Major League Soccer is the highest level of men’s professional football in the United States of America. Administered by the United States Soccer Federation, MLS has a total of 29 teams, including three teams from Canada from the 2023 season.

Founded in 1993, the inaugural season of the MLs was played in 1996 with ten teams. The MLS season runs from around February to October every year with teams divided into two based on their geography. The Eastern Conference consists of 15 teams whereas the Western Conference has 14 teams in it.

Each team in the League, both in the Eastern and the Western Conference, plays a total of 34 games. Teams in the same conference play each other twice, home and away, but play only once against some of the teams in the other conference.

After the League phase the team that finishes on top of the overall points table wins the Supporters’ Shield, the annual award for the team with the best record in the regular season. 

What is MLS Cup

Unlike top leagues in other parts of the world, the regular MLS season is followed by a postseason knockout tournament to determine the league champion. This elimination tournament is called the MLS Cup Playoffs. The final match of the tournament or the championship game is called the MLS Cup.

Who qualifies for the MLS Cup Playoffs

A total of 18 teams, top nine from the Eastern and Western conferences, qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs based on their regular season points total. The top seven teams from both conferences automatically qualify for Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs. 

The teams ranked eighth and ninth in both geographies play each other in the Wild-card round in a single knockout match with the winners progressing to Round One. The higher-ranked team (eighth spot) has the advantage of hosting the wild-card round.

What is the format of Round One

The winners of both Wild-card rounds go on to face the best team in their respective conference. Teams ranked from two to four will face teams ranked from seven to five, in inverse order, in the same conference.

Round One will have teams facing each other in a best-of-three format with the higher-ranked team getting the advantage of hosting two matches compared to one for the lower-ranked side.

Each round is treated as a separate match with clear winners for all of them. There will not be any ties as games that end with the scores level, after regulation time, are decided by penalties. There will not be any extra time and the scores of one match are not carried forward to the next game.

The first team to win two matches in the best-of-three contest will advance to the Conference semifinals.

Conference semifinals (four games)

Four teams that win their Round One matches proceed to the Conference semifinals of each geography. The winners of the match between teams ranked one and the wild-card qualifiers will meet the winners of the game between teams ranked four and five.

The other Conference Semifinals will feature the winners among teams ranked three and six against the winners of the match between the second and seventh-ranked teams.

The Conference Semifinals will be a single-match knockout with the higher ranked team hosting the contest. The matches will have an extra time of 30 minutes, split into two halves of 15 each, in case they end in a tie after the regulation period. The games which are still undecided after that will go to penalties.

Conference Finals (two games)

The Conference Final is a single-round knockout match played between the teams that advance from the semifinals in their respective geography with the higher-ranked side hosting the contest. All other rules remain unchanged from the Conference Semifinals.

The winner of the respective Conference Final will advance to play the MLS Cup, the championship match.

MLS Cup

The Eastern Conference Champion squares up against the Western Conference Champion in the MLS Cup with the higher-ranked side hosting the contest. All other rules remain similar to the Conference Semifinals and Finals. The winner of the contest is awarded the prestigious MLS Cup.

Photo credit: Imago