How Real Salt Lake Became Real Salt Lake
How Real Salt Lake Came to Utah
"We want [RSL] to be passionate and visionary. We want it to be a great unifier to bring people in Salt Lake City together. We have regal aspirations."
-Dave Checketts
Real Salt Lake entered MLS as the league’s 12th club after Salt Lake City was awarded an expansion side on July 14, 2004, under Dave Checketts and SCP Worldwide. John Ellinger was named the club’s first head coach, and Jason Kreis became the first player in club history. RSL opened play on April 2, 2005, with a scoreless draw against the MetroStars at Giants Stadium. A week later, Kreis scored the club’s first-ever goal against the LA Galaxy. The first home win came on April 16, 2005, when Brian Dunseth helped lift RSL past Colorado in front of 25,287 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Hard Lessons in the Early Years
The early years were rough. The 2005 and 2006 seasons were full of growing pains, and the results showed it. RSL finished near the bottom of the league in both campaigns, including a 10-game losing streak in 2005 and an 18-game winless run in 2006. But 2007 started to shift the foundation. Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman arrived, and when results still did not improve, Ellinger was dismissed and Jason Kreis stepped off the field and into the manager’s role. That move changed the trajectory of the club.
The Club Starts to Look Like Itself
By 2008, Real Salt Lake had turned a corner. The club reached the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time and did it in the opening season of Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. RSL knocked off Chivas USA in the postseason before falling 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls in the Western Conference Final. It was not a trophy year, but it was the season the club stopped looking like an expansion side and started looking like something real.
The Run That Changed Everything
Then came 2009, the year everything changed. RSL battled into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, claimed a wild card berth, and opened the postseason as part of the Eastern Conference against Columbus Crew. From there, the club made the run that still defines it. Real Salt Lake beat David Beckham and the LA Galaxy in the 2009 MLS Cup Final on penalties and brought the first championship in club history back to Utah.
The Standard-Setting Years
The years that followed were the golden era. In 2010, RSL put together a 25-match unbeaten run in all competitions and built one of the toughest home environments in MLS, with the home unbeaten streak stretching into 2011. That group, led by names like Rimando, Beckerman, Jamison Olave, Javier Morales, and Álvaro Saborío, did more than win games. It set a standard. And in 2011, RSL became the first MLS team to reach the CONCACAF Champions League Final, falling just short against Monterrey in one of the most significant international runs any MLS club had produced to that point.
The End of the First Great Era
In January 2013, Dell Loy Hansen assumed full ownership of the club. That same year, RSL made another deep run, reaching both MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup Final, but lost to Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United. Jason Kreis left after the season, Jeff Cassar took over, and the club remained competitive for a stretch, but the roster gradually began to turn over. The departures of key veterans slowly closed the chapter on the side that had defined the best years in club history.
Change, Turnover, and Uncertainty
The late 2010s brought transition. Mike Petke took over in 2017 after Cassar’s dismissal. In 2018, the organization opened its training complex in Herriman, including the Real Academy and Zions Bank Stadium, giving the club a major infrastructure boost. In 2019, club legends Nick Rimando and Tony Beltran played their final seasons, and Petke was dismissed later that year.
In 2020, the season was shortened by the pandemic, but the bigger story off the field was ownership turmoil. Hansen announced plans to sell the club, and MLS oversaw the process. Kyle Beckerman retired at the end of that season, closing the book on one of the most important careers in both club and league history.
Pablo Takes the Wheel
That uncertainty carried into 2021, but the team found a pulse under Pablo Mastroeni after Freddy Juarez left midseason. RSL scraped into the playoffs on Decision Day thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Damir Kreilach against Sporting Kansas City, then rode that momentum all the way to the Western Conference Final. It was one of the grittiest postseason runs the club has had, and it earned Mastroeni the full-time job. Before the 2022 season, the club officially entered a new era under owners David Blitzer and Ryan Smith.
Another New Chapter Off the Field
The next ownership shift came on April 18, 2025, when Miller Sports + Entertainment acquired a controlling interest in RSL, with David Blitzer remaining as a minority owner. It marked the start of yet another chapter for a club that has gone from expansion project, to champion, to continental finalist, to one of the defining institutions in Utah soccer.
Jason Kreis Comes Home
Jason Kreis’ story with this club did not end when he left the touchline in 2013. He returned to Real Salt Lake in December 2023 as Director of Club Operations & Special Projects, then moved into the role of President of Soccer Operations in 2025. That matters, because it brought one of the defining figures in club history back into the center of the project. Kreis is not just a former coach. He was RSL’s first player, the club’s first captain, and the manager who delivered the 2009 MLS Cup. His return gives the current era a direct link back to the club’s identity, history, and highest standard.
