Real Salt Lake Inks Midfielder Mailel Chang to Contract Extension

January 12, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Real Salt Lake News Release

HERRIMAN, Utah – Real Salt Lake has signed midfielder and former Real Monarchs champion Maikel Chang to a contract extension, keeping him with the Club through at least the 2023 season.

“I’m very happy to continue with this Club, I think we have formed a great family,” said Chang, who has called Utah home since 2018. “I expect that we improve this year on previous performances, in no small part to our amazing fans who have taken our stadium atmosphere to a whole new level.”

Chang, 31, kicks off his fourth season as a member of the Claret-and-Cobalt on the heels of his most successful campaign yet, as 2022 saw the versatile midfielder appeared in all but one match for RSL, recording career-highs with two goals and six assists. In his three years with Real Salt Lake, Chang has scored five goals and recorded 14 assists across 80 matches. Chang’s first-ever RSL goal came in August of 2022 at Colorado, during which he also contributed his first two assists, contributing to a emphatic 4-1 victory over the Rocky Mountain Rivals. Additionally, Chang has started in three of the Club’s four Audi MLS Cup Playoff matches over the past two years.

Prior to signing with Real Salt Lake, Chang spent two seasons with the Club’s second team, Real Monarchs. As a member of the Monarchs, Chang led the team in assists during 2018 (nine) and 2019 (eight), while netting a combined 19 goals. In 2018, the Cuban émigré became the first player in the modern era to record 30 assists in the USL Championship. Chang recorded two goals and two assists during the 2019 USL Championship playoff run, leading the team to its first-ever USL Championship trophy with a victory over Louisville City.

Real Salt Lake closed out its 18th season in Club history last October, falling in the First Round of the 2022 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs via penalty-kick shootout tiebreaker at Austin FC, following a 2-2 regulation / extra-time deadlock that saw RSL play the final 67 minutes plus stoppage time down a man following forward Rubio Rubin’s second yellow card. To qualify for the postseason, RSL earned four points in its final two contests to vault itself past Portland Timbers FC and capture the seventh and final Western Conference postseason seed, advancing to the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons and for the 12th occasion in the last 15 years.

Utah’s Major League Soccer side returns this month, as RSL’s preseason…