Professional Soccer · Est. 1993 · New York, NY · 30 Teams
Major League Soccer
Season Calendar
The MLS regular season stretches from late February through mid-October, with each of the thirty clubs playing 34 matches — seventeen at home and seventeen away. The geography is staggering: a midweek match in Portland can be followed by a weekend trip to Miami, a continental span that no European league attempts, and the climate swings from the frozen early-season pitches of Minnesota to the sweltering humidity of Houston in August.
The primary transfer window opens in mid-February and closes in May, with a secondary window running through most of August. The MLS All-Star Game in midsummer pits the league’s best against a visiting international club. Decision Day, the final matchday of the regular season, sees all teams kick off simultaneously in a dramatic finish that determines the playoff field and seeding.
Team Format
Each team carries a roster of up to 30 players, with squad construction governed by a salary budget system rather than a traditional salary cap. The Designated Player rule — introduced in 2007 to lure David Beckham — allows each club to sign up to three players whose compensation exceeds the budget charge, enabling teams to recruit world-class talent. Targeted Allocation Money and General Allocation Money provide additional roster-building flexibility.
The SuperDraft, held each winter, selects players from college programs, though its significance has waned as homegrown academies now produce the league’s most prized young talent. Thirty clubs are divided between the Eastern and Western Conferences, with each conference feeding into the single-table standings that determine playoff qualification.
Game Format
Soccer is played with eleven players per side on a field approximately 110 by 70 yards, with the objective of scoring by putting the ball past the opposing goalkeeper and into the net. Matches consist of two 45-minute halves with stoppage time added by the referee to account for delays, substitutions, and injuries. The clock runs continuously — there are no timeouts, no television breaks, no interruptions to the flow of play.
Players may not use their hands or arms to play the ball, except for the goalkeeper within the eighteen-yard penalty area. Substitutions are limited to five per match across three windows plus halftime, a rule expanded from three subs during the COVID-19 pandemic and retained permanently. The Video Assistant Referee system reviews goals, penalties, red cards, and cases of mistaken identity, though the center referee retains final authority on all decisions.
Key Rules
The offside rule is the tactical backbone of the sport: an attacker is offside if they are nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-to-last defender at the moment the ball is played to them. This single rule shapes the entire geometry of attacking and defending, compressing the field and rewarding precisely timed runs over mere speed.
Fouls inside the penalty area result in penalty kicks from twelve yards — a near-certain scoring opportunity that makes defensive discipline in the box paramount. Yellow cards serve as formal warnings for reckless challenges, persistent fouling, or dissent; two yellows in a match or a straight red card for serious foul play result in ejection, and the offending team must play short for the remainder of the game. Accumulated yellow cards across multiple matches can trigger suspensions, adding a strategic dimension to physical play.
Playoff Format
The MLS Cup Playoffs feature the top nine teams from each conference, with the top seed earning a first-round bye. The format is single-elimination throughout — a deliberate departure from the best-of-seven series common in other American leagues, and a structure that rewards the hot hand over the steady accumulator. The higher seed hosts every match through the conference finals, producing the kind of fortress-mentality home advantages and Cinderella upsets that have become the league’s calling card.
The MLS Cup final is a single match hosted by the higher-seeded finalist, typically played in early December. The Supporters’ Shield, awarded separately to the team with the best regular-season record, is considered by many purists to be the truer measure of a season’s quality, creating a fascinating philosophical tension between regular-season consistency and playoff-moment brilliance.