Sporting KC
Sporting Kansas City announces roster decisions for 2025
Only 18 players on the roster
Sporting Kansas City announced roster moves in preparation for the 2025 season. Some familiar, fan-favorite names will not be returning to the team for next season. The team stated their intent to rebuild the roster and with the various contract situations, it seems they made as many moves to open up spots as possible. What these first moves would be was the topic of much discussion among fans and staff. Â
Sporting KC exercised the 2025 contract options for the following seven players: Stephen Afrifa, William Agada, Zorhan Bassong, Logan Ndenbe, Memo Rodriguez, Ryan Schewe, and Robert Voloder.
They declined the 2025 contract options for Robert Castellanos, Ozzie Cisneros, Danny Flores, and Chris Rindov.
The biggest questions for most people were the four veteran players that are out of contract. Sporting KC announced that these players will not return to the club: Andreu Fontas, Tim Melia, Johnny Russell, and Remi Walter. Does this mean it is impossible these veterans could return? Probably not, but historically the team will say contracts have been offered if that opportunity existed.
Russell has been the spark plug and captain for the last few years and Kansas City fans always felt good going into penalties with Melia in goal. The team has a lot of questions going forward.
These 11 players entered 2025 with guaranteed contracts at Sporting: Jake Davis, Joaquin Fernandez, Tim Leibold, Alan Pulido, John Pulskamp, Nemanja Radoja, Dany Rosero, Daniel Salloi, Khiry Shelton, Erik Thommy, and Alenis Vargas.
Sporting Kansas City II announced its offseason roster moves last week. SKC II head coach and Sporting Legend Benny Feilhaber will not return in 2025. Sporting KC has begun the search for the next SKC IIÂ head coach.
Sporting KC Roster
Sporting Kansas City now has 18 players under contract for the 2025 season:
Goalkeepers (2): John Pulskamp, Ryan Schewe
Defenders (6): Joaquin Fernandez, Tim Leibold, Logan Ndenbe, Dany Rosero, Khiry Shelton, Robert Voloder
Midfielders (5): Zorhan Bassong, Jake Davis, Nemanja Radoja, Memo Rodriguez, Erik Thommy
Forwards (5): Stephen Afrifa, William Agada, Alan Pulido, Daniel Salloi, Alenis Vargas
This is not the roster the team will want when they compete in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup in early February. While not a clean slate, Sporting Director Mike Burns and Manager Peter Vermes now have some roster and cap room to add players before the season. Four senior roster player spots have been opened up but one will likely be taken by Jake Davis when his new contract starts.
Our team discussed all these changes at length on the most recent episode of Shades of Blue. That episode is embedded below, or you can find the KC Soccer Journal wherever you get your podcasts.
Let us know your thoughts. Was this a good sign that the rebuild is happening? Shocked or saddened by the player news? Discuss in the comments.
Calendar of Major League Soccer’s remaining offseason roster-building events
MLS Offseason Events and Roster Mechanisms
Monday, Dec. 9: MLS Half-Day Trade Window (8 a.m. – 12 p.m. CT)
Tuesday, Dec. 10: Concacaf Champions Cup Draw (6 p.m. CT)
Wednesday, Dec. 11: MLS Expansion Draft for San Diego FC (time TBD)
Dec. 11-14: College Showcase in San Diego
Thursday, Dec. 12: Free Agency begins (12 p.m. CT)
Thursday, Dec. 12: End-of-Year Waivers (4 p.m. CT)
Friday, Dec. 13: MLS Re-Entry Draft Stage 1 (12 p.m. CT)
Thursday, Dec. 19: MLS Re-Entry Draft Stage 2 (12 p.m. CT)
Friday, Dec. 20: MLS SuperDraft 2025 presented by adidas (time TBD)
Tim Melia | Credit: Thad
Bell – KCSJ
Current Sign All-American Suliafu
Who should Sporting KC select in the 2026 MLS Draft? Part One
Juice Boxes and Post Game Stats: Another Split Weekend for KC
Salloi Provides Peek Behind the Scenes in Sporting KC Offseason Vlog
For the Glory KC: Mailbag and News Roundup
Official: Sporting KC Trade for Goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland from Austin FC
The Insane Ticket Costs of the World Cup in Kansas City
What are Sporting KC’s Biggest Areas of Opportunity from Last Season?
