Major League Soccer Suspends Kai Wagner For Three Games

The Philadelphia Union defender will miss the remainder of the Round One series against the Revolution.

© J. Alexander Dolan

Philadelphia Union defender Kai Wagner will not make the trip to Gillette Stadium for tomorrow night’s crucial Game 2, as the German defender serves a three-game suspension by Major League Soccer for using a racial slur against Revolution forward Bobby Wood in Game 1.

After nine days of waiting, Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Tannenwald broke the news Monday evening that the verdict on the investigation into Kai Wagner would be made and announced before Wednesday’s game.

Tuesday started with Philadelphia Union Head Coach Jim Curtain revealing that Kai Wagner would not be traveling to Foxboro with the team for Game 2 but declined to answer more on the reasoning behind the absence.

After 10 days of investigating and reviewing, Major League Soccer announced the findings Tuesday evening. After immediately accepting responsibility for violating Major League Soccer’s on-field antidiscrimination policy, Wagner finds himself suspended for the next three matches. 

With the suspension, Wagner will miss Wednesday’s Game 2 and two additional playoff matches. If Revs push the series to a Game 3 and Philadelphia fails to advance, the one remaining game of the suspension would take effect for the first game of 2024.

On top of the three-game suspension, Kai Wagner must participate in league-mandated education and training sessions. A process in which Wagner has already begun.