Category: MLS

Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men’s professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport’s highest level in the United States and Canada. The MLS comprises 27 teams—24 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada—and plans to expand to 30 teams by the 2023 season.

Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 as part of the United States’ successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup.[12] The inaugural season took place in 1996 with ten teams. Since then, developments such as the proliferation of soccer-specific stadiums around the league, implementation of the Designated Player Rule allowing teams to sign star players such as David Beckham, and national TV contracts have made MLS profitable.[15] With an average attendance of over 20,000 per game, MLS has the fourth-highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the U.S. and Canada and was the seventh-highest attended professional soccer league worldwide by 2013.[17]

The regular season typically starts in early March and runs through mid-October, with each team playing 34 games. Fourteen teams compete in the postseason MLS Cup Playoffs in late October and November, culminating in the league’s championship game, the MLS Cup.

The league has a fixed membership like most sports leagues in the United States and Canada, which makes it one of the world’s few soccer leagues that does not use promotion and relegation.

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