The Kansas City Comets are an

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor s ...

team based in

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro ...

, near

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

. Originally called the Missouri Comets, the team joined the Major Indoor Soccer League as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in the 2010–2011 season. They play their home games at the

Cable Dahmer Arena Cable Dahmer Arena (formerly, Silverstein Eye Centers Arena and Independence Events Center) is a 5,800-seat multi-purpose arena in Independence, Missouri, United States. It was opened in November 2009. It serves as the home arena and administra ...

and are currently members of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

History

The team is named after the original Kansas City Comets, who played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League from 1981–1991. Kim Røntved, a former Kansas City Comets star, was named the head coach on August 16, 2010. Assistant Coach

Vlatko Andonovski Vlatko Andonovski ( mk, Влатко Андоновски; born 14 September 1976) is a Macedonian-American soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the United States women's national team. Andonovski previously coach ...

was promoted to Head Coach on August 29, 2013, succeeding Røntved.

Early years (2010–2013)

The first couple of seasons saw the Missouri Comets establish themselves in the MISL. They finished third with an 8–12 record in 2010–11, falling to the Milwaukee Wave in three games in the playoffs. In 2011–12 the Comets finished second in the Central Division with a 15–9 record but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs again by the Milwaukee Wave. The Comets finished 2012–13 in third place with a 13–13 record but made it all the way to the championship series, where the

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with ...

swept the series in two games. In his first season as head coach, Vlatko Andonovski brought the Comets their first championship, defeating the Baltimore Blast in a three-game series in the final season of the MISL. In all four seasons as members of the MISL the Comets reached the playoffs, and won the championship on their fourth playoff appearance. This would be the final MISL championship.

Move to MASL (2014–present)

After the 2013–2014 season, the team announced that it was leaving the MISL along with five other teams and join the MASL. In the debut season of the MASL in 2014–15 the Comets went undefeated with a 20–0 record, ending the regular season with a league-best 239 goals and a +149 goal differential, but were swept by the Baltimore Blast in the second round of the playoffs. The Comets won the following season's Central Division with a 17–3 record before falling once again to the Baltimore Blast in the postseason. Before the 2016–17 season, the team announced that they would be rebranded as the Kansas City Comets. As Goran Karodzov took the reins as head coach, the Comets still managed to finish second in the Central with a 15–5 record before the Milwaukee Wave swept the first series in the playoffs. Following the 2016–17 season, the organization's future was in limbo. With player turnover and the return of Kim Røntved as head coach, the Comets ended the 2017–18 season with a 7–12 record and missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Røntved and the Comets returned in 2018–19 with greater improvements and the return of several veterans alongside former owner Brian Budzinski. In 2018–19 they returned to the playoffs with a 13–11 record in the South Central Division before being swept by the Milwaukee Wave in two games in the first round of the playoffs. Kansas City faced some inconsistent results throughout 2019–20 and were eliminated from playoff contention before the season was abandoned due to COVID-19, ending the season with a 10–11 record. The Comets organization persevered throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to help host the first-ever MASL

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

in December 2020. After the all-star game, the Comets claimed the first inaugural Central Cup championship with wins over the Dallas Sidekicks, St. Louis Ambush and

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

Year-by-year

Honors

*MISL Champions: 2013–14 *Central Division Champions: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 *Central Cup Champions: 2020, 2021

Franchise leaders

Regular Season *Appearances:

Leo Gibson Leo Gibson (born August 9, 1983) is a Liberian footballer who currently plays for and is the former head coach for the Kansas City Comets in the MASL. Career College Gibson was born in Monrovia, Liberia, but came to the United States in 2002, ...

(213) *Points: Leo Gibson (504) *Goals: Leo Gibson (259) *Assists: Leo Gibson (245) *Wins:

Danny Waltman Danny Waltman (born September 19, 1981, in Gig Harbor, Washington) is an American soccer player best known for his career as a goalkeeper in professional indoor soccer. He currently plays for the Tacoma Stars in the Major Arena Soccer League. ...

(63) *Saves: Danny Waltman (1,351) Postseason *Appearances: Vahid Assadpour (34) *Points: Leo Gibson (40) *Goals: Leo Gibson (27) *Assists: John Sosa (17) *Wins: Danny Waltman (5) *Saves: Danny Waltman (172) Total *Appearances: Leo Gibson (243) *Points: Leo Gibson (544) *Goals: Leo Gibson (286) *Assists: Leo Gibson (258) *Wins: Danny Waltman (68) *Saves: Danny Waltman (1,523)

Personnel

As of December 7, 2022.

Active players

Inactive players

Head coaches

* Kim Røntved (2010–2013) *

(2013–2016) * Goran Karaotzov (2016—2017) * Kim Røntved (2017—2019) *

(2019—Present)

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kansas City Comets (2010-) 2010 establishments in Missouri Association football clubs established in 2010 Independence, Missouri Indoor soccer clubs in the United States Major Arena Soccer League teams Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–2014) teams Soccer clubs in Kansas City, Missouri Soccer clubs in Missouri Sports in the Kansas City metropolitan area Sports teams in the Kansas City metropolitan area