KC Current
KC Current Kit Leak, Ball and Hamilton Re-Sign, SKC Rumors
OMG there is finally a teal kit (probably)! The KC Current also bring back two veterans and Sporting KC are closer to that big transfer.

Digital Crawl
A times, there is just so much soccer we can’t keep up. The Digital Crawl will allow us to catch up while paying homage to Digital Takiwira, the first goal scorer in Kansas City Wizards history. Not to mention it’s a bit of a ‘digital crawl’ on the bottom of the screen on ESPN and various news channels. Check out the Digital Crawl archives if you missed any stories.
Plus, it’s a nice tie in for a similar segment at the end of every episode of the For the Glory KC podcast.
Finally, a Teal KC Current Kit!
The Kansas City Current “joined” the NWSL at the end of 2020 when the rights to the Utah Royals were moved back to KC by owners Chris Long, Angie Long and Brittany Mahomes. While they wouldn’t get the branding as the “Current” until halftime of the final game of the season, “Teal” has been in their brand identity basically the whole time. There is Teal Mobile. Teal Time. Teal Town. Teal Man. And on and on.
But there has been no teal jersey. Last year’s secondary jersey has more teal than ever, but they finally are releasing a full teal jersey according to a leak from Footy Headlines (more images in the story).
💣💣💣 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Massive Nike NWSL 2025 Kit Leak: https://t.co/Tzebu7P8Nb
— Footy Headlines (@Footy_Headlines) January 28, 2025
The jersey has a pattern of the city map peeking through the teal. At this point, it’s just a rumor, but Footy Headlines usually nails these things. It’s relatively simple, but I think the pattern definitely adds to it. Frankly, they could have sold a blank teal shirt, and it’ll sell like hotcakes.
The wait for a teal kit may finally be over.
Ball and Hamilton Re-sign
We’ve heard rumors of it since the season ended, but it came true on Tuesday. The KC Current announced the re-signings of veteran players Elizabeth Ball and Kristen Hamilton. Ball’s contract runs through 2026 with a mutual option for 2027 while Hamilton’s is guaranteed through 2025 with a mutual 2026 option. All options in the NWSL are now mutual.
General Manager, Caitlin Carducci and Head Coach and Sporting Director, Vlatko Andonovski weighed in on the moves.
“Kristen and Elizabeth are great leaders on and off the field, and we are excited to have them back in Kansas City,” said Caitlin Carducci. “The importance of their presence within our locker room and the KC community cannot be overstated. They are veterans in this league who will continue to make an impact on the game that will last in women’s professional soccer.”
“We are very excited to bring Kristen and Elizabeth back for the upcoming season,” said Vlatko Andonovski. “Both players are very familiar with our philosophy and know what it takes to succeed in the NWSL. Their versatility will allow us to provide depth at key positions in 2025.”
Hamilton played a career low 87 league minutes last season despite being one of the highest goal scorers in team history across all competitions. She was the starting striker on the 2022 KC Current team that went all the way to the NWSL Championship game before coming up short against the Portland Thorns. Hamilton can play center forward or along the wings.
Ball saw her role diminish slightly in recent years. In 2023 she missed a significant amount of time due to an injury, but she bounced back for a strong 2024 season. While she usually plays center back, she played a bit of right back last year as the need arose. If nothing, both players provide tremendous veteran depth for this team.
The return of Ball also means the KC Current still have two players from their original roster, Ball and Lo LaBonta. Hamilton joined the team in the first year of KC WoSo in a summer trade with the North Carolina Courage.
Sporting KC Inch Closer
Tom Bogert is reporting that Sporting Kansas City are “finalizing deals” to bring in rumored signings Manu Garcia and Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov from Greek club Aris.
🔵✅ Sources: Sporting KC finalizing deals to sign Spanish attacking midfielder Manu Garcia and Russian winger Shapi Suleymanov from Aris.
Total fee for both is around $5m. Garcia will be a DP.
SKC get two key additions ahead of 2025 season.
🤝 @ilkallonas https://t.co/XSp61oLedB
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) January 28, 2025
He also provided confirmation that Garcia would count as a Designated Player, which seemed required with fees that high. What will be interesting is how the $5 million fee is broken up between the players. Ideally for Kansas City, most, if not all, of the fee will land on Garcia to lessen the cap hit of Suleymanov.
I suspect this deal will be made official soon. If you’ve missed these rumors, here is more on each player:
Dwyer Says Goodbye in Oakland
Former Sporting KC striker Dom Dwyer announced on his Instagram that he’s leaving the Oakland Roots.
When I posted this to Twitter and BlueSky, lots of Sporting KC fans seemed to think that means Dwyer is coming back to Kansas City. I highly doubt that and personally wouldn’t want it. In 2024, he made 14 appearances for just 452 minutes and a single goal. As he mentions in the post, he was recovering from an injury at the time.
Chris Rindov Says Goodbye to KC
Speaking of goodbyes, former Sporting KC center back Chris Rindov officially said goodbye yesterday. That seemingly either is opening the door for him to announce that he’s signing elsewhere or perhaps moving on from soccer. It’s much more reasonable to continue a career and make a living in lower division soccer, so perhaps we’ll see him pop-up again soon.
