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The Sporting Kansas City is a professional American soccer club situated in Kansas City, Kansas. The team competes in the Major League Soccer (MLS) and is one of the 10 founding clubs of the league.
Established in the year 1996, the MLS franchise was awarded to the city of Kansas under the ownership of Lamar Hunt. Lamar Hunt was also the founder of the few soccer organizations such as the United Soccer Association, the American Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs and Major League Soccer (MLS).
The club was first named as the Kansas City Wiz and began to play their first MLS game against the Colorado Rapids on April 13,1996, held at the Arrowhead Stadium. Some of the club’s most notable players, including Mo Johnson, Preki and Digital Takawira, had contributed a lot to the success of the club during its early years.
Under head coach Ron Newman, the Kansas City Wiz finished the 1996 season being the 5th place, with a record of 17-16, this last minute record had led the club to its very first Major League Soccer (MLS) playoffs. During the 1996 Western Conference Finals, the Kansas City Wiz won against the Dallas Burn in three games, but failed to achieve the victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy in the final conference.
In the year 2000, the club started the season with a 12-game winning streak, under the leadership of Bob Gansler. Also, the club’s most notable goalkeeper Tony Meola had put an outstanding record of 16 shutouts in 681 minutes. The 2000 season was seen to be one of the most successful Major League Soccer (MLS) seasons in the club. In fact, the club won against their major rival Colorado Rapids in the 2000 MLS regular game with a winning record of 7-1 in three games.
The club has had several success in the early 2000s, particularly during the 2003 and 2004 season. They even topped half of the Western Conference in the 2003 season with an outstanding record of 11-10-9. The first round of the season was against the Colorado Rapids with a 3-1 series and the final round was against the San Jose Earthquakes, which led the Wiz to advance in the 2003 Major League Soccer (MLS) Final Cup.
After compiling several victories from the previous seasons, the club moved to the Eastern Conference in the year 2005. In 2006, the club owner Lamar Hunt sold the Wiz to the OnGoal, LLC owned by Cerner Corporation, with its co-founders Cliff Illig and Neal Patterson.
On December 2006, Lamar Hunt died and his former club dedicated the 2007 season to honor the death of their former club owner. The club drafted the goalkeeper Kevin Hartmen from the LA Galaxy to play for the 2007 season and the club finished 5th in the last rounds, which led them to the playoffs against the Chivas USA.
In the year 2011, the Kansas City Wiz was renamed as the Sporting Kansas City, which originated in Iberia where the name is used by the multi sports from multi departments fielding teams set across the different field of professional sports.
