More and more soccer fans in the US and abroad are getting interested in Major League Soccer (MLS) and the good news for them is that the new season is about to start.
The 2022 season ended in exciting fashion and was followed by the World Cup in Qatar, which renewed interest in football in the United States. MLS clubs are hoping interest in the national team will spill over into domestic football as the new season begins.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new season of MLS.
The MLS season begins on Saturday February 25th. At the start there are 13 games to watch. The Los Angeles derby is one of the games that fans can look forward to.
The regular season will end on October 21st and then the playoffs will begin. It is not yet clear when these will begin and end.
MLS 2023 will feature 29 clubs, each playing 34 games, with the schedule already confirmed by the league. The list of participating teams can be seen below.
The 29 teams in MLS are geographically divided into the Western and Eastern Conferences and play each team in their conference home and away. There are 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, so they have 28 games within their conference. They also play one game against six different Western Conference opponents, making for another six games.
The 14 teams in the Western Conference all play each other twice, so 26 games. They also play a game against one or two opponents from their own conference and then a game against six or seven opponents from the Eastern Conference.
The top teams from each conference qualify for the conference semifinals. The teams ranked 2nd through 7th in each conference advance to the first round of the playoffs to advance to the MLS Finals. The date for this final in 2023 has yet to be announced.
To watch MLS in Germany this season you will need an Apple TV subscription following a new rights deal.
“The 2023 season will also see the launch of MLS Season Pass, an unprecedented subscription service from Apple and Major League Soccer to watch all MLS regular season games, the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs and Leagues Cup1 can,” says a press release.
There’s a break this season that hasn’t happened before. For the first time ever, all 47 MLS and LIGA MX (Mexico) clubs are taking part in a newly designed League Cup. The MLS regular season is suspended for the League Cup after July 15 games and resumes on August 20.
The champion of the MLS Cup in 2022 was Los Angeles FC. The team prevailed in the Western Conference and made it to the finals, held at Banc of California Stadium.
They faced Philadelphia Union and it was a very dramatic final. This final saw the last two goals in an MLS Cup playoff game: both Jack Elliott and Gareth Bale scored in added time, resulting in the game ending 3-3 after extra time. LAFC won the subsequent penalty shoot-out 3-0.