No More Children’s Mercy Park, New Kit Release Date and Sporting KC Preseason
Yet again some Sporting legends get quietly shown the door with no real chance for fans to properly show their appreciation. It really hurts that this is how it ends for Melia and JFR. They can join Zusi and Roger in the kicked-to-the-curb club.
They’ll all be back when their names get put on the wall. Me personally I’d have kept them, and lost with them, just because I like watching them play, but most folks here seem to want to spend money and win games and be the best league in the world(tm). That doesn’t happen with Melia and JFR.
To be clear, I wasn’t taking a position on whether or not JFR and Melia should have returned. I was observing that the manner and context of their departure was sub-optimal in so many ways.
I feel like this is one of those lose-lose topics. They kept Zusi and Espinoza around until they were no longer effective and they got torched for it. They dropped Besler and Ilie when they thought they weren’t worth the investment anymore and they got torched for it, even though they were proven right with the former. The only way they win with everyone is if they keep a guy around until he retires and if he’s productive up until the moment he retires, but that almost never happens.
Moving on from Melia and Russell was the right move. Neither of them are MLS starter quality anymore. Both of them take up cap space. Both of them can probably still contribute SOMEWHERE in soccer, just not at the level of MLS that SKC wants to be at. Bringing them back for another year on a similar deal they were on diminishes the team’s ability to be good, so they didn’t do that. Sucks that they’re legends who are leaving, but they SHOULD be leaving.
I agree with you up to a point, but a more graceful way to say goodbye to a veteran is not to run the team into the ground around them. Having my final memories of these guys as part of a dumpster fire doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies.
What is it you expected to happen that would have satisfied you. The way tim and Johnny acted at the last game against lafc, looked very clear that knew they weren’t coming back. I enjoyed watching them, being pretty sure it was the last time, and enjoyed watching them walk around the pitch soaking in the environment
I don’t mind this. With JFR and to a lesser extent, Melia, I have to think they probably had honest and direct conversations about how much money they were willing to pay them and said “if you’re into it, sign here. If you’re not, you can go shopping but the door is still open.”
As fans we wont know if that was the case unless they resign at a later date or something, but i gotta think that’s how it went down.
Walter is the biggest loss from this bunch for me. His engine has been great, and I certainly prefer him over Memo. He may have wanted too much money tho, and I can believe he thinks he has other options available.
100% Remy over Memo.
However, to my eye, the real question is Remy over Jake Davis. In an ideal world, they take up the same position. Remy is simply not good enough as a true DM and I prefer Jake’s engine and straight up grit at the 8. Remy costs too much to ride the pine and his play was not great after he came back from his injury this year. An offseason would probably do him a world of good, but i’d still pick Jake Davis as my 8.
I’m encouraged. SKC made some tough choices here and opened up roster spots and money to really help make this team better.
KCOutsider…maybe SKC will surprise us and throw a party for JFR and Melia after they are certain neither will be returning. Dare to dream…I think PV is secretly reading this board so I’m just planting the idea 🙂
Did they do that for Zusi and/or Espinoza?
They certainly threw a nice party for Roger. I agree with Eddie that these departures are no win. Athletes are notoriously bad at knowing when to get out before it’s too late (i.e. Willie Mays, or more currently Aaron Rogers), which makes it extra difficult to plan those feel-good farewell tours.
Several tough choices here. Some may not look good down the road out but I can’t fault SKC for not being somewhat bold. And we don’t know who really drove the departures. Maybe Remi wants his family to see more of his toddler.
Breaking up is hard to do.
Roger got celebrated because he officially retired and is clearly on good terms with the club. Zusi hasn’t announced anything, and despite attending the match for Roger’s retirement he has obviously chosen to distance himself from the club (for now).
Hardly surprising, definitely necessary. Curious to see what moves are coming; cautiously optimistic for finding joy in Sporting again.
ETA: Also curious to see where Benny will land next, and what this means for Ike.
And yet Khiry Shelton remains. Hmmm…
You, sir, are a thief of joy.
You all in on firing employees with union contracts?
He’s on a guaranteed contract. It’s as simple as that.