MLS (disambiguation)

MLS is Major League Soccer, the highest level professional soccer league in North America.

MLS may also refer to:

Science and technology

Academic degrees

Schools

Other uses

Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league, sanctioned by U.S. Soccer, that represents the sport's highest level in both the United States and Canada. MLS constitutes one of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. The league is composed of 20 teams—17 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada. The MLS regular season runs from March to October, with each team playing 34 games; the team with the best record is awarded the Supporters' Shield. The post season includes twelve teams competing in the MLS Cup Playoffs through November and December, culminating in the championship game, the MLS Cup. MLS teams also play in other domestic competitions against teams from other divisions in the U.S. Open Cup and in the Canadian Championship. MLS teams also compete against continental rivals in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 as part of the United States' successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The first season took place in 1996 with ten teams. MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years: The league lost millions of dollars, teams played in mostly empty American football stadiums, and two teams folded in 2002. Since then, MLS has expanded to 20 teams, owners built soccer-specific stadiums, average MLS attendance exceeds that of the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA), MLS secured national TV contracts, and the league is now profitable.

MLS Cup Playoffs

The MLS Cup Playoffs is the postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer held at the end of the regular season en route to the MLS Cup, the playoff championship game. Twelve teams in total from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference qualify for the tournament based on regular-season records, and a tiebreaking procedure exists in the case of equal records. Awarding a championship through a postseason tournament differs from most other soccer leagues around the world where the team with the most points at the end of the season is deemed champion. MLS awards the regular-season champions with the Supporters' Shield and a direct berth in the CONCACAF Champions League, the continental tournament. The regular-season champion must be a U.S.-based club in order to receive direct entry to Champions League. Since 2015 Audi is the official sponsor.

Playoff system

Since 2015, the top six teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs, playing in separate conference brackets. The first round of each conference has two one-off matches between the fourth- vs. fifth-place teams and the third- vs. sixth-, with the two higher seeds hosting. The lowest-seeded winner advances to play the conference's top seed, and the next-lowest playing the second in the Conference Semifinals. (This format matches that of the NFL Playoffs.)

2016 Major League Soccer season

The 2016 Major League Soccer season will feature 20 total clubs (17 based in the United States, 3 based in Canada). The regular season will begin on March 6 and end on October 23. The defending MLS Cup champions are the Portland Timbers, while the New York Red Bulls are the defending Supporters' Shield winners.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Player transfers

Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a player who is in MLS allocation list. MLS allocation list contains select U.S. National Team players and players transferred outside of MLS garnering transfer fee of at least $500,000. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2015 season, taking playoff performance into account.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club’s ranking. At all times each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS season.

Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The Sounders compete in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, as an MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in the league and the third Seattle soccer club to share the name.

The club's majority owner is Adrian Hanauer, and its minority owners are Joe Roth, Paul Allen and Drew Carey. Two-time MLS Cup winner Sigi Schmid is the club's head coach. The Sounders play their home matches at CenturyLink Field. Along with several organized groups, a 53-member marching band called 'Sound Wave' supports the club at each home match. Seattle competes with rival MLS clubs Portland and Vancouver in the Cascadia Cup.

The Sounders played its inaugural match on March 19, 2009, winning 3–0 over the New York Red Bulls. Seattle has set MLS records for average attendance, led the league in season ticket sales, and qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of its first seven seasons. The Sounders have led MLS attendance since their inaugural season, consistently drawing an average of 50-65% more than the next highest-drawing team in the league, LA Galaxy. The club's announced attendance average was 43,144 in 2012. The team's players have included United States men's national soccer team captain Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Academy product and current Sunderland player DeAndre Yedlin, striker Fredy Montero, and Osvaldo Alonso.