KC Current
KC Current Playing for $5 Million in World Sevens this Week
The Kansas City Current, and seven other teams from North and South America, are playing a tournament this week!
The 2025 NWSL season for the Kansas City Current was nothing short of remarkable. The team set NWSL records in nearly every category including points, wins, road wins, home wins, shutout streak and more. The playoffs weren’t as kind, but the wait for more KC Current action will be shorter than expected.
When Gotham FC won the NWSL Championship a bit over a week ago, that set the stage for the KC Current as the NWSL Shield winners to play them in the Challenge Cup on February 20th. That’s just over two and a half months away.
But the Current aren’t even making anyone wait that long. Instead, they will be back in action in the World Sevens Football tournament, starting this Friday. The KC Current will definitely play at least Flamengo (Brazil), Tigres (Mexico) and AFC Toronto (Canada).
- Friday, Dec. 5th at 4:00PM vs. Flamengo (TNT)
- Saturday, Dec. 6th at 11:30AM vs. Tigres (TNT)
- Saturday, Dec. 6th at 3:30PM vs. AFC Toronto (truTV)
If they advance out of the group stage, they will play two more matches on Sunday. First, they would be in one of the semifinals and depending on results move on to the Championship or the third-place game.
KC Current Roster
As of this writing, the roster has not yet been announced.
The KC Current confirmed to the KC Soccer Journal that an announcement will be made later this week. It’s unclear if the team will be made up of any players from the standard KC Current roster, or if it will be a team built for the competition like in The Soccer Tournament (TST 7v7) from over the summer. That competition happened during league play, and this is the offseason. Presumably it won’t just be KC Current II players, particularly with the bulky prize package.
The format of the game is also conducive to artistry and technical play. There are quite a few players on the KC Current who have those skills in spades. Also, player contracts run through the end of the year, so presumably players are available.
As for who will coach the players, that hasn’t been announced but assistant coach Freya Coombe is handling the match-day minus one presser on Thursday. It’s not uncommon for assistants to handle that, even during the regular season. Vlatko Andonovski is moving on to the role of Global Sporting Director, but he is technically still the coach until another hire is made. We should know more in the coming days.
Update 12/4/25: We’ve got a roster! Kristen Hamilton?!??!
What is the Prize?
$5 million (!!) will be split across the eight teams in the competition. That’s an astoundingly large prize package. It has been confirmed that money would be split between the teams and the players.
For comparison, the winning players on the NWSL Championship team received $5,000 per player with the runner-up getting $3,750. And those are prizes after three rounds of playoffs and 26 regular season games. The W7F competition will be three group stage games followed by up to two playoff games on Sunday. A max of five games will mean a massive prize for the players and teams.
What is World Sevens Football (W7F)?
This isn’t quite the same as traditional soccer/football. It’s a 7v7 game with six field players and a goalkeeper. The game is played on half size fields and is at a more frenetic pace. W7F advertises it as a game designed for the digital age. Halves are just 15-minutes long and there is entertainment both on and off the field. Halftime is just five minutes long and the game can go to extra time if tied at the end of the 30-minutes.
There are also rolling substitutes, so the players should stay fresh. That’s important considering they’ll play three to five games in just three days.
W7F History
This is the second edition of the tournament. Back in May, another $5 million was handed out in prizes, including the largest share going to the winners, Bayern Munich. They overcame Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Manchester United, Ajax, FC Rosengard, AS Roma and Benfica on their way to lifting the trophy. The inaugural tournament was held in Portugal with this second edition taking place in Fort Lauderdale, which is also home to MLS Cup this Saturday.
Who Else are Playing this Time?
The KC Current are joined by Club América (Mexico), Deportivo Cali (Colombia), Flamengo (Brazil), Nacional De Football (Uruguay), San Diego Wave FC (USA), Tigres Femenil (Mexico), and AFC Toronto (Canada).
The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals with the winners playing in the championship and the two losing teams moving to the third-place game.
How to Watch
World Sevens Football has a global streaming partner, DAZN, which will show all the games. In the United States, the games are also spread across TNT and truTV.
2026 FIFA World Cup draw: Who is in the USA’s group? Who is coming to Kansas City?
Preview: Women’s College Cup in Kansas City
More on Rumored Sporting KC Coaching Candidate Raphael Wicky
Across State Lines: Mace Signs with Orlando
KC Current Playing for $5 Million in World Sevens this Week
Sporting KC Part Ways with Interim Coach Kerry Zavagnin
KC Current Playing for $5 Million in World Sevens this Week
CPKC, Arrowhead named in joint bid for 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup
For the Glory KC Awards
Color me very curious about this. I would love to see a “first choice” group of Current players go out and dominate (provided no one picks up an injury). If this was a full squad tournament, you’d have to like KC’s chances against these teams considering the Current are undefeated against teams from Latin America in friendlies and competitions like the Summer Cup and the Teal Rising Cup. However, “sevens” is a different sport and may or may not play into KC’s strengths. A lot of South American soccer players develop remarkable footwork and technical skills and so could prove to be stiff competition.