which will open in 2022 with 10 lighted fields designed for multi-sport use in Kansas City's northland.
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