Vermes Post-Game Chat
In interviews that weren’t posted to Sporting KC’s website, Peter Vermes and Erik Thommy talked to the media after the 2-0 preseason loss to the Chicago Fire. Thommy’s quotes were covered in that recap and on Shades of Blue and For the Glory KC, but you can watch Vermes talk about signings and more if that interests you.
Peter Vermes on incoming signings to #SportingKC: "I think you should hear about them in the next couple days."
— KC Soccer Journal (@kcsoccerjournal.bsky.social) 2025-01-26T15:59:52.254Z
Vermes on where signings will be added: "Other than the goalkeeper position, we need help on all three lines." #SportingKC pic.twitter.com/NClk5Ygj05
— KC Soccer Journal (@KCSoccerJournal) January 26, 2025
Vermes on the goalkeeper group: "I think at goalkeeper we're looking pretty good." #SportingKC pic.twitter.com/UHqGcN956N
— KC Soccer Journal (@KCSoccerJournal) January 26, 2025
Robert Castellanos Lands on his Feet
Former Sporting KC center back Robert Castellanos returns to the Tampa Bay Rowdies, a club he spent time with on loan in his past.
A second stint in St. Pete ✌️
The @TampaBayRowdies have signed defender @rc4official 🔰
➡️ https://t.co/E2TrJOds2W pic.twitter.com/krJTnSnGzc
— USL Championship (@USLChampionship) January 24, 2025
Quick Entries
- SKC II released their schedule. They’ll play all their games at Swope Soccer Village this season.
Presenting SKC II's 2025 @MLSNEXTPRO Regular Season schedule!
📅 https://t.co/zlxaOFHxNd#SportingKC pic.twitter.com/0CSdCS7Iil
— SKCII (@SportingKCII) January 27, 2025
- Naomi Girma is the most expensive transfer in women’s soccer history going to Chelsea for $1.1 million!
When Naomi Girma was a kid, her parents became too busy to take her to soccer practices.
So the tight-knit Ethiopian community in San Jose took turns taking her.
Today, Girma became the most expensive female player in the world after signing with Chelsea for $1.1 million #USWNT pic.twitter.com/XnXCZjTFjb
— Anthony (@AnthonyKyaw) January 27, 2025
- Neymar is leaving Saudi Arabia, but not for the Chicago Fire and MLS. Instead, he’s back to his old club, Santos.
🚨💣 Neymar Jr back to Santos, story confirmed and HERE WE GO! ⚪️⚫️🇧🇷
Al Hilal have terminated Ney’s contract with immediate effect as the Brazilian will now travel for medical and sign in as new Santos player.
Back to Santos, back to Vila Belmiro.
Ney volta pra casa. 🔙🏡 pic.twitter.com/gmPu9uVdNa
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 27, 2025
- If you are interested, I’m going on the Designated Players podcast this weekend to help preview the upcoming Sporting KC season. Hopefully some signings will be made by then so I can confirm things.
Even more guests for the 2025 Not So Deep Dive Series!#SportingKC – @chadcsmith.bsky.social @fortheglorykc.bsky.social #Rapids96 – @juanners.bsky.social, Box State Footy Pod #Sounders – Rave Green TV #OrlandoCity – Loud and Proud Orlando
— The Designated Players | An MLS Podcast (@thedppod.bsky.social) 2025-01-26T17:45:40.324Z
Did we miss a story you think we should cover? Put it in the comments for next time!
Smart take that they might be buying 2 players from the same club in an effort to game MLS transfer fee rules allowing them to have only one of them as a DP.
LOVE the teal unis and the map pattern is great! Wish the accents would have been red rather than black, but beggars and choosers, etc.
Also like the Hamilton/Ball signings. I was afraid they would want bigger roles and leave, but they are great backup options in multiple positions (although I’m not sure Ball is good at the edges) and they do seem like great veterans and local community presences.
That should about do it for the roster, right? Or is there one more spot? Of course, I think the SEI people from last year can be replaced – at least temporarily.
Yeah. it’s always driven me crazy how the Current have used teal in their branding and then played in St. Louis red. Why choose such a distinctive color and then show up in the color of your city’s biggest soccer rival?
It’s more of a Chiefs red than a dog food bag pink.
I really hope the Teal are first choice, Red second and some white third option only when necessary for competitive reasons – although, with red and teal there shouldn’t be too many color conflicts.
Yeah, I would think teal will be their “light” jersey and red the “dark.” It feels like that should work pretty well.
As I’m not an NFL fan, I associate red with STL through the Cardinals and CiTy, since all the other KC teams use shades of blue. EDIT: Yes, the Blues wear blue, but since we’re not hockey rivals with them I don’t care. Same goes for the Chiefs in return. But in sports where both cities have teams, KC is blue and STL is red.
Put it this way: if I showed up at a KC/STL match at CMP wearing a red Current jersey, would I stand out or fit in? Now do the same experiment with a teal jersey. Case closed.