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. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada—since the 2023 season. The league is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.

Major League Soccer is the most recent in a series of men’s premier professional national soccer leagues established in the United States and Canada. The predecessor of MLS was the North American Soccer League (NASL), which existed from 1968 until 1984. MLS was founded in 1993 as part of the United States’ successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The inaugural season took place in 1996 with ten teams. MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years, losing millions of dollars and folding two teams in 2002. 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. With an average attendance of over 20,000 per game, MLS has the fourth-highest average attendance of any major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada after the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and Canadian Football League (CFL),[citation needed] and was the seventh-highest attended professional soccer league worldwide by 2013.

The MLS regular season typically starts in late February or early March and runs through mid-October, with each team playing 34 games; the team with the best record is awarded the Supporters’ Shield. Eighteen teams compete in the postseason MLS Cup Playoffs in late October and November, culminating in the league’s championship game, the MLS Cup.

Instead of operating as an association of independently owned clubs, MLS is a single entity in which each team is owned by the league and individually operated by the league’s investors. The league has a fixed membership like most sports leagues in the United States and Canada, which makes it one of the few soccer leagues that does not use a promotion and relegation process.

LA Galaxy have the most MLS Cups, with five. They are also tied with D.C. United for most Supporters’ Shields, with four each. Los Angeles FC are the defending champions, as they defeated Philadelphia Union 3–0 on penalties in MLS Cup 2022 on November 5, 2022, to mark the end of the 2022 season.

MLS has 29 clubs that will compete during the league’s 28th season in 2023. Conference alignment is as follows:

Eastern Conference

Atlanta United
Charlotte FC
Chicago Fire FC
FC Cincinnati
Columbus Crew
D.C. United
Inter Miami CF
CF Montréal
Nashville SC
New England Revolution
New York City FC
New York Red Bulls
Orlando City SC
Philadelphia Union
Toronto FC
Western Conference

Austin FC
Colorado Rapids
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo FC
Los Angeles Football Club
LA Galaxy
Minnesota United FC
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
St. Louis CITY SC
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle Sounders FC
Sporting Kansas City
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
MLS Regular Season
Each of the 29 MLS clubs will play 34 matches in the MLS Regular Season, 17 at home and 17 away.
All Clubs in the Eastern Conference will play all intra-conference opponents two (2) times and six (6) cross-conference opponents one (1) time. All Clubs in the Western Conference will play all intra-conference opponents two (2) times, one (1) to two (2) additional intra-conference opponents one (1) time, and six (6) to seven (7) different cross-conference opponents one (1) time.
At the end of the MLS Regular Season, the top seven teams from each conference will automatically qualify to the Round One Best-of-3 series while the next two teams in each conference standings will qualify for a single-elimination Audi MLS Cup Playoffs Wild Card match. The winners of each Wild Card game will earn a spot in the Round One Best-of-3 series.
POINT SYSTEM: Clubs will receive three points for a win, one point for a tie and zero points for a loss.

GAME DAY ROSTERS: Each team can select a maximum of 20 players (11 starters and nine substitutes) for its official match roster. Teams are allowed a maximum of five Normal Substitutions per game to be used over the course of three opportunities, excluding half-time and match delays, but including cooling and/or drink breaks.

Additionally, MLS will continue to implement the concussion substitutes initiative. This initiative allows teams to make up to two concussion substitutions during a match to replace players with concussions or suspected concussions, regardless of the number of normal substitutions already used. If a team elects to use a concussion substitution, its opponent will receive an additional substitution and opportunity.

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