The Swope Park Rangers announced today that the club has signed 16-year-old goalkeeper Brooks Thompson to a USL Championship contract. Thompson becomes the youngest player to sign a professional contract in Rangers history.

Thompson has recently started two preseason matches for the Rangers, a 5-0 defeat of Barton Community College on Feb. 2 and a 2-1 win at North Texas SC on Feb. 13. He was also one of five Sporting KC Academy players who trained with Sporting Kansas City at the club’s 2019 preseason camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, featuring in a shutout win over Phoenix Rising FC trialists on Jan. 23.

A native of Floyds Knobs, Indiana, Thompson has played a leading role for the Sporting Kansas City Academy U-19s during the 2018-19 U.S. Soccer Development Academy campaign. He has posted a 6-2-3 record in 11 league matches, earning four shutouts with a 1.09 goals against average and an 84.6 save percentage. The 6-foot-3 goalkeeper has also competed for the Sporting KC U-17s throughout 2019 Generation adidas Cup qualifying.

The Sporting KC Academy welcomed Thompson last summer after he spent the previous two years with IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He represented the IMG U-14s in 2016-17 and the IMG U-17s in 2017-18, having moved to Florida from his native Indiana in the summer of 2016.

Led by head coach Paulo Nagamura, the Rangers now have 15 players under USL Championship contract heading into 2019. Throughout the year, the club may also use Sporting KC loanees and Sporting KC Academy players signed to amateur academy contracts.

SPR will kick off the regular season at New York Red Bulls II on Saturday at noon CT before hosting Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in their Children’s Mercy Park home opener on March 23 at 4 p.m. CT.

For the second straight year, SPR will host USL Championship regular season matches at world-class Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Single-game tickets for all 17 home fixtures are now on sale at SeatGeek.com, and SPR season tickets are available by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.

VITALS

Brooks Thompson

Position: Goalkeeper

Born: 6/13/2002 (16 years old)

Height: 6-3

Weight: 170

Hometown: Floyds Knobs, Indiana

Birthplace: Jefferson, Indiana

Citizenship: USA

Twitter: @BrooksThompson0

Instagram: @brooksthompsonn