History UsefulNotes / MajorLeagueSoccer

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Since the 2023 season, nine teams in each conference qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs, with the 8th and 9th place teams playing a single wild-card match, with the winner facing the conference champion in Round One, which is played as a best-of-three series. In Round One, traditional tiebreakers such as aggregate goals and away goals are not used, with tied matches going straight to penalties. The conference semifinals, finals, and MLS Cup match remain single-elimination matches hosted by the higher ranked seed with extra time and penalty kicks if necessary. The MLS Cup playoffs use a fixed bracket similar to the NBA and Major League Baseball[[note]]temporarily with 8 teams per league in 2020 (due to COVID cutting the regular season down to 60 games), and permanently with 6 teams per league since 2022[[/note]] rather than reseeding teams, as the NFL currently does and MLS and the NHL have done in years past. From the league's inception until the 2011 season, the MLS Cup championship was hosted at a predetermined neutral site, similar to the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl; however, since 2012, the championship match is hosted by the higher seeded team in the Supporters' Shield table.\\\

'''Major League Soccer''' ('''MLS''') is the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates' and UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}'s[[note]]Technically Canada's sanctioned top-tier league is the ''Canadian Premier League'' (CPL), although by all other metrics (budgets, facilities, media, players, etc.), the CPL is in the same tier as the USL Championship, the American second division. [[/note]] top-tier professional [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball soccer]] league, and is the tenth wealthiest sports league in the world.[[note]]It is behind: 1. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]], 2. [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball MLB]], 3. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]], 4. The [[UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague EPL]], 5. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]], [[UsefulNotes/EuroFooty 6. La Liga, 7. The Bundesliga, 8. Serie A, and 9. Ligue 1]].[[/note]] The league was initially founded in 1993 on the ashes of the old [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League_(1968%E2%80%931984) North American Soccer League (NASL)]] in order for the United States to host the 1994 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup World Cup]], but has since grown into a true professional league consisting of 29 teams: 26 in the US, 3 in Canada.

'''Major League Soccer''' ('''MLS''') is the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates' and UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}'s[[note]]Technically Canada's sanctioned top-tier league is the ''Canadian Premier League'' (CPL), although by all other metrics (budgets, facilities, media, players, etc.), the CPL is in the same tier as the USL Championship, the American second division. [[/note]] top-tier professional [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball soccer]] league, and is the tenth wealthiest sports league in the world.[[note]]It is behind: 1. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]], 2. [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball MLB]], 3. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]], 4. The [[UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague EPL]], 5. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]], [[UsefulNotes/EuroFooty 6. La Liga, 7. The Bundesliga, 8. Serie A, and 9. Ligue 1]].[[/note]] Its predecessor league, the North American Soccer League (NASL) closed its doors in 1984. MLS was founded in 1993 as a condition FIFA imposed on the US Soccer Federation in exchange for allowing the United States to host the 1994 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup World Cup]]. MLS operates more like the other North American professional sports leagues. Unlike almost every other men's (or women's) association football league in the world, it currently does not have a relegation/promotion system. Each of the teams in the league are franchises granted by the league, as opposed to being completely individual entities like their European counterparts. Australia's A-League Men is the only other men's soccer league to operate the same way;[[note]]Apart from countries that are too small to support more than one league level. New Zealand's top level doesn't have promotion and relegation, but has annual regional qualifying, giving all teams the chance to qualify for the top league.[[/note]] both countries' top women's leagues, the National Women's Soccer League in the States and A-League Women in Australia, also use this model.[[note]]While the Canadian Premier League currently has no promotion and relegation, the league organizers have publicly stated that they intend to create a promotion/relegation system once enough teams enter.[[/note]] Also, unlike any of the traditional major leagues of the US and Canada ([[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball MLB]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]], and the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]]), MLS operates on a "single-entity" model, in which all teams--and even (technically) player contracts--are owned by the league itself. The team operators, while they do have much of the same control that team owners do in other major leagues, are actually shareholders in the league. From 2005 to 2008, MLS operated a reserve league, with each franchise [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin fielding its reserve side]] in that circuit. That league was relaunched in 2011, but by 2013 its schedule been integrated with that of the third-tier league then known as USL Pro (later the United Soccer League and now the second-level USL Championship), and by 2015 the Reserve League was folded and all MLS teams were required to place a reserve side in the USLC or affiliate with an independently-owned side in that league. However, this requirement had never been strictly enforced, and by 2019 a few MLS teams had started fielding reserve sides in USL League One, a new third-level league run by the same body that runs the USLC. MLS announced in 2020 that it would relaunch the Reserve League in 2021, but COVID-19 put that plan on hold. MLS later tweaked this plan, announcing a new developmental league, unveiled as MLS Next Pro, that launched in 2022 as a third-level league (the same level as USL League One). Next Pro started with 21 teams, 20 of which are directly owned MLS reserve sides and the other independently owned. In the 2023 season, Next Pro features reserve sides for all MLS teams except CF Montréal and D.C. United; the latter originally planned to link up with Next Pro, but ended up not doing so for the time being.\\\

-->'''Next Pro Affiliate:''' Ventura County FC[[note]]Was LA Galaxy II before 2024, when the Galaxy sold a partial interest in the Next Pro club to a Ventura County group. The team now splits its home games between Thousand Oaks and DHSP.[[/note]]

RSL saw major turmoil in 2020 when then-principal owner Dell Loy Hansen was found to have had a history of racial comments, with Hansen essentially being forced to sell both RSL and the Royals. As a result, the NWSL side ceased operations, with the team's player-related assets being acquired by a group in... Kansas City. However, the NWSL offered Real's new ownership an option to return to that league, and the new RSL group took them up on it. The Royals (without the "FC") will return in the 2024 season.

