Published for Real Monarchs fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
👑 Real Monarchs Fans — Raise the Crown!
Herriman’s own: former USL champions, the bridge between the RSL Academy and the first team, and the place Utah watches its next stars first. Claret and cobalt hoops, five thousand voices at Zions Bank Stadium — this is the season to wear the crown.
The Club
Real Monarchs are Real Salt Lake’s own MLS NEXT Pro team — Utah’s development powerhouse, based in Herriman and playing at Zions Bank Stadium, a 5,000-seat ground wrapped around the pitch at the club’s academy and training complex, with the Wasatch foothills as the backdrop. Formed in 2014, the Monarchs played their first-ever match on March 22, 2015 — a 0–0 draw at LA Galaxy II — and spent their first three seasons at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy before Zions Bank Stadium became home in 2018.
No other team in MLS NEXT Pro carries this pedigree. The Monarchs arrived in the league as proven winners: USL regular-season champions in 2017 and USL Championship Cup winners in 2019, lifting the trophy as one of the strongest second teams American soccer has ever produced. After seven seasons in the USL, the club moved into MLS NEXT Pro for the league’s inaugural 2022 campaign — 2026 was the Monarchs’ 12th season overall and their fifth in this league. Since April 2025 the club has been owned by Miller Sports + Entertainment, which acquired the Monarchs and Real Salt Lake together in a $600 million deal.
The man in the dugout is Mark Lowry, who completed his third campaign in charge in 2026, working alongside general manager Tony Beltran and a staff that includes goalkeeping coach Nick Rimando — the RSL legend himself, now shaping the next generation of Utah keepers. That staff tells you what this club is: a bridge. In 2025 alone, 24 different Real Salt Lake contracted players and four RSL Academy loanees appeared in a Monarchs regular-season match. Fans at Zions Bank Stadium genuinely watch future first-team starters before anyone else does.
And then there is the shirt. Ask anyone searching for the Real Monarchs jersey in 2026 and they will describe the same thing: an adidas shirt of wide horizontal hoops alternating claret red and cobalt navy, the Monarchs shield — gold crown and lion on a claret field — over the heart, Intermountain Health in gold across the claret chest band, and the name and number picked out in solid cream-gold on a navy back. It is one of the most distinctive looks in the league, and it belongs to Herriman.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#70 Rodrigues — Real Monarchs Style Jersey
$59.99
The Golden Boot winner in claret and cobalt hoops — gold sponsor across the chest and 70 in cream-gold on the back. Fan-inspired apparel made for Monarchs fans.
Last Season (2025): The First Playoff Berth
After two building years in MLS NEXT Pro, 2025 was the breakthrough. The Monarchs secured the club’s first-ever MLS NEXT Pro playoff berth, finishing fourth in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division with 51 points — 13 wins, 7 losses and 8 draws — scoring 55 goals and setting an MLS NEXT Pro-era club points record for the second straight year. A second team with a trophy past had finally added a postseason present.
The run ended in the Conference Quarterfinals, a one-goal loss to Minnesota United FC 2 that still stings in Herriman. But the season had done its job: Jesus Barea scored 13 goals to win the club’s Golden Boot, Ruben Mesalles was named Defensive Player of the Year, and Aiden Hezarkhani (six goals, four assists) and Griffin Dillon (five goals, four assists) drove an attack that made Zions Bank Stadium one of the West’s hardest road trips. The standard was set — and 2026 would test whether a younger squad could live up to it.
Best Players Right Now
Lineker Rodrigues — #70, forward. The star, and it is not close. The Brazilian needed just 14 appearances to own the Monarchs’ attack: a team-high five goals and two assists in 1,179 minutes, including four goals in his first four games, and the club’s Golden Boot award. Then the pathway did its work — Real Salt Lake signed him to an MLS contract in August 2026, and he has already made 11 first-team appearances. Herriman saw him first.
Felix Ewald — #47, midfielder. The club MVP and Newcomer of the Year. The German, signed as an undrafted free agent out of West Virginia University, played all 28 matches — the only Monarch to do it — with four goals and three assists, and Lowry used him across all three lines as the team’s self-described “Swiss Army Knife.” His brace snapped the summer losing streak against Tacoma on August 30, and the club has already exercised his 2027 option. He is back next season.
