Ilie Sanchez was a beloved member of Sporting Kansas City from 2017 through 2021, playing in 144 league games and starting 134 of them.
The former Barcelona product helped guide SKC to the 2017 US Open Cup title, and was extremely impactful in his first three seasons wearing Sporting blue.
In 2019, he appeared in 32 matches in MLS. He started 27 of those matches, logging 2509 minutes and scoring 2 goals and 5 assists.
This black secondary shirt appears to have been worn by Ilie on September 29th, 2019 against the Portland Timbers.
It is very unique because it is missing the club’s argyle pattern above the name on the back and also near the lower left hem on the front.
After some research, it looks like the only match that Ilie did not have those features on his jersey was September 29th against the Timbers. That lines up with the fact that this shirt came from the Fanatics/Major League Soccer match worn shirt program and most of the other black secondary kits sold that season came from this same match.
Ilie’s was not sold or marked on the LOA as having come from this match, but I believe that is because the Kick Childhood Cancer patch was removed (or has fallen off in the wash). There is some faint residue where the patch would have been.
Ilie’s match worn shirt shows several signs of wear with picks and pulls along with the residue above the adidas logo.
It is signed by Ilie within the number on the back though the signature is very faint.
These secondary kits introduced in 2018 and were very simple and understated but looked great on the pitch. The silver lettering and badge really popped on the solid black. It was the first time the club wore black on a regular primary or secondary kit since 1999.
The design was also meant as a slight homage to the black argyle third kit which was worn in 2013 and 2014.
