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🇺🇸⚽️ SPOTLIGHT: On and Off the Field with Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic, and States Soccer

In 2019, football never stops.

Between the barrage of social media content, the prevalence of matchday streams from all corners of the earth, and the temptation of FIFA or Football Manager just a click away, the game absolutely surrounds us—and that’s before even stepping on a pitch.

Few are more attuned to this endless stream of soccer than Matt Besler and Seth Sinovic, who, in addition to anchoring the backline for MLS team Sporting Kansas City, also help run a football lifestyle company called States Soccer.

“People always think about on the field and off the field being two separate things, but they’re really not. Soccer is our life. We are professional soccer players 24/7, not just from 9 o’clock to noon when we’re on the field training,” Besler said.

True to form, Besler and Sinovic joined us after a morning practice to discuss the clothing line they created alongside co-founders Ryan Van Goethen and Daniel Kerley.

They explained how States aims to earn the title of “lifestyle brand” by representing the 24/7 presence the game can have in our lives. To do this, the group aims to engineer technically superior on-field garments “for players, by players” while also crafting off-the-field wear that represents the local fandom and football culture that never seems to take a moment off.

As native Kansas Citians with over 500 combined appearances for MLS team Sporting Kansas City between them, Besler and Sinovic are in a unique position to craft such goods. They are not only club icons, but also nearly-lifelong locals.

“We have a genuine relationship with the people that support us,” Besler said. This link to the fans extends past the stadium walls and into their daily lives in the community. Their clothing is, in many ways, an expression of that, and is built from “pretty much every piece of soccer clothing we’ve ever worn, even when we were kids,” Besler said.

The company’s name is a call-out to American soccer and its marketing frequently touts States’ Kansas City heritage. KC is quickly becoming a soccer hotbed that Van Goethen describes as a place where “you can see the growth of the sport happening before your eyes.”

Passing through the city on our recent travels with the #AudiFCBTour, we would have to agree. KC boasts impressive professional facilities, passionate fans, and broad-based grassroots initiatives (like the Sporting Stars and Stripes Program) that are among the very best in American soccer. In a league where Zlatan, Rooney, and Vela garner so many headlines, the link between team and community appears to be the star of this MLS city more than any one individual player.

It makes sense that this is where a project like States takes flight. Kansas City is the kind of town where two club legends step off the practice field and into the shop, joining two longtime friends to produce game-changing football goods that aim to be proudly representative of domestic soccer culture and true to the idea that the game never stops.

It’s pretty safe to say it doesn’t for Besler and Sinovic.

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You can check out States Soccer and buy their products on their website.

Huge thank you to Matt, Seth, Ryan, and Daniel for letting us stop by and being so gracious with their time. A massive additional thank you to Megan Armstrong for linking us all together and putting States onto our radar.