SKC Travels to Texas to Take on Austin FC

Published on May 15, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release

Sporting Kansas City will play the club’s third game in eight days this weekend as the team travels to the Texas capital city to take on Austin FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Q2 Stadium in the club’s final road trip before the World Cup.

Sporting Kansas City is coming off a 3-1 win over the LA Galaxy on Wednesday at Sporting Park that completed a season sweep of the six-time MLS Cup champions and snapped an eight-game winless skid across all competitions in the process. Calvin Harris played a part in each of the team’s season-high three goals, setting up Capita Capemba and Dejan Joveljic before tallying his first goal in Sporting Blue to earn a spot on the MLS Team of the Matchday.

After scoring a team-high 18 goals last season, Joveljic has continued to lead Sporting’s attack in 2026 with six goals and two assists in the club’s first 12 games. The Serbian striker is the only player in MLS with six or more regular season goals in each of the past five seasons and the Designated Player has historically enjoyed success against Austin with eight goal contributions (five goals, three assists) in eight career appearances against the Verde & Black.

Sporting will be looking for the team’s first result at Q2 Stadium — suffering losses in five previous trips — as SKC visits a venue that hosted the MLS All-Star Game, Concecaf Gold Cup and U.S. Open Cup Final in 2025. Austin FC has sold out all 92 MLS home matches at Q2 Stadium since its opening in 2021 which stands as the longest active sellout streak in Major League Soccer.

Led by head coach Nico Estévez, Austin FC features a pair of familiar faces with strong ties to Sporting KC. Assistant coach Davy Arnaud spent 10 seasons in Kansas City from 2002-2011 and was inducted as a Sporting Legend in 2022 while club captain Ilie Sanchez played his first five MLS seasons for Sporting KC from 2017-2021 and is now poised to make his 250th career regular season start on Saturday.

On the opposite side, Sporting Kansas City acquired goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland in a trade with Austin FC in December. The 31-year-old veteran has started three straight matches, making seven saves during a 1-1 draw with Seattle in his club debut and recording six saves in the victory over the Galaxy on Wednesday.

Cleveland will face an Austin FC attack headlined by the Designated Player duo of Facundo Torres – whose five primary assists are…