-->'''Next Pro Affiliate:''' The Town FC[[note]]Was known as San Jose Earthquakes II before being sold to an East Bay-based group in 2024, but remains affiliated with the Quakes.[[/note]]

They played some of their better-drawing games in Oakland their first few years back due to the stadium issues that were still present. However, a voter referendum for a new stadium in San Jose went their way and they opened their new digs, now known as [=PayPal=] Park, in 2015. The Quakes will soon become another team sharing its stadium with an NWSL side, with expansion team Bay FC moving in for its first season in 2024.

-->'''Current Captain:''' TBA

-->'''Next Pro Affiliate:''' LA Galaxy II

-->'''Next Pro Affiliate:''' San Jose Earthquakes II

Their stadium has been the temporary home to two teams in that other type of football. The NFL's Los Angeles Chargers played here from their return to LA in 2017 until the new [=SoFi=] Stadium opened in Inglewood in 2020. College football's San Diego State Aztecs, which had played in the Chargers' old stadium, played here in 2020 and 2021 while the new Snapdragon Stadium was built on the site of their old stadium.

MLS also relies on an American-style playoff format to determine its championship.[[note]]As does A-League Men; Australian sports developed playoff systems on their own. Several leagues in Latin America, with Mexico's top flight of Liga MX one notable example, also determine their champions via playoffs, although all operate on a promotion/relegation system.[[/note]] It currently has 29 teams, 26 in the U.S. and three in Canada. St. Louis City SC is the league's newest club. Sacramento Republic FC was planned to be MLS's 30th club, but its lead investor pulled out, leaving Sacramento's bid in limbo, with San Diego being awarded that 30th slot in May 2023 and expected to launch in 2025. League Commissioner Don Garber has indicated that the league may eventually expand to 32 clubs.\\\

Unlike most soccer leagues, MLS does not employ a either single table, double round-robin format (common in European leagues) or a split season round-robin format (common in Latin American leagues) for its regular season; instead, the league is split into Eastern and Western Conferences using an unbalanced schedule. Unlike the other major North American leagues, MLS currently does not further divide its two conferences into divisions. For the 2023 MLS season, teams play a 34-match schedule; each team plays its conference opponents home and away while the remaining matches are played against teams in the opposite conference. Prior to the 2020 MLS season, teams were guaranteed to play each league opponent at least once. The standings are determined by the standard FIFA point system, with a win equal to 3 points, a draw with 1 point, and none for a loss. At the end of the regular season, the team with most points wins the Supporters' Shield trophy[[note]]The physical trophy was created in 1999; however, the first-place finishers in the first three seasons were awarded the Shield retroactively[[/note]], and gains the top overall seed in the playoffs. Since 2015, the North American Independent Supporters Council, who maintain the Supporters' Shield, also award the Anthony Precourt Memorial Wooden Spoon to the club who [[MedalofDishonor finishes dead last]] in the overall league table; the trophy was named in (dis)honor of ex-Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt in 2017, as he had attempted to move the Crew to Austin.\\\

For the 2023 season, nine teams in each conference qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs, with the 8th and 9th place teams playing a single wild-card match, with the winner facing the conference champion in Round One. While the conference semifinals, finals, and MLS Cup match remain single-elimination matches hosted by the higher ranked seed with extra time and penalty kicks if necessary, Round One is played as a best-of-three series. Unlike most soccer tournaments, no match can end in a draw, and aggregate goals and away goals are not considered; instead, each game will have a clear winner with matches going straight to penalties if tied at the end of regulation time. The MLS Cup playoffs use a fixed bracket similar to the NBA and Major League Baseball[[note]]temporarily with 8 teams per league in 2020 (due to COVID cutting the regular season down to 60 games), and permanently with 6 teams per league since 2022[[/note]] rather than reseeding teams, as the NFL currently does and MLS and the NHL have done in years past. From the league's inception until the 2011 season, the MLS Cup championship was hosted at a predetermined neutral site, similar to the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl; however, since 2012, the championship match is hosted by the higher seeded team in the Supporters' Shield table.\\\

