Felipe Gutiérrez was signed by Sporting Kansas City from Real Betis as a designated player prior to the 2018 season.
Felipe was the 11th designated player in club history and turned out to be an excellent signing by SKC. He earned the Sporting Kansas City Newcomer of the Year award in 2018 and was named SKC’s Most Valuable Player in 2019.
While the club was struggling for results, the Chilean midfielder was leading the way with 12 goals and 4 assists in 2019. All but one assist came in league play.
Felipe Gutiérrez walks away from a scrum in the 36th minute with Brian Fernandez on September 29th, 2019. The rip in the back right shoulder of Felipe’s jersey is visible in the image.
This black secondary shirt was worn by Felipe Gutiérrez on September 29th, 2019 against the Portland Timbers.
The match ended in a 2-2 draw but saw both sides issued red cards after a scrum just before the 36th minute.
Felipe Gutiérrez was the initial instigator in the scrum and had his jersey ripped during the dust up. You can see the tear and the hole in the shirt in the image from the match above.
The midfielder’s jersey has a few other signs of wear with a few pulls and some light staining on the front. It is signed by Felipe next to the back numbers and he included a smiley face next to the signature.
These black secondary kits were introduced prior to the 2018 season and meant to be the third iteration of the club’s argyle branding, albeit with the argyle look being a bit understated.
They featured the argyle design on the below the back collar and on the front left hem. Sporting Kansas City paired the black jerseys with the same metallic silver lettering that was found on the 2015/2016 white argyle third kits.
The badges and MLS patches on these kits were also done in metallic silver and black.
While not a homerun, these secondary shirts were an interesting departure for the club and are pretty inoffensive from my perspective. For my money they are a much better use of the mono-color design in comparison to the 2022/2023 State Line 4.0 navy blue/indigo secondary kits.