Antonio Riquelme — #38, midfielder. Offensive Player of the Year at just 17–18 years old. The Chilean youth international and RSL Academy product from San Diego scored three goals and added a team-leading four assists in 20 appearances, tying for the team lead with seven goal contributions — plus team-highs of 37 key passes and 44 shots. The most creative teenager in the Western Conference, full stop.
Liam O’Gara — #76, midfielder/defender. The Defensive Player of the Year: 21 appearances, 1,520 minutes and two assists anchoring the back end — and then his own graduation moment. On September 23, 2026, O’Gara made his Real Salt Lake first-team debut at Seattle, becoming all-time RSL player No. 244. The Monarchs’ defensive leader is now a first-team player.
Max Kerkvliet — #24, goalkeeper. The Golden Glove winner: 20 appearances, three clean sheets and 70 saves, frequently wearing the captain’s armband. A 2025 MLS SuperDraft first-round pick out of UConn, learning his trade in goalkeeping coach Nick Rimando’s image — there are worse educations for a young keeper.
Ruben Mesalles — #77, defender. The ironman. The 2025 Defensive Player of the Year finished 2026 as the team’s minutes leader with 2,008 minutes across 25 matches — the constant in a back line that changed around him all season, and the veteran standard every academy defender in Herriman is measured against.
Star Spotlight
Fourteen games was all it took. Lineker Rodrigues arrived, scored four times in his first four appearances, and never looked back — five goals and two assists in 1,179 minutes, the club’s Golden Boot, and by August an MLS contract with Real Salt Lake and a run of 11 first-team appearances. Rodrigues is the Monarchs model working exactly as designed: a development team that develops, a star Utah got to watch before the rest of the league knew his name.
The 5–0 in Kansas City. March 8, 2026: the Monarchs went to Sporting KC II and produced the joint-biggest away win of the entire MLS NEXT Pro season, a 5–0 rout on the road in the season’s second weekend. For one afternoon, everything the 2026 team promised was real — pace, finishing, and a clean sheet. It remains the high-water mark of the year, and the result the rivalry now revolves around.
Decision Day, and a 16-year-old writes his name. September 20, 2026, the season finale at Zions Bank Stadium: academy winger Nico Silva, all of 16 years old, scored his first professional goal just before halftime, Owen Anderson poked in an 87th-minute winner, and Max Kerkvliet made six saves to close a 2–1 win over Ventura County FC. Silva was later named the club’s Academy Player of the Year. The results column will forget 2026; that night is what Herriman will remember.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Monarchs stars, same claret and cobalt.
This Season (2026): A Hard Year, A Working Pipeline
The honest numbers first. The Monarchs finished 11th in the Western Conference on 33 points — eight wins, four shootout wins, one shootout loss and 15 defeats from 28 matches, with 38 goals scored and 55 conceded. They never reached the play-in places, and the season ended on Decision Day. For a club that made its first playoff run a year ago, that is a step back, and nobody in Herriman will pretend otherwise.
The shape of the year was a bright spring and a brutal summer. It opened with a shootout win over North Texas SC in the March 1 opener after a 2–2 draw, and peaked a week later with that 5–0 win at Sporting KC II. On May 29 the Monarchs hosted the league’s first-ever regular-season match played at MLS NEXT Cup, losing 3–1 to those same Kansas City rivals. Then came five straight league defeats between July 19 and August 23 — the slide that sank the season — until Ewald’s brace powered a 3–0 home win over Tacoma Defiance on August 30 and the finale win over Ventura County closed the year on something like a high.
But measure this club the way it asks to be measured, and 2026 delivered. The club’s own awards read like a pathway brochure: Rodrigues, Golden Boot winner, signed to an MLS contract; O’Gara, Defensive Player of the Year, debuted for the first team as all-time RSL player No. 244; Ewald, the MVP, re-signed for 2027; Riquelme, a teenager, named Offensive Player of the Year; Kerkvliet took the Golden Glove; and a 16-year-old, Nico Silva, scored on Decision Day and took Academy Player of the Year. The wins column failed. The mission didn’t.
