Sources: Kansas Metropolis Present to rent Chris Armas as coach

The Kansas Metropolis Present have agreed to phrases to rent Chris Armas because the group’s new head coach, a number of sources confirmed to ESPN.

The hiring remains to be being finalized and pending the usual league clearance of all coaches, however is anticipated to be confirmed imminently, sources added.

Armas, a former United States participant and MLS champion, most just lately coached the Colorado Rapids earlier than he and the group parted methods after the 2025 season.

Kansas Metropolis had been in quest of a head coach since saying that Vlatko Andonovski would transfer from the sidelines solely into the function of sporting director, a title he had additionally held whereas teaching the group. The Present ran away with the NWSL Defend in historic vogue in 2025, ending 21 factors forward of the second-place Washington Spirit.

Nevertheless, regardless of its common season success, Kansas Metropolis misplaced to eight-seed Gotham FC within the first spherical of the playoffs.

Armas’ appointment comes as a shock, not solely as a result of he comes from MLS, however as a result of Kansas Metropolis assistant coaches Milan Ivanovic and Freya Coombe have been thought of potential successors. Andonovski known as them “robust candidates” in a November interview with ESPN.

Ivanovic was ostensibly the favourite for the job given his deep connection to Andonovski and had been his high assistant for a decade, first with FC Kansas Metropolis, then the Seattle Reign and the USWNT earlier than the Present.

Armas’ hiring means that Present management sought some degree of change regardless of the group’s latest success, with the majority of Armas’ earlier managerial expertise approaching the boys’s facet of the game.

He took over as supervisor of the New York Pink Bulls in 2018 following the departure of Jesse Marsch to RB Salzburg. Armas went on to guide the Pink Bulls to that yr’s Supporters Defend, however was unable to maintain that degree of success, and was fired in September of 2020.

Armas took over as supervisor of Toronto FC in 2021, however lasted solely 11 league matches, a interval that included a well-publicized feud with star striker Jozy Altidore.

Armas had extra success throughout his two-year stint with Colorado, reaching the playoffs in 2024 and simply lacking out on the postseason in 2025. Armas’ solely foray within the girls’s sport was a four-season stint with the Adelphi College girls’s group, a faculty the place Armas performed collegiately.

He was additionally an assistant coach briefly stints at Manchester United and Leeds United between his time in Toronto and Colorado.

Armas loved a profitable taking part in profession, one which noticed him make the MLS All-Star group six occasions and the MLS Greatest XI 5 occasions throughout stints with the LA Galaxy and Chicago Fireplace. He was a part of the Fireplace’s 1998 MLS Cup-winning facet, in addition to 4 U.S. Open Cup triumphs with the membership.

At worldwide degree, Armas made 66 appearances for the United States.