Swope Soccer Village is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

complex located within Swope Park in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, first dedicated in 2007 with further renovations completed in 2014. The facility is a public-private partnership between the City of Kansas City's parks department and

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, with field reservations managed by Sporting Fields + Athletics. Children's Mercy Training Center is home to Sporting Kansas City II and Sporting Kansas City's six youth academy teams.

Overview

The complex features nine fields in total: a natural-grass stadium field, two natural-grass practice fields for Sporting Kansas City and six artificial turf fields for local youth soccer clubs. The facility also served as the venue for the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

women's soccer tournament from 2013 to 2019, and has hosted the NCAA Division II Men's and Women's soccer championships, as well as the men's and women's Division III championships. In addition, the Missouri high school girls state finals were played at Swope Soccer Village from 2016–2020.

Background and planning

The current Swope Soccer Village is the result of an expansion that completed in 2014 and cost $13.4 million in city funds. The soccer complex is located on land that was the practice field for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

before Arrowhead Stadium opened in 1972. Sporting Kansas City, then known as the Kansas City Wizards, broke ground and dedicated their training facility in Swope Park in 2007, with a second phase of construction completed in 2008. The completed Swope Soccer Village opened in September 2015, with Sporting handing the responsibility of managing the facilities to Heartland Soccer Association prior to Sporting Fields + Athletics handling management duties. The main stadium had opened earlier, in November 2013, to host the Big 12 women's soccer tournament. In 2022, Swope Soccer Village expanded to include an additional 1,000 parking spaces.

Tenants

In January 2015, FC Kansas City of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

had reached an agreement with Sporting to play its home games at the main stadium in Swope and use the training fields. The stadium's capacity was increased to 3,557 using bleachers the team had purchased for use at Durwood Soccer Stadium, its previous home. FC Kansas City folded after the 2017 season.

References

External links

Swope Soccer Village
at Sporting Kansas City
Swope Soccer Village
at Kansas City Parks Sports venues in Kansas City, Missouri Sporting Kansas City FC Kansas City Soccer venues in Missouri Swope Former National Women's Soccer League stadiums MLS Next Pro stadiums Sports venues completed in 2014 2014 establishments in Missouri Sports complexes in the United States Sports venues in Missouri Soccer in Kansas City, Missouri {{Missouri-sports-venue-stub