Meet “Kylian Cruyff” – A Quick Intro

As we shared in our previous post, the socKCer Team is building this site for you – and with you. For now, much of the blogging will likely come from me, “Kylian Cruyff,” so I figured I’d start with a quick (and admittedly vague) bio.

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My KC Soccer Roots

I grew up playing here in Kansas City back in the 80s and 90s (which feels like forever ago at this point!). At the time, there weren’t dozens of clubs with multiple levels of teams like there are now. Instead, there were maybe five top clubs in the whole city – and each had just one team. That was the landscape.

I wasn’t anything special as a player, but I was lucky to be around some pretty talented teammates and coaches at both club and high school levels.

Like many kids from that era, I loved going to Kansas City Comets games. (Side note: I selfishly hope they move to the new BluHawk arena in Overland Park – but that’s the last I’ll say about it 😊).

My parents also had season tickets for the very first season of the Kansas City Wiz. These days, I’ve got Sporting KC tickets with my own family, and next month I’ll be going to my first KC Current game. (Shameful that it’s my first, I know – but hopefully the first of many.)

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Family & The Game

My wife and I have two great kids: a daughter in high school and a son in middle school. Sports are fun, but of course they’re about the least important part of who they are.

• My daughter played soccer for a while (and I even tried my hand at coaching) but she’s happier on the volleyball court.
• My son is still playing soccer. When he was younger, and I was sitting out at the field to give him a ride home after an early training one summer day, I felt a sense of contentment. I’ve found myself asking him if he wanted to go watch games he wasn’t even involved in.

I promise – I’m not a crazy soccer parent! I just genuinely love being at the field and watching the game 😊

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Why socKCer.com

Over the years, I’ve seen teammates and friends go on to succeed in the game, many still involved as coaches. That inspired me to try and give something back to the Kansas City soccer community.

Three years (and a lot of procrastination) later, here it finally goes . . . an uninvited guest to the KC soccer party. Hopefully this isn’t the only blog post I write! 😊

I’ll hit up some past and current connections for help. My plan is to:

• Blog about the Kansas City soccer story – past, present, and future
• Hopefully make a difference by putting something positive into the world; maybe brighten someone’s day with recognition (speaking of, if you have someone in mind who deserves some love, please let us know!).

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Stay Connected

If you’d like to follow along:

• Please (!) subscribe to our email list (no spam)
• Follow us on Facebook or X
• Share socKCer.com with your Kansas City soccer people 😊

Now to think of something interesting (or helpful?) for my first real post…

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Welcome to socKCer.com: Blog, Resources, and Merch to Put the KC in Soccer

Kansas City has been called the Soccer Capital of America. You may have seen the new Sporting Kansas City “Two States, One City, One Club” stuff. What we’re hoping to create here is a single stop website for Kansas City soccer content, aggregating info, resources and merch for the best soccer community in the US, from youth to pro. At the risk of sounding cheesy, putting the KC in soccer is everyone supporting soccer in Kansas City and promoting Kansas City in soccer. It’s helping our community come together and thrive. At the very least, we need to keep ahead of St. Louis trying to lay claim to the soccer capital!

Why We Started socKCer.com

When the Kansas City Wiz first started here, it was exciting – but also a little depressing as it was too small for Arrowhead at the time. We’ve of course now been lucky enough to see arguably the greatest player of all time come and play at Arrowhead, and the place was packed! And now the World Cup is coming next summer, including a quarterfinal match. Two of the top eight teams in the world will be playing here, at their best 😊

As for youth soccer, it seems to be a lot more confusing than back in the day, with the ECNL, MLS Next, and what have you. So we’ll sometimes be learning as we go and putting out what we find. We’ll always try to find out what’s happening and how to be a part of it. We’re here to bring it all together!

What You’ll Find Here

So what exactly is socKCer.com? . . .

✅ Kansas City Soccer Blog

Telling the Kansas City soccer story—across all levels of the game. We’d love to write about what has made and continues to make KC soccer beautiful.

• A rich history in both men’s and women’s professional soccer
• A pipeline of incredible youth talent
• Some of the best fans and supporter culture in the country
• A growing infrastructure of stadiums, fields, and facilities
• And now, a spotlight on the world stage with the 2026 World Cup!

Please (!) send blog ideas or other ideas for the site on the contact page or email team@socKCer.com. Kansas City’s soccer culture is driven by the people. That’s why we’re hoping to create a space for your voices—fan blogs, player stories, club profiles, grassroots projects, interviews, and commentary from the community itself.

Have a story to tell or a passion project in the works? Let us know—we want to amplify it!

🏟️ Resources

This will always be a work in progress 😊 Learn more about upcoming Kansas City soccer events, youth clubs, additional training, high school, college and professional teams to support, and area retailers. We’ll help you keep up with everything from MLS, NWSL, and MASL schedules to local youth tournaments, open tryouts, watch parties, and community soccer events. Ideally as we figure out what people want to know or want others to know about, we can run with that. We will try our best to keep it Kansas City Metro-wide, so let us know if we ever fail in that regard!

🛒 Shop

We’ve linked to other local online Kansas City soccer stores and show some of the initial ideas we’ve developed at our Shop page. Our dream is that every local club have their own socKCer shirt, with profits donated to The Victory Project – victorykc.org, supporting kids with cancer and soccer for all. For now, for custom merch or ideas, please contact us on the contact page or email team@socKCer.com. We hope to have our shop up and running soon!

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Our Mission: Unite and Elevate

At our core, socKCer.com exists to unite soccer in Kansas City and elevate Kansas City in soccer. Be a part of the soccer community in Kansas City, and help put the KC in soccer!

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How You Can Be Part of It

Hopefully in the coming weeks (more likely months — darn day jobs) the website will come more into focus. Here’s how you can get involved right now:

1. *SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAIL LIST* (!!) – Please. Emails no more than once weekly, and probably not even that for quite some time (and your email won’t be sold or otherwise shared in any way)
2. Collaborate – Submit Kansas City soccer content, write a guest blog post, or let us know how we can help you!
3. Follow us on social – Follow us on Facebook and X to help spread the site name; these are to be continued . . .
4. Submit your events, teams, or news – Got something going on? Let us know and we’ll try to help spread the word!
5. Share socKCer.com with your Kansas City soccer people – We’re not much to look at yet 😊 but mention the website and blog so people can take a quick look at the idea . . . (and hopefully they will *SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAIL LIST* (!!)) We need all the help we can get!
6. Send us feedback – What do you want to see? What’s missing? What would help you or your club thrive?

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Welcome to socKCer.com.
Let’s put the KC in soccer – together.

– socKCer Team