Major League Soccer MLS is reportedly considering making changes to its football season schedule after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The elite soccer division in the United States are looking to emulate schedules used by European leagues which will see the season start their regular season in late August and conclude in May.
This new schedule, if implemented, will be a huge change to their current schedule which sees the season run from late February to early December of each year.
The change is proposed with a bid to allow the MLS to follow the FIFA calendar, allowing them to temporarily stop football activities when the international break comes around, similar to their European counterparts.
It will also help MLS teams become more competitive in the summer transfer market, preventing them from trying to compete in the market while the season is ongoing, rather in the new format it will be the MLS off-season.
The proposed schedule would also include a winter break of around five weeks and see the playoffs mostly in April and May.
What MLS Executive Vice President Nelson Rodriguez said
Speaking on the probability of enforcing a new schedule in the Major League Soccer, MLS Executive Vice President of sporting product and competition Nelson Rodriguez said:
“We have been engaged, really, since January, and it’s been very extensive and exhaustive and deliberate.”
“It’s still too early. We’re still asking questions. We’re still collecting and analyzing some data. We’re still formulating models. Some of those models are for formats themselves, some of those models are how to assess the information that we get.” He added.
The Major League Soccer
The Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men’s professional football league in the United States. It represents the sport’s highest level in the country.
It was founded on December 17, 1993, and consists of 29 teams, 26 from the United States, and the other three from Canada.
How Does Major League Soccer work?
The 29 teams in Major League Soccer are geographically divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences, playing 34 games in an unbalanced schedule.
Each team faces all the teams in its conference twice during the season, playing them home and away, and faces all but four or five teams of the opposite conference.
At the end of the regular season, the team with the highest point is awarded the Supporters Shield, which is followed by a postseason knockout tournament to determine the league champions.
The playoff format as of 2023, sees 18 teams face in a tournament that includes a pair of single-elimination play-in matches for the two lowest-ranked teams in each conference ahead of a best-of-three round; the round is followed by more single-elimination rounds that lead up to the MLS Cup final.
The MLS league season typically runs from late February to October, while the MLS Cup Playoffs run from October to November and the season ends with a Cup Championship game early in December.
How Do You Get Into The Major League Soccer
Typically players are drafted from College soccer into Major League Soccer. They are signed by colleges every year via the MLS draft, up to 90 players are drafted by MLS clubs every January from colleges.
Who is The Most Successful Team In Major League Soccer?
LA Galaxy the most successful team in MLS history. The California-based side has won a total of nine trophies in their 29 seasons in the league, winning the MLS Cup five times and the Supporters Shield on four different occasions.
