The 2016 Colorado Rapids season was the club's 21st season of existence, and their 21st season in Major League Soccer, the top tier of the American and Canadian soccer pyramids.

The 2016 season was, at the time, the Rapids' most successful regular season in franchise history. During the season, the Rapids finished 2nd in the Western Conference and 2nd overall in the regular season, besting their previous best regular season finish of 3rd in the Western Conference and 4th overall in 2002. In 2021 they also finished second overall. The Rapids finished undefeated at home with a record of 11-0-6. At home, they conceded only 7 goals, setting a new MLS record with a 0.41 goals-against average. The season also featured a franchise-record 15 match unbeaten streak. After finishing at the bottom of the table for the 2015, the season was hallmarked as a surprising turnaround. The team was bolstered by incoming transfer targets Tim Howard, Shkëlzen Gashi, Marco Pappa and Jermaine Jones. Outside of the regular season, the Rapids reached the fifth round of the U.S. Open Cup before falling to eventual champions, FC Dallas. As of 2025, this is the last time the Rapids have won an MLS Cup playoff game.

Background

Club

Transfers

For transfers in, dates listed are when Colorado officially signed the players to the roster. Transactions where only the rights to the players are acquired are not listed. For transfers out, dates listed are when Colorado officially removed the players from its roster, not when they signed with another club. If a player later signed with another club, his new club will be noted, but the date listed here remains the one when he was officially removed from the Rapids roster.

In

No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource 22 Seattle Sounders FC Waiver Draft 18 Philadelphia Union Trade 10 Seattle Sounders FC Trade 16 Philadelphia Union Trade 11 FC Basel Transfer, undisclosed 5 Antigua GFC Transfer, Discovery Signing 19 D.C. United Traded for a 3rd Round pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft 13 New England Revolution Trade 1 Everton Free 7 Philadelphia Union Trade

Draft picks

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only those who are signed to a contract will be listed as transfers in. Only trades involving draft picks and executed after the start of 2015 MLS SuperDraft will be listed in the notes.

DatePlayerNumberPositionPrevious clubNotesRef January 14, 2016 Emmanuel AppiahMF Cincinnati Bearcats MLS SuperDraft 1st Round Pick (#15); Pick acquired from Chicago Fire through Seattle Sounders FC. January 14, 2016 Dennis CastilloDF VCU Rams MLS SuperDraft 2nd Round Pick (#37); Pick acquired from Dallas FC. January 19, 2016 Chris FrouchauerGK Ohio State Buckeyes MLS SuperDraft 3rd Round Pick (#43). January 19, 2016 Javan TorreFW UCLA Bruins MLS SuperDraft 3rd Round Pick (#56) January 19, 2016 Bradley KamdemDF UNLV Rebels MLS SuperDraft 3rd Round Pick (#58) January 19, 2016 John MangaFW Cincinnati Bearcats MLS SuperDraft 4th Round Pick (#63)

Out

No.Pos.PlayerTransferred toFee/notesDateSource16 Waived 3 Toronto FC Waived 2 Chicago Fire Waived 22 Belgrano Loan ended, option declined 7 Defensor Sporting Waived 57 San Antonio FC Waived 19 Jacksonville Armada Waived 10 Zamora Free Transfer 5 Chicago Fire Waived 1 Toronto FC Received allocation money, #56 in 2016 MLS SuperDraft, conditional pick in 2017 MLS SuperDraft 31 FC Dallas Traded for allocation money 5 D.C. United Traded for allocation money 30 Waived Sporting Kansas City Waived 21 Chicago Fire Traded

Loaned out

No.Pos.PlayerLoaned toDateSource15 Talleres 29 Charlotte Independence MF Charlotte Independence 12 Charlotte Independence 16 Charlotte Independence 26 Charlotte Independence

Competitions

Preseason

MLS

MLS Cup Playoffs

Conference semifinals

Conference finals

U.S. Open Cup

Standings

Western Conference standings

Overall table Note: the table below has no impact on playoff qualification and is used solely for determining host of the MLS Cup, certain CCL spots, and 2016 MLS draft. The conference tables are the sole determinant for teams qualifying to the playoffs

Statistics

Goals and assists

No. Pos. Name MLS MLS Cup U.S. Open Cup TotalGoals Assists Goals Assists Goals Assists Goals Assists 11 FW Shkëlzen Gashi 9 4 1 0 0 0 10 4 14 FW Dominique Badji 6 4 0 0 1 0 7 4 9 FW Kevin Doyle 6 2 0 0 0 0 6 2 94 MF Marlon Hairston 3 6 0 0 0 1 3 7 13 MF Jermaine Jones 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 2 FW Luis Solignac 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 2 10 MF Marco Pappa 2 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 44 DF Axel Sjöberg 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 17 MF Dillon Serna 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 8 MF Dillon Powers 1 4 0 0 0 1 1 5 6 MF Sam Cronin 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 4 7 MF Sébastien Le Toux 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 23 DF Bobby Burling 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 DF Mekeil Williams 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 DF Marc Burch 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 26 DF Dennis Castillo 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 DF Eric Miller 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 42 MF Micheal Azira 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

References