Sporting KC selects Stephen Afrifa from FIU with No. 8 pick in annual MLS SuperDraft
Sporting Kansas City and other teams across Major League Soccer held their annual MLS SuperDraft Wednesday evening.
Sporting KC picked Florida International University forward Stephen Afrifa with the No. 8 overall selection. Sporting also selected defender Chris Rindov from Maryland with the 37th overall pick.
Afrifa, a 5-foot-11, 155-pound senior at FIU, had 10 goals and four assists in 19 appearances this past season, giving him 23 goals and 11 assists in his NCAA career. He started out as a winger but transitioned to striker halfway through his junior season.
“It’s been a dream of mine to play professionally,” he said. “And obviously being from North America, I’ve seen that path being through the MLS. I went to college with hopes and dreams of being in this exact same position I’m in right now.”
The MLS expansion team to the east, St. Louis City SC, held the first pick in Wednesday’s draft but eventually traded it to last year’s expansion team, Charlotte FC, for an eye-popping $400,000 in allocation money. Charlotte used that selection to pick a defender from Clemson, Hamady Diop.
Trades were a theme in the first round, with nine of the first 10 picks dealt away by their original owners either during the draft or in the days leading up to it. Sporting KC was the first team — that one of the first 10 — to hold onto its natural pick, using it on Afrifa.
Because Afrifa is not a Generation Adidas player, it’s unknown for now whether he’ll make the first-team roster. A club source indicated he would not require an International slot, which is a plus: for now, Sporting has just one.
Afrifa played across all front-three positions for FIU, making 42 starts in 63 total appearances. He was a semifinalist for the Mac Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. He was an American Conference first-teamer and was also named to the United Soccer Coaches’ second team All-American College Team.
Afrifa, who’s from Toronto, told reporters he’d followed Toronto FC pretty closely. Recently, he said, he’s been inspired by the meteoric rise of Canada’s men’s national team, not only in CONCACAF but internationally. Canada recently played in the World Cup for the second time.
Afrifa specifically mentioned Tajon Buchanan, a player drafted ninth overall by New England in 2019. Afrifa hopes to emulate Buchanan’s ascendance from college to MLS and then Europe.
“Obviously seeing him in the college system, it gave me hope that it was possible,” Afrifa said. “I’ve seen him get drafted and he performed well and earned his spot in MLS. So for me it was an inspiration from him.”
Sporting KC technical director and player personnel VP Brian Bliss compared Afrifa to current Sporting player Willy Agada, in terms of skillset. Bliss said Afrifa might have more breakaway speed.
“He’s dynamic in his play, clever on the ball, can break lines and get behind defenses, and he can do all of it on his own off the dribble because he’s very creative, as well,” Bliss said. “(There are) a lot of good qualities this kid has.”
As for Rindov, Bliss said the club has tracked him for a few years now. The 6-foot-2 central defender spent the last four years developing in the Maryland program that has produced countless pros, including Graham Zusi. Rindov captained the Terps in his senior year after starting out as a walk-on. He was first-team All-Big Ten.
“He loves to win balls, loves to deny attacking opportunities to space, and deny opportunities to score,” Bliss said of Rindov. “He’s a bit of a hard-nosed-type kid, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play out of the back either, because Maryland has a playing style — I wouldn’t say it’s similar to ours, but they’re not afraid to play.”
Both Rindov and Afrifa will join Sporting KC for the preseason, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 6.
This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 5:23 PM.