Full Name: Major League Soccer Founded: 1996 Tier: 1 Number of Teams: 18
Description:
Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded in 1996 as yet another attempt to jump start professional soccer in the United States. In an effort to combat the overspending widely blamed for the collapse of the NASL, which lasted from 1967 to 1984, the league is organized in a unique owner-investor model in which all the clubs are technically owned by the league. It's a confusing setup but has so far worked to keep costs down and, after some initial stumbles, the league is in a period of solid growth. The San Jose Earthquakes rejoined the league in 2008, Seattle came on board for 2009, Philadelphia has joined for 2010, Vancouver and Portland for 2011, and Montreal for 2012 - the league will have nearly doubled in size in only eight years.
Major League Soccer History:
Major League Soccer began play in 1996 with 10 founding teams - Columbus Crew, DC United, New England Revolution, NY/NJ MetroStars, and Tampa Bay Mutiny in the Eastern Conference and Colorado Rapids, Dallas Burn, Kansas City Wiz, Los Angeles Galaxy, and San Jose Clash in the Western Conference. The inaugural match was played on April 6, with host San Jose Clash defeating DC United 1-0. United would come back to win the championship however, defeating the LA Galaxy 3-2 in overtime in the first MLS Cup final.
League rules were a mix of FIFA tradition and a throwback to NASL experimentation, with a countdown clock and shootout to determine drawn games among other innovations. Throughout MLS soccer history these experiments were gradually phased out and MLS rules now broadly align with international norms.
DC United were the early powers in Major League Soccer, winning three of the first four league titles, missing out only in 1998 where they lost to the expansion Chicago Fire in the final. Miami Fusion joined Chicago in that year's expansion as the league expanded to 12 teams.
Four years later in the midst of financial struggles MLS made the painful decision of cutting to 10 teams, eliminating both Florida teams. The decision paid off as the league stabilized, teams began investing in new soccer-specific stadiums and a youth development initiative began to take shape.
Expansion was again on the agenda and in 2005 two new teams joined the league - Chivas USA in the Los Angeles area and Real Salt Lake in Utah. This was the start of near annual changes to the league lineup. In 2006 the San Jose Earthquakes franchise moved to Houston to become the Houston Dynamo, the first (and so far only) league team to move cities. Toronto FC joined in 2007, San Jose returned in 2008, Seattle Sounders came on board in 2009 and Philadelphia Union made it 16 league teams in 2010.
DC United remain the most successful team in the history of Major League Soccer, winning 4 MLS Cup titles, ahead of Houston, LA and San Jose at 2.
Major League Soccer Map:
Our MLS soccer map shows the location of each of the 16 teams for the 2010 season. Click on a marker to see the team's logo or zoom in to see each team's stadium.
MLS Regular Season Format:
The Major League Soccer regular season runs from mid-March to mid-October.
Each team plays every other team twice (home and away) for a total of 34 regular season games.
3 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.
The MLS Supporters' Shield (actually initiated by a group of MLS supporters groups) is awarded to the team that finishes first place in the regular season.
MLS Playoff Format:
The top three teams from each conference plus the next four in the overall standings qualify for the playoffs.
The 4 wild-card teams enter a pair of one-game playoffs. The 2 winners advance to the conference semifinals.
In the conference semifinals the MLS Supporters Shield winner plays the lower seeded wild card winner. The other conference champion plays the higher-seeded wild card winner. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams from each conference also play off. The quarterfinal round is home and away, aggregate goals series. There is no away goals rule, so if the aggregate is tied after 2 matches the series goes to overtime and then a penalty shootout.
The semifinal round is single game (hosted by the higher seed).
The final (known as the MLS Cup Final) is a single game played at a pre-selected site.
Total MLS Cup Titles:
4 DC United
2 Houston Dynamo 2 Los Angeles Galaxy 2 San Jose Earthquakes
1 Chicago Fire 1 Colorado Rapids 1 Columbus Crew 1 Kansas City Wizards 1 Real Salt Lake
Total MLS Supporters' Shield Titles:
4 DC United
4 Los Angeles Galaxy
3 Columbus Crew
1 Chicago Fire 1 Kansas City Wizards 1 Miami Fusion 1 San Jose Earthquakes 1 Tampa Bay Mutiny
Details
now it's 8 teams in each conference. Each of the 16 teams plays all others once at home and once away - giving it a balanced schedule of 30 games.
the playoff qualification and format remains the same.