How the Club Is Built Right Now
The current soccer side of the club reflects that blend of continuity and evolution. Jason Kreis now sits atop the sporting structure, with Kurt Schmid as Sporting Director, Tony Beltran as Assistant Sporting Director, and Pablo Mastroeni as head coach. Around them, the broader pipeline remains active through Real Monarchs and the academy. That is a big part of what this version of RSL is trying to be: not just a first team chasing results, but a club building pathways, developing players, and trying to create something sustainable.
The Identity of Pablo’s RSL
Under Pablo Mastroeni, RSL has built a reputation for structure, resilience, and postseason relevance. The club has reached the playoffs in every full season under his leadership, and the front office backed that stability by signing both Mastroeni and Schmid to multi-year extensions in November 2025. This version of RSL has developed an identity around organization, response, and belief, and that has carried into the current season.
The Spine of This Team
The current group has a clear backbone. Diego Luna remains one of the faces of the club, despite suffering an injury early in the season. Justen Glad continues to anchor the back line. Rafael Cabral has brought veteran calm in goal. Victor Olatunji adds frontline experience and striking finesse. Juan Manuel Sanabria, Stijn Spierings, Noel Caliskan, Sergi Solans, Zavier Gozo, and Morgan Guilavogui have all helped shape the look of this 2026 side along with the young corps of players who have stepped up in the face of injuries and other setbacks.
The Kids Are Not Waiting Their Turn
The youth movement has been one of the defining stories of the early part of 2026. Aiden Hezarkhani stepped into a bigger attacking role while Luna worked back from injury and made the most of it, scoring twice in the club’s first five matches, first against Seattle and then again at Atlanta. Both goals were high-quality finishes, and both mattered. Luca Moisa also forced his way into the conversation early, starting the first three matches of the season in midfield and recording an assist in his first MLS home match against Seattle. His calmness on the ball and willingness to play beyond his age have made him one of the most encouraging young signs of the season so far.
Zavier Gozo has only added to that story. After breaking through in 2025, he has carried real momentum into 2026, scoring at Atlanta, producing against Sporting Kansas City, and continuing to look like one of the most dangerous young attackers in the league. Alongside him, rookie striker Sergi Solans has made an immediate impact, scoring his first MLS goal at Atlanta and then taking the early 2026 RSL Golden Boot lead with his goal at San Diego. This is not just a promising group in theory. It is a group already influencing results.
What Guilavogui and Olatunji Bring
Victor Olatunji also deserves mention in this current chapter. After joining RSL in 2025 and scoring four goals in his first season with the club, he returned to action in 2026 after missing the opening stretch through injury. He made his season debut against Austin, then came off the bench in San Diego and delivered the 85th-minute equalizer that secured a valuable road point. That goal said a lot about both the player and the team. Olatunji gives RSL a different kind of forward presence, and his late equalizer fit the broader theme of a side that keeps fighting.
Guilavogui arrived from RC Lens as a Designated Player before the season and quickly showed why RSL brought him in, helping ignite the attack with his movement, physicality, and chance creation, including a debut assist in the win at Atlanta. Morgan’s passing and vision on and off the ball have had a profound effect on the team so far this season. He adds an element of calm under pressure. He isn’t limited to offensive contributions either, Guilavogui has made key defensive plays to keep RSL on its hot streak. Pablo Mastroeni has gone as far as to say in an interview on ESPN 700 “I’ve never coached a more talented player in my career as a coach.”
A Fast Start in 2026
As for this season, the start has been real. Through six league matches, RSL sits on 13 points with a 4-1-1 record, good for second place in the Western Conference at that point. The club opened the year with a perfect 3-0-0 home record and pushed its unbeaten run to five matches with the April 4 home win over Sporting Kansas City. That victory also extended RSL’s home winning streak to five matches dating back to last season and pushed the sellout streak at America First Field to eight straight matches.
There are already tangible achievements attached to this 2026 group. In the 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City, Luna scored in his first start of the season, Gozo found the net again, and the team continued to show growing cohesion in attack. Earlier in the year, both Gozo and Noel Caliskan were named to MLS Team of the Matchday honors after Matchday 6, while Gozo’s strike against SKC was voted MLS Goal of the Matchday. The road win at Atlanta, powered by goals from Solans, Hezarkhani, and Gozo and sparked by Guilavogui’s attacking influence, remains one of the clearest early statements this team has made.
What Real Salt Lake Feels Like Right Now
There is something tangible in the air around the club this season. Under Pablo, the club has become hard to shake and increasingly comfortable leaning on both experience and youth. With Jason Kreis back in the building, the sporting side has a direct connection to the club’s championship roots. With key additions and a growing wave of young contributors shaping the roster, RSL looks like a club trying to compete now while still building for what comes next.
