Kian Gadsby
In 2023, Lionel Messi shocked the football world by signing for Inter Miami in the USA. This signing brought millions of eyes worldwide onto the MLS immediately, as one of the greatest football players ever was suddenly playing weekly.
Now, the MLS is used to having exceptional players. Didier Drogba, Andrea Pirlo, David Villa and Bastian Schweinsteiger all played there within the last 10 years, as well as British legends like Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham, to name a few. Whilst some of these legends did increase attention and viewing from abroad, the MLS has mostly remained a mystery to fans of European football.
With the Conference Semi-Finals due to take place at the time of writing, people from across the world will be tuning in to see if Messi can deliver Inter Miami another piece of silverware.
That’s for good reason, as confusingly, there are multiple trophies available across the season, which when paired with some of the other league regulations will confuse fans of the Premier League. With the Conference Semi-Finals due to take place at the time of writing, people from across the world will be tuning in to see if Messi can deliver Inter Miami another piece of silverware. This guide will hopefully provide a simple navigation through the complex world that is the MLS.
The Champion(s)
The MLS has two stages, the league phase and then the play offs. This is like a few other leagues worldwide, and to an extent the Championship and the Football League here in England. That’s where the similarities between European football end unfortunately. Please also note that this format varies season on season, so what has been written for the 2024 year may not apply in 2025.
The League
All 29 teams in the MLS (30 from 2025 with the addition of San Diego FC) start the season by competing in the League season, for a trophy known as The Supporters Shield. This tournament starts in March and will end in November each year. Because of how large the USA is, the teams are divided into Conferences (East and West) to reduce flight times for teams travelling to matches. Each team will play 34 matches, 17 at home and 17 away. That’s each team in their conference home and away, (14 of each) and then 6 other matches. These may be extra rivalry games, or cross-conference matches.
At the end of these 34 games, the teams are ranked based on points won. Unusually, the second tie breaker is games won, as opposed to goal difference or head-to-head which is more common in Europe. There is no relegation in the MLS, so teams at the bottom of the conference will just have to rebuild for the following year.
There are three trophies in the league season of the MLS. The first two are for the Conference winners, who this year were Messi’s Inter Miami in the East and LAFC in the West. The final trophy, The Supporters Shield, is awarded to the team with the most points across both conferences over the whole season. Although many people consider the winners of ‘The Shield’ to be the champions of the MLS this isn’t the official definition. Inter Miami won this title in 2024, with a league record of 74 points. The top 9 teams in each conference at the end of the season will compete in the Play Offs.
The Play-Offs
This year, Atlanta United beat CF Montreal on penalties in the East, and in the West Ryan Gauld’s sublime hat trick saw the Vancouver Whitecaps thrash Cascadian rivals the Portland Timbers 5-0.
In the Play Offs, both Conferences are completely separated, but they have an identical bracket format. First, there is the Wild Card round. This is where the team in 8th place plays against the team in 9th, to determine the final spot in the play offs as the 8th seed. This year, Atlanta United beat CF Montreal on penalties in the East, and in the West Ryan Gauld’s sublime hat trick saw the Vancouver Whitecaps thrash Cascadian rivals the Portland Timbers 5-0.
After this, every team in each Conference is now ranked 1-8 based on league position. The 1st seed will play the 8th, the 2nd the 7th and that pattern continues. These ties will be a best of 3 series, with the higher ranked team hosting the first and last game if required. These are not determined by an aggregate score; it is merely the first team to win 2 matches.
Once the series is done, the Conference Semi-Finals will begin. The bracket is pre-determined, like the World Cup, with the winner of the tie involving the 1st seed playing the winner of the 4th seed’s tie. These matches will be one game affairs, with extra time and penalties determining the winner if necessary. It is a recurring theme throughout the postseason that from now on the higher ranked team will host the matches.
The winner of these semi-finals will then compete in the Conference Final, which is the same format as the semi-final. The winner of that match will become the Conference Champion. Both conference champions will then play one final match to determine the overall MLS champion, winning the MLS Cup.
Kian Gadsby
Featured image courtesy of [@karsten116] via [Unsplashed]. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of [@leomessi] via [Instagram]. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of [@oliviergiroud] via [Instagram]. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 3 courtesy of [@mls] via [Instagram]. No changes were made to this image.
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