Major League Soccer 2022 will commence In 113 days. The primary elements for the 2018 season, the league’s 27th, were unveiled by Major League Soccer on Friday morning.
The announcement comes just two days before MLS’s Decision Day, the regular season’s final matchday in 2021. There are significant modifications in the scheduling arrangement for next season, as well as a new conference realignment and the league’s earliest start date ever.
This season will kick off on Feb. 26, a full two months earlier than the 2021 campaign’s delayed start date. The regular season will continue until October 9th, when the entire league will compete on Decision Day. After that, the MLS Cup playoffs will run for three weeks before the 2022 MLS Cup Final on Nov. 5.
The entire 2022 calendar was created to operate around the FIFA World Cup, which will begin on November 21, 2022. The MLS Cup Final will take place two weeks before the first game in Qatar, and two weeks before the deadline for players called up to represent their country, which is Nov. 14. Matches will also be avoided during the international breaks in March, June, and September, according to MLS.
The subtraction of midweek matches across the league is another unusual feature of the calendar. The Major League Soccer declared that each team will play five or fewer games throughout the middle of the week in order to focus on the weekend matchups.
Each club is expected to play a midweek match in May, June, and July, as well as two in August. No team will be allowed to play midweek games in consecutive weeks.
The acquisition of Charlotte FC, MLS’s 28th club, implies the conferences will realign once more. Starting in 2022, Charlotte will join the Eastern Conference, while Nashville SC will enter the Western Conference. As a result, each conference will have an even number of teams moving forward.
In 2022, each MLS team will play 34 regular season games, with 17 at home and 17 on the road. Teams will play each of their 13 conference opponents twice, once at home and once away. MLS clubs will play more inter-conference matches for the first time since the 2019 season, with each team set to face eight opponents from the opposing conference. For the 2021 season, MLS only authorized two inter-conference games because of the COVID-19 epidemic.
The full 2022 schedule for Major League Soccer is here!
The 2022 regular season match calendar features the league’s 28th club, Charlotte FC, the completion of Nashville SC’s largest soccer-specific facility in the United States, rekindled rivalries, and the most extensive slate of national broadcasts in league history.
Take a look at all 34 games for your favorite team:
- Atlanta United
- Austin FC
- Charlotte FC
- Chicago Fire FC
- FC Cincinnati
- Colorado Rapids
- Columbus Crew SC
- D.C. United
- FC Dallas
- Houston Dynamo FC
- Los Angeles Football Club
- LA Galaxy
- Inter Miami CF
- Minnesota United FC
- CF Montréal
- Nashville SC
- New England Revolution
- New York City FC
- New York Red Bulls
- Orlando City SC
- Philadelphia Union
- Portland Timbers
- Real Salt Lake
- San Jose Earthquakes
- Seattle Sounders
- Sporting Kansas City
- Toronto FC
- Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Charlotte FC
The Queen City is set to shine under the lights during Charlotte FC’s debut and then home opener. Charlotte open their inaugural campaign on Feb. 26 against D.C. United at Audi Field and will debut to their home fans on March 5 under the lights at Bank of America Stadium against the LA Galaxy (7:30 pm, FOX/FOX Deportes) in front of an expected 74,000 fans.
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This figure would set a new all-time single-match attendance record for MLS, breaking the previous high of 72,548 set on Aug. 3, 2019, when the LA Galaxy faced Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Nashville SC stadium opener – May 1
A highlight of the 2022 season, Nashville SC will open their brand-new soccer-specific stadium on May 1, hosting the Philadelphia Union during the team’s inaugural match in the new venue.
With capacity for more than 30,000 fans, Nashville SC’s stadium will become the largest soccer-specific stadium in the United States, and the 23rd MLS stadium built or renovated with soccer in mind.
National TV – USA & Canada
The 2022 MLS regular season broadcast schedule features the largest USA network coverage in league history.
- A record 48 matches will air on network television across ABC, FOX, Univision and UniMás.
- MLS action will air on ABC nine times in 2022 with a total of 34 matches aired across ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2, all of which will also be available in Spanish on ESPN Deportes.
- FOX Sports will showcase 34 matches in the upcoming year, highlighted by 27 on FS1 and seven on FOX, with twice as many primetime windows as the network’s 2021 slate of games.
- Additionally, all 34 matches will air in Spanish on FOX Deportes.
- Thirty-two matches will be broadcast in Spanish across Univision and UniMás.
- In addition, ESPN+ will stream all regional broadcasts nationally, out-of-market, in the US and any nationally televised matches not aired by an English-language network will again be streamed live in English on Twitter.
In Canada, eight matches will be broadcast to a national audience on CTV, and TSN and TVA Sports will once again return with extensive coverage of Major League Soccer.
- TSN will carry all matches played by Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. TSN will also televise select CF Montréal matches, as well as additional MLS games between US-based clubs throughout the season.
- TVA Sports serves as the broadcast home for CF Montréal.
Opening Weekend: Feb. 26-27
MLS’ 27th season will kick off on Feb. 26, the earliest start to a season in league history.
- Feb. 26: LAFC host 2021 Western Conference champions Colorado Rapids at 3:30 pm ET on Univision
- Feb. 26: Vancouver Whitecaps travel to Columbus for a matchup at 3:30 pm ET on TSN
- Feb. 26: Toronto FC visit FC Dallas at 5:30 pm ET on TSN
- Feb. 26: Portland take on New England at Providence Park at 7:30 pm ET on FOX
- Feb. 27: Atlanta host Kansas City at 3:00 pm ET on FS1
- Feb. 27: LA Galaxy host 2021 MLS Cup champions New York City at 5:00 pm ET on ESPN
- Opening weekend schedule
Heineken Rivalry Week
From July 8-17, you’ll get national broadcasts of some of the best rivalry matches in the league, including:
- LAFC vs LA on July 8
- Seattle vs Portland on July 9
- Charlotte vs Nashville on July 9
- LA vs San Jose on July 13
- Minnesota vs Kansas City on July 13
- Atlanta vs Orlando on July 17
- New York vs New York City on July 17
- Columbus vs Cincinnati on July 17
2022 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target
Minnesota United’s Allianz Field will play host to the 2022 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target on August 10. The 2022 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target marks the culmination of a week-long series of events across Minneapolis and Saint Paul, including community initiatives, concerts, parties, the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T 5G and more. ESPN, UniMás, TSN and TVA Sports will provide live matchday coverage of the 2022 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, which kicks off at 8 pm ET.
Decision Day – October 9
- All teams to face intra-conference opponents
- Games from each conference will kickoff simultaneously in back-to-back broadcast windows
- Kickoff times and broadcast details will be announced at a later date
Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs
At the end of the regular season, the top teams from each conference will qualify for the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs, set to begin in October. More information about the postseason schedule will be announced at a later date.
MLS Cup
Major League Soccer’s championship match will be played on Nov. 5
So, there you have it – The Complete Schedule of the 2022 Major League Soccer season proudly brought to your by FUTBALLNEWS.
