Sporting KC face Inter Miami Home and Away in Champions Cup

Sporting Kansas City will start their non-league season extremely early this year. They’ve been invited to the CONCACAF Champions Cup based on their performance in the 2024 US Open Cup.

They will face a familiar foe. Inter Miami are coming to town first, before Kansas City returns to Florida for the return leg. The first four rounds of Champions Cup are two-legged affairs with the higher seeded team hosting the second game. The finals are a single elimination game.

The winner of Sporting KC and Miami will play Cavalier FC, champions of the Jamaican Premier League. Whatever team advances out of this trio will face either LAFC, the Colorado Rapids or the Columbus Crew.

Update 12/13/2024: The dates are out. Miami comes to Children’s Mercy Park on February 18th at 7:00 PM CST. Then KC does the return leg a week later on February 25th, also at 7:00 PM CST. The February 18th game is the earliest competitive match on the calendar in Sporting KC history.

Sporting KC vs. Miami History

After not playing against one another for multiple seasons after Miami joined the league in 2020, the teams have since played twice over the last two seasons. Miami has gotten the better of Kansas City in both meetings. First down in Miami in 2023, a game with an infamous gaff by Andreu Fontas that led to the game winning goal for Miami. That was a Messi-less Inter Miami squad that was struggling, but still managed to defeat KC.

In 2024, headlines were made when Messi and friends came to Kansas City for the first time and played at the Kansas City Chief’s Arrowhead Stadium. With 72,610 fans in attendance, it was the third largest crowd in MLS history and the largest crowd Messi has played in front of since coming to Major League Soccer. Miami came out on top in that match as well, with another unfortunate error leading to the game winning goal. No word on if this game will be played in the confines of Children’s Mercy Park or back at Arrowhead, but construction could complicate things, though the AFC Championship is on January 26th, so the Chiefs won’t be occupying the stadium.

Update: Sporting KC confirmed the game is at Children’s Mercy Park.

A new factor for Miami? Playing in the Kansas City cold in February. You aren’t in Florida anymore Leo!

How did Sporting KC get to CCC?

The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly the Champions League, is typically reserved for the best teams in North America, Central America and the Caribbean region. That might leave you wondering how Sporting KC are in this competition after they missed the playoffs in 2024.

They earned the spot usually reserved for the winner of the US Open Cup, since the actual winners, LAFC, had already qualified by being the runners up in Leagues Cup. During the broadcast, Sporting KC were announced as having qualified as the Open Cup winners. Sadly, they didn’t lift a trophy in 2024.

Preseason is just around the corner and the first game of 2025, which will be played in Kansas City, is almost within our sight.

The matchups are set in @TheChampions. 🔒 pic.twitter.com/L4s6Ud0KCP

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 11, 2024