"By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals" is a season-long series that gives a statistical preview of every Sporting match. To visit the series archive, click here.
Sporting Kansas City continues its three-game homestand Wednesday with an inaugural meeting against Charlotte FC at Children's Mercy Park. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV and tickets available at SeatGeek as Charlotte visits the Soccer Capital of America for the first time.
More than a week removed from a frustrating home loss to FC Dallas, Sporting will look to bounce back into the win column against a Charlotte side that boasts no shortage of talent but will be without U.S. internationals Tim Ream and Patrick Agyemang who are on Gold Cup duty. With Wednesday's cross-conference clash just around the corner, we take a statistical look at the fixture in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Wednesday will mark the inaugural meeting between the clubs since Charlotte entered MLS in 2022.
- Charlotte is the only existing or former MLS team Sporting has yet to face in the regular season or in any other competitive match.
- Charlotte will be Sporting’s 32nd opponent in the MLS regular season, including the three former clubs that folded (Chivas USA, Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny).
- Sporting is one of two active MLS opponents Charlotte has yet to face in the regular season alongside FC Dallas. Charlotte and Dallas are not scheduled to meet in 2025.
- No current Sporting player has scored or assisted against Charlotte in the MLS regular season.
- Defender Bill Tuiloma is the only Charlotte player who has scored a goal against Sporting in the MLS regular season, having scored for Portland in a 7-2 home win over Kansas City on May 14, 2022.
- Midfielder Eryk Williamson is the only Charlotte player who has recorded an assist against Sporting in the MLS regular season. As a member of Portland, Williamson tallied two assists in six regular season appearances against Kansas City from 2019-2024.
- Sporting and Charlotte met in a 2025 preseason friendly on Jan. 29 in Miami. Charlotte prevailed 3-2 behind a Patrick Agyemang second-half brace and a late Brandon Cambridge penalty kick. Sporting scored early through Mason Toye and added a second-half penalty kick from Jacob Bartlett.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2025 MLS record: 4-10-4, 16 points (13th in West | 28 GF, 35 GA)
- 2025 MLS home record: 2-4-2 (14 GF, 18 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 1-2-2, 5 points (T-T-W-L-L)
- Each of Sporting’s next three matches through July 4 will come against teams with non-winning records (FC Dallas, Charlotte FC, Real Salt Lake and Colorado Rapids). Kansas City is then set to play six straight games against teams with winning records from July 12 to Aug. 24 (Seattle twice, NYCFC, Vancouver, San Diego and Orlando).
- Sporting has scored 22 goals in 12 matches since April 1, the third most in the Western Conference during that time.
- Sporting has scored multiple goals seven times in its last 12 matches after doing so just once in its previous 13 matches across all competitions dating back to 2024.
- Sporting has scored nearly half of its goals (13 of 28) after the 60th minute this season.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic is tied for fourth in MLS with 10 goals this season. His 10 goals are also tied for fourth most by a Kansas City newcomer in club history.
- Joveljic is the first Sporting player since Johnny Russell in 2018 to score 10 goals in his first MLS season with the club.
- Joveljic has a goal contribution in five consecutive MLS appearances since May 14, the longest active streak in the league. He has five goals and one assist during that five-game stretch.
- Joveljic has scored in three straight road appearances since May 14, bagging four total goals in that three-game stretch.
- Joveljic is one of only four MLS players with 10 goal contributions in each of the last four regular seasons (2022-2025) alongside Cristian Espinoza, Carles Gil and Hany Mukhtar.
- Midfielder Manu Garcia has assists in two consecutive appearances and a team-leading six assists this season. Garcia also leads Sporting with 28 key passes, more than double the amount of any other Kansas City player.
- Garcia ranks third in MLS in fouls suffered (40), progressive passes (147) and successful passes into the final third (131) while ranking sixth in successful passes into the penalty area (40), seventh in goal-creating actions (10) and ninth in primary assists (five).
- Forward Santiago Munoz has scored in two of his last three MLS appearances since May 31, both as a second-half substitute.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has nine goal contributions (five goals, four assists) this season, second most on the team behind Dejan Joveljic, after totaling just seven goal contributions during the 2024 MLS campaign (two goals, five assists).
- Salloi ranks second on the team in both goals (five) and assists (four).
