Colorado native Darren Yapi signs multi-year extension with Rapids

The Colorado Rapids announced Tuesday that the club signed homegrown forward Darren Yapi to a multi-year contract extension as a U22 Initiative player through the 2028-29 MLS Season, with a club option for 2029-30.

Darren truly embodies the pathway we believe in as a club, and were incredibly proud of the way he has progressed through our system, said Rapids President Pdraig Smith in a release. He has consistently shown his ability to impact games at the MLS level, and we believe he has the qualities to develop into a top attacker in this league and beyond. This new contract reflects both his performances and the standards he has set for himself, and were excited to see him continue to build on that here in Colorado.

Yapi told Denver7's Nick Rothschild that this moment rewards the investment his family made in helping him reach professional soccer.

"They were super pleased [by the contract extension]," Yapi said. "They played a huge part in my development in terms of just [making] the financial sacrifice for me to play the sport in the first place. To have that come full circle is something special."

The agreement between parents and son works both ways Yapi understood that his family was sacrificing so that he could have a shot at achieving his dreams. That responsibility sticks with him to this day, and now being able to give back means the world to him.

"It's the best feeling," said Yapi. "They didn't have much, and they were still able to pay for me to play a sport that I love. To realize that and put the hard work in just for them means so much to me."

The 21-year-old Yapi has made 116 appearances for the Rapids since making his debut in March of 2022. A product of the Rapids Academy, he became the youngest player in club history at the time to sign a professional contract when he joined the First Team at 16 years old. Later, he became the youngest player in club history to score a brace, netting two goals against Minnesota United FC in August of 2025 at the youthful age of 20 years, 264 days old.

2025 was Yapi's breakout campaign, setting a career high in goals (8), assist (4), game-winning goals (2), goal contributions (12), and minutes played (1,433) during the MLS regular season. So far in 2026 he's scored three goals and two assists in 11 appearances.

Darren has made a really positive start to the season and continues to grow into a more complete front line player for us, said Rapids Head Coach Matt Wells. Hes shown a top mentality to embrace our football, has made big steps in his physical development and is consistently impacting the game in attacking positions. He has the right level of ambition and we believe he has so much more growth to come, so were looking forward to continuing to work with him.

Yapi's also received two call-ups for the United States Under 20 team in the past four months, most recently joining the team for training camp ahead of friendlies against Japan and South Korea. He started and scored in a 2-0 victory over Japan.

As for the future of Colorado's homegrown program, Yapi hopes to be a leader for all that desire to follow in his footsteps.

"Going through a bit of ups-and-downs in your career and still [being able to find] the mental strength to push through and to work hard," says Yapi. "The results will show. That's my message to them."