SuperDraft
Sporting Kansas City's lone pick in the 2013 Major League Soccer SuperDraft is University of North Carolina midfielder Mikey Lopez. The former Tar Heel had a very successful college career with many individual accolades and was an integral part of the 2011 NCAA Division I National Championship team.
Lopez is a central midfielder and has consistently been called up to the US U-20 squad. He was recently called up to the U-20s for a training camp in Puebla, Mexico with Sporting KC goalkeeper Jon Kempin. The camp is in preparation for the CONCACAF U-20 tournament in February.
Mikey was the second youngest player selected in the 2013 SuperDraft and has been described by scouts as "Fiesty, terrier kind of guy but can be an attacking midfielder in MLS", "Extremely hard working, great lungs, can run all day. He's a pitbull", and "Major quality is his ability to close down and he's very much a defensive-minded player".
Quick Facts
- Position: Midfielder
- Born: 2/20/93
- Height: 5-9
- Weight: 158
- College: University of North Carolina
- Hometown: Mission, Texas
- Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
- Citizenship: USA
- Twitter: @mlopez5tarheel
Trophies & Individual Awards
2011 NCAA College Cup (Division I National Championship)
2011 ACC Freshman of the Year
2012: Top Drawer Soccer First Team National Team of the Year
2012: NSCAA All-American
2012: All-ACC First Team
Video Highlights
College Stats
| Games | Goals | Assists | |
| 2011 | 21 | 2 | 1 |
| 2012 | 25 | 3 | 4 |
| Total | 46 | 5 | 5 |
The Major League Soccer SuperDraft will take place in Indianapolis on January 17, 2013. While teams are starting to develop homegrown players through their academies, the SuperDraft is still a important tool for clubs.
In the last five seasons, Sporting KC has drafted integral players to the team such as Matt Besler and Graham Zusi. Sporting KC led MLS in 2012 with the most number of minutes played by players selected in the SuperDraft.
| Team | Percentage (of minutes played) |
| Sporting Kansas City | 0.6401 |
| Chicago Fire | 0.5850 |
| Colorado Rapids | 0.5467 |
| Houston Dynamo | 0.5104 |
| LA Galaxy | 0.4947 |
| Montreal Impact | 0.4761 |
In this year's draft, Sporting KC has the 14th pick in the first round and will not select in the second round (both picks were traded while acquiring Josh Gardner and Ike Opara).
Notable Sporting KC draft picks in recent years
2008
Chance Myers - Selected in 1st round (1st overall)
2009
Matt Besler - Selected in 1st round (8th overall)
Graham Zusi - Selected in 2nd round (23rd overall)
2010
Teal Bunbury - Selected in 1st round (4th overall)
2011
C.J. Sapong - Selected in 1st round (10th overall)
2012
Dom Dwyer - Selected in 1st round (16th overall)