- Forward Shapi Suleymanov, who scored a sensational long-range goal in Sporting’s 4-2 home loss to FC Dallas on June 14, is tied for second on the team with four assists. He is tied with Manu Garcia for third in MLS in fouls suffered (40) and ranks fifth in dribbles into the penalty area (30).
- At 19 years and 261 days (as of Wednesday, June 25), midfielder Jacob Bartlett is the youngest player to start at least 15 MLS matches this season. He has started in 13 straight matches for Sporting since March 29.
- Defender Jansen Miller has played the most regular season minutes (1,305) of any 2025 MLS SuperDraft selection this year. He has played every minute in each of Sporting’s last 14 games since March 22.
- Midfielder Erik Thommy has five goal contributions this season, four of which have come as a substitute (two goals and two assists as a sub, one goal as a starter).
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp is the only Sporting player to start in all 18 MLS matches and in all 20 matches across all competitions this season.
Charlotte FC
- 2025 MLS record: 8-9-1, 25 points (9th in East | 29 GF, 29 GA)
- 2025 MLS away record: 2-7-1 (12 GF, 20 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 2-3-0, 6 points (L-W-L-W-L)
- Charlotte has one draw this season, two fewer than any other team (8-9-1 record).
- Charlotte is the only team with at least eight wins and eight losses during the regular season.
- The 2024 season saw Charlotte post a winning record for the first time (14-11-9) and finish fifth in the Eastern Conference, setting club records for wins (14), points (51), goals scored (46) and goal differential (+9). In head coach Dean Smith’s first year at the helm, Charlotte fell to Orlando City SC in Round One of the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
- Charlotte has conceded nine goals after the 75th minute this season, third most in MLS.
- Charlotte is 6-1-0 when scoring the first goal and 2-8-1 when conceding the first goal this season. Similarly, Charlotte is 4-0-0 when leading at halftime and 1-5-0 when trailing at halftime.
- Charlotte opened the season with a 6-2-1 record, including a perfect 5-0-0 home mark, before losing five straight games and seven of its last nine since April 26.
- Charlotte has conceded two or more goals in seven of its last eight MLS matches since May 3.
- Charlotte is in the midst of a five-game road swing that began May 28 and will conclude June 28.
- Charlotte has an average shot distance of 15.4 yards, the shortest in MLS, and ranks fifth in shooting accuracy at 43.3%.
- Charlotte opponents have an average shot distance of 19.1 yards, the second longest in MLS.
- Charlotte has faced 14.9 shots per game, the third most in MLS.
- Midfielder Pep Biel leads Charlotte with 12 goal contributions this season, recording five goals and a team-leading seven assists. He also leads the team with 35 key passes, 15 more than any other Charlotte player, while ranking third in MLS with 11 successful through balls.
- Forward Liel Abada is tied for second on the team with five goals this season and has goal contributions in three consecutive appearances since May 28.
- Forward Wilfried Zaha is tied for second on the team in both goals (five) and assists (three). He leads MLS in fouls suffered (59) while ranking fourth in successful take-ons (40), fifth in dribbles into the penalty area (30), fifth in progressive passes received (159) and seventh in successful passes into the penalty area (39).
- Defender Adilson Malanda and midfielder Ashley Westwood are the only players who have started in all 18 MLS matches for Charlotte, both having played every minute this season. Malanda ranks third in MLS in blocks (31), third in minutes (1,620), fourth in touches (1,436) and 10th in clearances (110). Westwood ranks third in MLS in minutes (1,620), seventh in successful passes into the final third (124) and seventh in progressive passes (230).
- Forward Patrick Agyemang and defender Tim Ream are on international duty with the United States for the 2025 Gold Cup.
- Goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina ranks second in MLS in saves (64) and fifth in save percentage (76.9%). He led MLS during the 2024 regular season with 12 shutouts.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Daniel Salloi ranks seventh in club history with 272 appearances in all competitions, one shy of tying Davy Arnaud and Nick Garcia for sixth on the all-time chart.
- Midfielder Memo Rodriguez is 78 minutes shy of reaching 10,000 minutes played in his MLS regular season career.
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp ranks seventh in club history in both shutouts (nine) and wins (13) in the regular season. His next shutout will tie Mike Ammann for sixth most in club history.
