Sporting Kansas City at San Jose Earthquakes
2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 1
Saturday, Feb. 21 | 9:30 p.m. CT (9:40 kickoff)
PayPal Park | San Jose, California
Watch: Apple TV | Pub Partners | Watch Party
Listen: 810 AMÂ | 1340 AMÂ Â | SKC App
More: 5 Things | Game Notes
Sporting Kansas City will kick off the club's 31st season at 9:30 p.m. CT on Saturday with a Western Conference match-up against the San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park in northern California.
The MLS is Back opening day finale will be available to watch in English (Mark Rogondino and Heath Pearce) and Spanish (Carlos Ramirez) on Apple TV with local radio coverage airing on Sports Radio 810 WHB (Blake Aerni and Jon Kempin) and La Grande 1340 AM (Josue Orantes and Diego Gutierrez).
In addition, No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power & Light District will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with a watch party featuring a live DJ as well as SKC giveaways and activations. Entry is free and open to all ages before 9 p.m. and Sporting Kansas City Season Ticket Members receive access to an exclusive cocktail party one hour prior to kickoff.
Saturday marks the start of a new era for Sporting Kansas City under head coach Raphael Wicky. The fifth permanent head coach in SKC history, Wicky previously led Swiss giants BSC Young Boys to a pair of trophies - winning the 2022-23 Swiss Super League and Swiss Cup double in his native Switzerland -- and a 51-17-20 record in all competitions during his tenure. Wicky will be joined on the sideline by two new assistant coaches in Edu Rubio, who was formerly an assistant with West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace in the English Premier League, and Dominic Kinnear, who has the sixth most wins among head coaches in MLS history -- including five seasons as the manager in San Jose.
Similarly, Sporting enters the 2026 season with a roster revamped by new President of Soccer Operations and General Manager David Lee. After parting ways with 13 players from 2025, Sporting has added 10 newcomers to date -- with the MLS transfer window remaining open until March 26 -- with nine of those 10 players aged 26 or younger. SKC will be led by the Designated Player duo of Serbian striker Dejan Joveljic -- who scored 18 goals in 2025 -- and Spanish midfielder Manu Garcia, who led the team with nine assists.
On the opposite side, the San Jose Earthquakes are led by Bruce Arena -- the winningest head coach in MLS history - as the four-time MLS Coach of the Year embarks on the new campaign with 11 players from last year's squad no longer with the team, including all three Designated Players in Cristian Arango, Cristian Espinoza and Hernan Lopez as well as the team's top scorer in Josef Martinez. San Jose has only added two new players to their squad so far this offseason with the acquisition of reserve goalkeeper Nate Crockford and German forward Timo Werner, who is awaiting his P1 visa.
Sporting and San Jose are each coming off successful showings at the Coachella Valley Invitational during preseason where the Earthquakes went a perfect 3-0-0 with wins over Charlotte, Portland and New York City as homegrown midfielder Niko Tsakiris recorded a goal contribution in all three games. Sporting went 2-1-0 in the preseason tournament with wins over New York City and Austin as Joveljic scored the game-winning goal in both victories.
Historically, Sporting Kansas City has the most season-opening wins (15) of any MLS team and SKC has gone 12-3-3 against San Jose - including a 5-2-2 mark at PayPal Park -- since late 2016. In the most recent matchup, Sporting traveled to San Jose last April and prevailed by a 5-3 scoreline in the highest-scoring game in the Western Conference last season as Sporting struck for three goals in a seven-minute span.
