Sporting Kansas City announced today that the club has acquired goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland from Austin FC in exchange for $50,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM). Sporting has signed Cleveland to a new two-year MLS contract through 2027.
Cleveland has made 65 appearances in his professional career – including 29 in the MLS regular season – and joins his fourth MLS team after previously representing the Chicago Fire (2017-2019), the Seattle Sounders (2020-2023) and Austin FC (2024-2025).
The Dayton, Ohio native has spent the majority of his career in Seattle, making 29 appearances for the club across all competitions. Cleveland made his debut for the Sounders on May 16, 2021, posting a shutout in a 2-0 victory over LAFC – kicking off a run of 15 starts between May 16 and Aug. 29, helping Seattle go 6-4-5 with three shutouts in that time.
Cleveland notably recorded a clean sheet in the 3-0 win over Liga MX side Tigres UANL in the Leagues Cup quarterfinals on Aug. 10, 2021. Cleveland made 13 further appearances in all competitions for Seattle in 2022 and 2023, adding one shutout.
The 26th overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, Cleveland spent the first three years of his professional career with the Chicago Fire. After gaining experience on loan with FC Tulsa in the USL Championship in 2017 and 2018, Cleveland made his MLS debut for Chicago on Aug. 4, 2018, recording a career-high eight saves in a 2-1 road loss at Real Salt Lake before going on to play another four matches for the Fire during the tail end of the 2018 MLS season.
Cleveland joined USL League One side Lansing Ignite on loan for the 2019 season, starting 22 matches and tallying seven shutouts to help Lansing secure a second-place finish.
Collegiately, Cleveland played three seasons at Dartmouth College from 2013-2015, earning First Team All-Ivy League selections in 2014 and 2015 and was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. After earning his engineering degree from Dartmouth in 2016, Cleveland spent the final year of his NCAA eligibility at the University of Louisville as a graduate student where he tallied 10 shutouts in 22 matches along with a 0.71 goals against average in 2016.
With the addition of Cleveland, Sporting now has 15 players under contract for the 2026 season. For a full list of the club’s offseason roster moves, visit sportingkc.com/transactions.
- Goalkeepers (4): Stefan Cleveland, Jack Kortkamp, John Pulskamp, Ryan Schewe
- Defenders (2): Ian James, Jansen Miller
- Midfielders (5): Jacob Bartlett, Zorhan Bassong, Jake Davis, Manu Garcia, Cielo Tschantret
- Forwards (4): Stephen Afrifa, Dejan Joveljic, Daniel Salloi, Shapi Suleymanov
Transaction: Sporting Kansas City (MLS) acquires goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland from Austin FC (MLS) in exchange for $50,000 in 2026 GAM and signs Cleveland to new MLS contract through 2027.
VITALS
Stefan Cleveland (steff-en)
Position: Goalkeeper
Birthdate: 5/25/1994 (31 years old)
Height: 6-2
Weight: 185 lbs.
College: Dartmouth College, University of Louisville
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Birthplace: Dayton, OH
Citizenship: USA
Instagram: @stef_cleve