!!!Atlanta United FC

!!!CF Montréal

!!!Chicago Fire FC

!!!D.C. United

!!!Inter Miami CF

!!!Nashville SC

!!!New York City FC

!!!New York Red Bulls

!!!Orlando City SC

!!!Philadelphia Union

!!!Toronto FC

!!!Austin FC

!!!Colorado Rapids

!!!FC Dallas

!!!Houston Dynamo FC

!!!LA Galaxy

!!!Los Angeles FC

!!!Minnesota United

!!!Portland Timbers

!!!Seattle Sounders FC

!!!Sporting Kansas City

!!!St. Louis City SC

!!!Vancouver Whitecaps FC

!!!San Diego FC

The Timbers had been another MLS team with an official DistaffCounterpart, namely Portland Thorns FC, which was a source of controversy in 2021 regarding the owners of both clubs' handling of sexual abuse allegations against former Thorns head coach Paul Riley and domestic violence allegations against Timbers striker Andy Polo. Timbers owner Merritt Paulson soon sold the Thorns. Similar issues hit the Thorns again shortly after the start of the 2024 season, though not against the team itself. After the CEO of [=DaBella=], a home improvement services company that had started the season as shirt sponsor, was credibly accused of sexual harassment, the Timbers dropped the [=DaBella=] sponsorship, going without a sponsor for the rest of the season.

-->'''Shirt Sponsor:''' XDC Network

-->'''Shirt Sponsor:''' Flex

-->'''Shirt Sponsor:''' [= DaBella=]

The Timbers had been another MLS team with an official DistaffCounterpart, namely Portland Thorns FC, which was a source of controversy in 2021 regarding the owners of both clubs' handling of sexual abuse allegations against former Thorns head coach Paul Riley and domestic violence allegations against Timbers striker Andy Polo. Timbers owner Merritt Paulson soon sold the Thorns.

-->'''Shirt Sponsor:''' [=LifeVantage=]

During the 2023–24 offseason, the Sounders bought the NWSL side then known as OL Reign from the parent company of prominent French club Olympique Lyonnais, shortly thereafter restoring the NWSL team's original name of Seattle Reign FC. This marks the second time the Sounders have had a stake in the Reign; they held a minority interest before OL bought the Reign after the 2019 season. The Reign also plays at Lumen Field, having moved there in 2022 after a three-season interlude in Tacoma.

After three failed stadium proposals, Miami Beckham United then planned to build their new stadium in the Overtown neighborhood. The Miami-Dade government had previously endorsed FIU's[[note]]Florida International University[[/note]] on-campus football stadium as a short-term solution. The league sought to have the Miami team ready in 2018, to launch alongside LAFC; however, with the league's announcement of expansion for 2020 and intense competition for new franchises, Beckham's group could have lost their franchise rights if a stadium was not secured in time. More recently, rumors emerged in spring 2017 that the Beckham group may abandon Miami in favor of Las Vegas; however, in June 2017, the group acquired the last parcel of land necessary to build their stadium, and that October, a local judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt construction. In July 2018, Beckham unveiled alternate plans for a stadium as part of a larger mixed-use development, dubbed Miami Freedom Park, on the site of the city-owned Melreese Country Club, near Miami International Airport. The Melreese site was approved by Miami-Dade voters in a November 2018 referendum and was approved by the Miami-Dade council in April 2022, with construction on the Freedom Park stadium starting in 2023 and its opening set for 2025. In late January 2019, Inter Miami announced plans to redevelop the Lockhart Stadium site to serve as their permanent training ground; the development also includes a new 18,000-seat stadium which will host Inter Miami's future USL/Next Pro reserve side (later unveiled as Fort Lauderdale CF, and since renamed Inter Miami CF II) while also serving as an interim home for the first team until the Freedom Park Stadium opens. The club received unanimous approval from the Fort Lauderdale city council to redevelop the Lockhart Stadium site in April 2019 and demolished the old Lockhart Stadium a month later; the replacement became known as Inter Miami CF Stadium, later DRV PNK Stadium, and currently Chase Stadium.

Inter Miami II started play in League One in 2020. After a disastrous start to the 2023 season, Inter fired its head coach, Beckham's former Manchester United and England teammate Phil Neville, and then made perhaps the biggest MLS signing at least since that of Beckham, if not in league history, by picking up Argentine legend Lionel Messi fresh off a World Cup win.[[note]]Messi owns several properties in the Miami area and frequently vacations there. Also of note, the Argentina national team is soon to open a satellite training center in the Miami area.[[/note]] Inter also moved to provide Messi with even more of a comfort zone by hiring Tata Martino, a former ''Albiceleste'' and Barcelona manager, as head coach; signing two of his old Barça teammates, Spanish internationals Jordi Alba (who captains ''La Roja'') and Sergio Busquets; and also picking up two young Argentine talents. US international [=DeAndre=] Yedlin is also on the squad. Past stars include former England international defender Kieran Gibbs and Messi's former international teammate Gonzalo Higuaín (both now retired). Messi's arrival during the Leagues Cup flipped the script on Inter's 2023 season; he proceeded to score 10 goals in his seven Cup games on Inter's way to its first-ever trophy. While the Herons' disastrous start, combined with international duty for several key players, fixture congestion, and an ill-timed injury to Messi, kept them out of the playoffs, things appear to be looking up in South Florida. And that was before Inter signed ''another'' former Messi teammate in Luis Suárez.