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Mark Your Calendar
Sunday, October 25, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Conference Semifinals. The Monarchs’ season is over, but the West’s crown is decided this weekend — and Pacific rivals Ventura County FC, the side Herriman beat on Decision Day, head to Portland Timbers2 (10:00 p.m. ET), while Austin FC II host LAFC 2 (8:30 p.m. ET). In the East: Chattanooga FC vs Connecticut United FC (5:00 p.m. ET) and Crown Legacy FC vs Columbus Crew 2 (7:00 p.m. ET). Every match streams on OneFootball.com and MLSNEXTPro.com.
October 30 – November 1, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Conference Finals. Four teams become two, and the road to the Cup runs through the conference’s highest remaining seeds.
November 6–8, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Cup. The championship match, hosted by the finalist with the most regular-season points. A year ago the Monarchs watched the playoffs from inside them; this year Herriman watches as neutrals — and takes notes.
February 2027 — the Monarchs return. The 2027 MLS NEXT Pro Sprint Season brings the hoops back to Zions Bank Stadium, with Felix Ewald’s option already exercised and a new academy class pushing through. Mark it now.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Sporting KC II — the season’s defining feud. It started with humiliation and ended with revenge. On March 8 the Monarchs won 5–0 in Kansas City — the joint-biggest away win in MLS NEXT Pro all season. SKC II circled the rematch, and on May 29, in the first regular-season match ever played at MLS NEXT Cup, they won 3–1 at Zions Bank Stadium on the league’s showcase day. One apiece, both unforgettable, and 2027’s meetings already have a story to continue.
2. Minnesota United FC 2 — the playoff nemesis. Minnesota ended the Monarchs’ first-ever playoff run in the 2025 Conference Quarterfinals by a single goal, and the grudge carried straight into 2026: on September 16 they came to Herriman, held the Monarchs scoreless for 90 minutes, and took the extra point in the shootout after a 0–0 draw. Some debts stay on the books.
3. Colorado Rapids 2 — the Rocky Mountain reserve rivalry. The I-70 war between Utah’s and Colorado’s development sides. The Monarchs struck first in 2026, winning 2–1 in Colorado on May 3 — but Rapids 2 hit back hard during the summer slide, a 4–1 win on August 23 that stands as one of the season’s lowest points. Regional pride, academy bragging rights, and no friendlies between these two, ever.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Real Monarchs the same team as Real Salt Lake?
No. Real Monarchs are Real Salt Lake’s MLS NEXT Pro development team — their own club, based in Herriman, Utah, whose job is to develop players for the RSL first team. The pathway is real: in 2026 alone, top scorer Lineker Rodrigues signed an MLS contract with RSL and defender Liam O’Gara made his first-team debut.
Where do Real Monarchs play their home games?
Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah — a 5,000-seat stadium at the club’s academy and training complex, with the Wasatch foothills as the backdrop. It has been the Monarchs’ home since 2018, after the club’s first three seasons at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy.
Did Real Monarchs make the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro playoffs?
No. The Monarchs finished 11th in the Western Conference with 33 points, and their season ended on Decision Day, September 20, 2026. Their first-ever MLS NEXT Pro playoff appearance came in 2025, when a club-record 51-point season carried them to the Conference Quarterfinals.
Who were Real Monarchs’ best players in 2026?
Lineker Rodrigues (No. 70) was the club’s top scorer with five goals and signed an MLS contract with Real Salt Lake in August. Felix Ewald (No. 47) was named club MVP after playing all 28 matches, and Antonio Riquelme (No. 38) was Offensive Player of the Year with a team-leading four assists. Liam O’Gara took Defensive Player of the Year and Max Kerkvliet won the Golden Glove.
⚽ Real Monarchs Fan Shop
The full Monarchs trio — Rodrigues, Ewald and Riquelme in claret and cobalt.
Sources & official links: Real Salt Lake & Real Monarchs official site · MLS NEXT Pro official site · Real Monarchs tickets via rsl.com
Claret and cobalt, crown raised high — Herriman’s next generation is coming.
