While the Sporting Kansas City faithful have grown accustomed to seeing star striker Dejan Joveljić find the back of the net over the past two seasons, fans can now face him off-the-field as Chess.com announced the launch of Joveljić’s very own chess bot.
With the final week of MLS All-Star fan voting underway, Sporting fans can both vote for the Serbian frontman to appear in Charlotte this summer and face him on the chessboard. Joveljić, whose FIDE rating is a stunning 2217, has scored the fifth most goals in MLS since the start of 2024 and leads the team with six goals and two assists so far in 2026.
Joveljić has been one of the best strikers in MLS over the past three years, yet is still awaiting his first MLS All-Star nod. He scored the game-winning goal to help the LA Galaxy win the 2024 MLS Cup before joining Sporting in the first-ever cash-for-player trade at the start of 2025.
In his maiden season in Kansas City, Joveljić recorded 18 goals – the second best goal-scoring season in club history. His 0.53 goals per game is comfortably the highest in club history among players with at least 15 goals.
Off-the-field, Joveljić has plenty of other skills and passions with chess his primary non-soccer focus. After learning the game from his father and grandfather growing up, Joveljić began seriously honing his skills during the COVID-19 lockdown and now becomes only the second soccer player to have his own Chess.com bot, joining USMNT captain Christian Pulisic.
"It is a pretty amazing feeling. I've played so many games on Chess.com over the years, so seeing a bot with my name on it is special," Joveljić said about his new bot. "I think people will face a player that’s aggressive. I like dynamic positions, initiative, pressure… probably similar to my football style."
