| Club: | Colorado Rapids |
| Season: | 2011 |
| League: | Major League Soccer |
| League Result: | 6th |
| Chrtitle: | Owner |
| Chairman: |  Stan Kroenke |
| Mgrtitle: | Coach |
| Manager: | Gary Smith |
| Assistant Manager: | Steve Guppy |
| Average Attendance: | 14,140 |
| Largest Win: | COL 4-1 DC (4/3) |
| Largest Loss: | DAL 3-0 COL (4/8) |
| Cup3: | MLS Cup |
| Cup3 Result: | Conference semi-finals |
| Cup1: | CONCACAF Champions League |
| Cup1 Result: | Group stage |
| Cup2: | U.S. Open Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Qualification Round 2 |
| Cup4: | Rocky Mountain Cup |
| Cup4 Result: | Runners-up |
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| Prevseason: | 2010 |
| Nextseason: | 2012 |
The 2011 Colorado Rapids season was the club's seventeenth year of existence, as well as its sixteenth season in Major League Soccer, and its sixteenth consecutive season in the top-flight of American soccer.
The Rapids will be entered the season as the defending MLS Cup champions.
See also: 2010 Colorado Rapids season and MLS Cup 2010.
The Colorado Rapids are coming off a season, where the club's success was highlighted by winning the MLS Cup, their first postseason title in the process. It was the first time in 17 years that a soccer club based in Colorado won any league/cup title, the last being the Colorado Foxes of the APSL.[1]
In MLS regular season play, the Rapids finished in 7th place overall. The club was eliminated during the top-tier qualification propers of U.S. Open Cup, losing 3–0 to Red Bull New York in the fifth round play-in match.[2]
In the Rocky Mountain Cup derby series against cross-mountain rivals, Real Salt Lake, the clubs tied one another 3–3 in season play.[3] Because of this, the Cup was retained by Salt Lake for the third-consecutive year.[3]
As of September 11, 2011.[4]
| Position | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Director | Jeff Plush | |
| Technical director | Paul Bravo | |
| Head coach | Gary Smith | |
| Assistant coaches | Steve Guppy Brett Jacobs | |
| Goalkeeper coach | David Kramer | |
| Fitness coach | John Ireland | |
| Team Administrator |  Erik Carlson | |
| Head Athletic Trainer | Jaime Rojas | |
| Assistant Athletic Trainer | Craig Magri | |
| Equipment Manager | Carlos Garcia |
| Date | Player | Position | Previous club | Fee/notes | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 22, 2010 | MF | Acquired in exchange for Julien Baudet and Danny Earls; subsequently released | [5] | |||
| November 24, 2010 | MF | Acquired in exchange for an international roster slot | [6] | |||
| November 24, 2010 | DF | Acquired for allocation money | [7] | |||
| December 3, 2010 | MF | [8] | ||||
| December 15, 2010 | DF | [9] | ||||
| March 1, 2011 | MF | Free | [10] | |||
| March 1, 2011 | DF | Unattached | Free | |||
| March 16, 2011 | FW | Undisclosed | [11] | |||
| March 30, 2011 | DF | Free | [12] | |||
| March 30, 2011 | MF | |||||
| April 14, 2011 | DF | SuperDraft, Round 1 pick | [13] | |||
| September 9, 2011 | DF | Free | [14] |
| Date | Player | Position | Destination club | Fee/notes | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 22, 2010 | DF | |||||
| DF | ||||||
| November 24, 2010 | DF | Expansion Draft, subsequently reacquired | [15] | |||
| November 24, 2010 | FW | Waived | [16] | |||
| December 8, 2010 | MF | Option declined, free transfer | [17] | |||
| December 8, 2010 | FW | Option declined | ||||
| December 8, 2010 | MF | Option declined, free transfer |
See main article: 2011 Major League Soccer season.
See main article: 2011 Major League Soccer season.
All times Mountain Daylight Time.
Last updated: October 22, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids
See also: 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Last updated: November 2, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids
See also: 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League.
By winning the 2010 MLS Cup final, Colorado Rapids have qualified directly into Group stage for the 2011-12 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. It will be Colorado's debut in the Champions League and their first time participating in a CONCACAF club competition since 1997.
| Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Santos Laguna | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 13 | |
 Isidro Metapán | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 9 | |
| Colorado Rapids | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 12 | −3 | 7 | |
| Real España | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 5 |
All times Mountain Daylight Time.
Last updated: October 19, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids
See main article: 2011 U.S. Open Cup.
Last updated: March 30, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids
Colorado is in the #12 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking.[18]
Colorado has 7 international roster spots. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots, which can be traded. Colorado dealt a spot to Vancouver on November 24, 2010. Press reports did not indicate if or when this roster spot is to revert to Colorado.[19] The club also traded a spot to New York Red Bulls on September 14, 2010, in the Macoumba Kandji trade. The trade of this spot was not included in the press release and it is not known when this spot reverts to Colorado.[20] The club acquired a spot permanently from Real Salt Lake on June 29, 2005.[21]
There is no limit on the number of international slots on each club's roster. The remaining roster slots must belong to domestic players. For clubs based in the United States, a domestic player is either a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (green card holder) or the holder of other special status (e.g., refugee or asylum status).[18]
Future picks acquired: 2013 SuperDraft Round 4 pick acquired from Houston Dynamo.
Future picks traded: 2012 SuperDraft Round 2 pick traded to San Jose Earthquakes; 2012 SuperDraft Round 3 pick traded to Toronto FC; 2012 SuperDraft conditional pick traded to FC Dallas; 2013 Supplemental Draft Round 3 pick traded to Toronto FC.